PCB Layout

[Yaakov]

Is anyone out there still using DOS based Orcad tools for schematics
and PCB layouts?

 

[Boris Mohar]

Is anyone out there still using DOS based Orcad tools for schematics
and PCB layouts?

I use Orcad PCB386+ for layouts because it is nearly bug free. For schematic
I switched over to Layout. It is a peace of shit that works and my customers
use it also. Rel 9.2 is where I stopped sending in the extortion maintenance
payments. Here is an email excerpt that I got from Orcad"

"In late March, only days after actual distribution of OrCAD Version 10 SP1,
EMA support realized there was going to be a few Critical issues with SP1
which could not wait for a SP2 patch to fix. EMA relayed this information
to R&D and they produced a fix in early April for select customer to start
testing...."

In other words they have bug fixes for bug fixes.

 

[Joerg]

Well, I still have my SDT III. Never crashed, not once.

Did try out some others and I am thinking about Eagle because it has a
decent price/performance ratio. My hesitations are due to the fact that
it isn't easily compatible with other layout programs for back
annotation. Once they fix that I am game though.

What CAD vendors need to understand (but sometimes don't) is the fact
that a design engineer most often does not do the layout. Maybe some
critical areas, yes, but I usually handle those via a visit with the
layouter. This means whatever CAD package is used it has got to be
compatible with several mainstream layout software packages.

Regards, Joerg