tac@sei.cmu.edu (Timothy Coddington) (01/20/88)
CAD/CAE tools are in wide spread use today. I lack the experience, time, and/or money to locate and evaluate those products/tools which can help me generate printed circuit boards. I would like to find any public domain, or commercial software tools which support the printed circuit board development process. For example, Schematic Capture, Net List Generator, PCB Layout Editor, Auto-Router, etc. I have a Compaq Portable, PC AT, or MicroVax II to run the tools on (prefer PC compatible). Many of the commercial vendors offer demonstration copies which can be freely distributed. I've purchased and attempted to use Advanced Microcomputer System's Cell, Pcpro, and Pcroute tools. The so called users manual is inaccurate and incomplete. So far I've provided AMS with a list of at least 30 bugs to correct. Several of them have cause complete lockup of the system, and I've had to reboot. The advice and instructions I've obtained over the phone, from AMS, have half the time been incorrect. And, after all the trouble and hours of frustration I went through I found out it doesn't route on single layer boards, only 2 or more. If they could get rid of the bugs and make some of my suggested changes it would be a good product. However, I'm now stuck without a way to generate several prototype PCBs, which I don't have time to do by hand. I would like to hear from anybody who can offer some advice, knows where I can obtain this kind of software (or offer source code), or has experience with a particular system/package. I would also like some advice on etching boards, wave soldering, and pricing and availability of commercial services to do this kind of stuff (since these are prototype, maybe one-time boards I want to do as much as possible myself). Any input would be greatly appreciated. I prefer any response to come through mail. Thanks for taking the time. Tim Coddington 412-268-7712(w) 412-244-8557(h) arpa==> tac@sei.cmu.edu bitnet==> tac%sei.cmu.edu@uma.cc.cmu.edu csnet==> tac%sei.cmu.edu@relay.cs.net Disclaimer: These are my opinions.