Hi Ken,
The old DOS Orcad was the best one ever created by Man. It had automatic
scrolling, block dragging and block moving. It also had a good macro
feature that you could use to quickly repeat operations. Many operations
could be repeated by just pressing the "R" key. This was ideal for
placing data and address lines. They had a clever mouse and keyboard
interface that worked well if you used one hand on the mouse and the other
to press keys. With a little practice, you could really fly through
stuff.
Agree. I used DOS-Orcad for more than a decade. But I must confess that
I just bought a copy of Eagle after trying out their freebie version.
Here is why:
DOS-Orcad becomes increasingly cumbersome for me on Windows machines.
Also on some printers although it allows you to create your own driver
(not exactly my favorite task...). But most of all I like the seamless
integration of a layout package in Eagle. Really handy for hairy stuff
like RF gear or switchers when you detect that something won't fly in
the layout and you can quickly change your circuitry. Not that I do much
in layout but I want to be able to tell the layouter "this is the way I
want the switcher area arranged". Then there is the huge and growing
number of netlists it can generate, and the user language programs you
can write if you want it to do some really unusual stuff. It also allows
to mimic Orcad's nice macro scheme, such as the "R" key.
With respect to lib symbol editing DOS-Orcad wins hands down in my
opinion. Mainly because it allows block mode. Also, Eagle lacks
hierarchical sheet structures which Orcad always had. That's my biggest
gripe with Eagle. But when I made my list of pros and cons of each,
Eagle won this time. But it somehow feels like replacing that old
faithful truck that never let you down with some ritzy new vehicle.
Regards, Joerg
