Mentor PADS Maker and Maker Pro

[PCB.Wiz]

Good catch on the wiki error! We'll get that fixed right away. It should say, "PADS Maker is offered through a free, annual, renewable license. PADS Maker Pro licenses are perpetual and never expire."

Good to hear, Cathy   

Can you also look into
a) Why the install appears to have no example schematics whatsoever, not even ones matching the sample PCBs
b) Why the example Boards show in the Screen Shots, are not in the install ?

[uncle_bob]

Good catch on the wiki error! We'll get that fixed right away. It should say, "PADS Maker is offered through a free, annual, renewable license. PADS Maker Pro licenses are perpetual and never expire."

Good to hear, Cathy   

Can you also look into
a) Why the install appears to have no example schematics whatsoever, not even ones matching the sample PCBs
b) Why the example Boards show in the Screen Shots, are not in the install ?

Hi

....  If Cathy if from Digikey:

       When will the PartMiner be fully implemented for a reasonable set of packages?

      Is there any effort under way to auto-populate the database or is it all going to be user input?

Bob

[PCB.Wiz]

..
One hint if you are doing manual footprints: Their default pad stack is a bit sparse. ..

Even worse, there is no means to clone a layer's stack info fields, so once you have your (eg) offset oval finger all defined on Cu, you have to enter all that again and again, for every layer.


Really Mentor, basic ^C, ^V should be in all elements of any decent program these days...

[plazma]

How does the Pads Maker Pro compare to Altium Circuit Studio?
They cost almost the same.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

At the moment PADS Maker is a work in progress. If anybody else has been able to log into the Mentor support forum with their "Maker" license, they are doing way better than I am. Judging from the zero activity on that forum, it is still shut for beta testing. I'm guessing that same "still in beta testing" applies to a number of things we will see in the product 6 months from now. At this point there are still a number of gaping holes in it. You *can* layout a board with it. You run into a bunch of gotchas. I'd suggest a bit of a wait before doing any in-depth comparison of brand A vs brand M ....

Bob

[DigiMan]

Bob,
Are you referring to PartQuest.com or PartMiner?
I don't think DigiKey has much to do with PartMiner of late.  However, PartQuest.com does have over 1M DigiKey parts out of the box with a S&F. We are working at increasing the library as fast as possible with direct generated content.  We prefer to steer clear of the user generated content as it CAN be unreliable.  That is a whole other post.
I hope this helps with the library creation side.  We are listening!
Jeremy
 

[uncle_bob]

Bob,
Are you referring to PartQuest.com or PartMiner?
I don't think DigiKey has much to do with PartMiner of late.  However, PartQuest.com does have over 1M DigiKey parts out of the box with a S&F. We are working at increasing the library as fast as possible with direct generated content.  We prefer to steer clear of the user generated content as it CAN be unreliable.  That is a whole other post.
I hope this helps with the library creation side.  We are listening!
Jeremy

Hi

Sorry for the typo. PartQuest is what I was playing with. I'm still hoping for the ability to download typical ARM MCU's and FPGA's from the major outfits.

Bob

[glameris]

There are several reference designs for PADS Maker including the BeagleBone Black at:
https://eewiki.net/display/MentorGraphicsDocumentation/Reference+Designs