Author Topic: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating  (Read 7159 times)

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Offline trophosphereTopic starter

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Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« on: September 27, 2017, 02:40:25 am »
I found the following email quite interesting as I have decided to let my Circuit Studio subscription expire as I don't see a reason to update it given what has been done to it so far - no significant improvements and they have further limited the Design Rules and Constraints Editor in regards to the rule wizard.

I have bolded the interesting part as shown below. Looking around it seems a lot of software with upkeep licenses do it this way as it helps in paying for the development of new features/bug fixes should one chooses to renew as doing so will give the person the benefit of those new features/bug fixes.

Quote
Just a quick courtesy email to let you know our records indicate your CircuitStudio support and maintenance has expired. As I’m sure you will be aware, the benefits of maintenance include:

·         Access to direct technical support (software@element14.com) and our regional technical support desks (telephone, live chat and email)

·         Software updates including new features and bug fixes

If you renew now your support and maintenance term will commence from when you order and not be backdated to the expiry of your current contact, you will not lose out and don’t need to pay extra to back date.
...

Prior to purchasing Circuit Studio, I had been using FreePCB to do layout so I went in expecting features and polish that would be worth the price. Things that I have found in Circuit Studio which bring a definite advantage include things such as arbitrary rotation of components and the design rules editor. Things that are lacking in Circuit Studio, which FreePCB does better, include netlist management, custom hotkeys, and the footprint wizard. I didn't like the schematic layout of Circuit Studio and actually drew my schematics in Orcad Capture then imported the project into Circuit Studio prior to layout as Circuit Studio doesn't seem to support importing netlists for whatever reason.

Given the limiting feature-set of Circuit Studio and what has been done so far I don't think it is worth the money. I guess I'll be going to Orcad as there is a good deal on it (Schematic and PCB package) and I am more familiar with it as I use it for work.
 
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Offline voltsandjolts

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2017, 07:38:41 am »
It's a shame you are leaving CS but you have some valid points and when you are using OrCAD at work it makes sense to use it for hobby too.
I see the free Lite version of OrCAD is very restrictive (75 nets  :o) but maybe let us know which version you go for and how much you get quoted.

For me, I actually like enjoy using CS and accept it's shortcomings for the price.
 
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Offline trophosphereTopic starter

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2017, 08:41:47 am »
It's a shame you are leaving CS but you have some valid points and when you are using OrCAD at work it makes sense to use it for hobby too.
I see the free Lite version of OrCAD is very restrictive (75 nets  :o) but maybe let us know which version you go for and how much you get quoted.

For me, I actually like enjoy using CS and accept it's shortcomings for the price.

I had high hopes for Circuit Studio but it just didn't do it for me given the price. It's a good CAD despite its shortcomings but the price point I purchased it at makes me reconsider especially since I purchased it when it was 995USD and that was after the price was reduced from 3000USD.

I went ahead and pushed the button on going for the deal OrCAD is having now which is a bundled Schematic and PCB package for 430USD.

Looking at it in a positive note... I at least got a taste of the Altium ecosystem and it's good to be somewhat familiar with other offerings.

Edit: Also of note if it puts things into perspective is that I am not the main layout person at work since I am more into the circuit design and validation aspect. It's more fun IMHO as I get to design electronic medical devices such as implantables (pacemakers/defibrillators) and monitoring/diagnostic equipment.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2017, 08:49:21 am by trophosphere »
 
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Offline trevwhite

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2017, 08:47:47 am »
It would be really good to get some insight into the learning curve on Orcad and how it compares after using CS.
 

Offline Dubbie

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2017, 09:00:31 am »
The main gripe I have about CS is how inconvenient it is to clone footprints from the vault. And the fact that there is no footprint wizard like the real altium has. I haven’t got time to draw a 54pin tssop! I wish I had a footprint library with all the usuals in there
 

Offline voltsandjolts

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2017, 10:42:35 am »
To clone from the vault is just a couple of copy and paste operations, for the pcb library and sch library parts. It's quite easy.
I too miss the Designer IPC generator but you can use array paste to quickly generate rows of pads.
Alternatively, there are 3rd party footprint generators but I haven't tried any with CS - anyone got any recommendations?
 

Offline slowertech

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2017, 01:52:25 pm »
To clone from the vault is just a couple of copy and paste operations, for the pcb library and sch library parts. It's quite easy.
I too miss the Designer IPC generator but you can use array paste to quickly generate rows of pads.
Alternatively, there are 3rd party footprint generators but I haven't tried any with CS - anyone got any recommendations?

I use Library Expert Lite
 

Offline voltsandjolts

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2017, 03:18:25 pm »
Have you been able to get CS to run the script from Library Expert Lite?
 

Offline slowertech

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2017, 06:39:05 pm »
 
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Offline Dubbie

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2017, 07:50:17 pm »
Thanks for the tip Slowertech
 

Offline kaz911

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2017, 09:48:23 am »
I just paid for an annual update 2 weeks ago through Farnell. Still nothing received.....

I'm going to wait this out and see what happens as I'm in no rush to get any updates.

I did speak to a Farnell Account representative at the Farnell "IoT" seminar (which was mostly toe-curling terrible btw apart from the social part of it) - who said he would get back to me. Still nothing on that front either.

So much for 1-3 day delivery of a license update......



 

Offline jc101

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2017, 04:17:43 pm »
I just paid for an annual update 2 weeks ago through Farnell. Still nothing received.....

I'm going to wait this out and see what happens as I'm in no rush to get any updates.

I did speak to a Farnell Account representative at the Farnell "IoT" seminar (which was mostly toe-curling terrible btw apart from the social part of it) - who said he would get back to me. Still nothing on that front either.

So much for 1-3 day delivery of a license update......

I gave up waiting and posted on the Farnell CS forum, after a few posts someone from Altium responded and it was all sorted in a few hours.  There is a disconnect between the order and them doing anything, as they don't have to ship anything to make it happen it seems to just get left for someone to deal with it.
 

Offline Dubbie

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2017, 08:55:24 pm »
There seems to be a footprint wizard in there now.

It doesn't have many options, but it's better than nothing.
 

Offline pwenzel

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #13 on: November 27, 2017, 07:58:54 pm »
I just paid for an annual update 2 weeks ago through Farnell. Still nothing received.....

I'm going to wait this out and see what happens as I'm in no rush to get any updates.

I did speak to a Farnell Account representative at the Farnell "IoT" seminar (which was mostly toe-curling terrible btw apart from the social part of it) - who said he would get back to me. Still nothing on that front either.

So much for 1-3 day delivery of a license update......

Very sorry to hear about this kaz911. Could you provide me details so I can look into this and address it for you?  Please send me a private message with your order detail information or contact me at pwenzel@premierfarnell.com.  Thanks!

Pete W
Director of e14 SW
« Last Edit: November 27, 2017, 08:00:43 pm by pwenzel »
 

Offline kaz911

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #14 on: November 27, 2017, 09:33:45 pm »

Very sorry to hear about this kaz911. Could you provide me details so I can look into this and address it for you?  Please send me a private message with your order detail information or contact me at pwenzel@premierfarnell.com.  Thanks!

Pete W
Director of e14 SW

Thanks - details sent.  As I said this has happened quite a few times before - not only to me.
 

Offline negativ3

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #15 on: December 01, 2017, 03:43:21 am »
Here is what I have been doing. Little annoying.

https://www.element14.com/community/message/225844/l/re-ipc-compliant-footprint-wizard#225844

And you can just copy/paste from the new library into your own repository of parts. Much more efficient. Shame the full licence is more than 3x the cost of CS!
 

Offline kaz911

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #16 on: December 08, 2017, 01:18:07 pm »

Very sorry to hear about this kaz911. Could you provide me details so I can look into this and address it for you?  Please send me a private message with your order detail information or contact me at pwenzel@premierfarnell.com.  Thanks!

Pete W
Director of e14 SW

Thanks - details sent.  As I said this has happened quite a few times before - not only to me.

And we have now reached a full MONTH with no delivery - despite talking to Farnell about it at Bracknell and sending Pete W all the details .... And now today called Farnell UK HQ again...

Darn -  Farnell vs Altium - are a messy bunch!
 

Offline kaz911

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Re: Leaving Circuit Studio and the Option of Backdating
« Reply #17 on: December 12, 2017, 09:22:44 pm »
And we have now reached a full MONTH with no delivery - despite talking to Farnell about it at Bracknell and sending Pete W all the details .... And now today called Farnell UK HQ again...
Darn -  Farnell vs Altium - are a messy bunch!

Finally :) success - got my license update today - and with today's date as the start date without asking

Thanks for Farnell & Altium for waking up before Christmas.

Now we just need some CS updates! :)
 
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