Altium has been after me for $10k license - maybe I should be patient. I don't design a big volume of boards, but when I do - I am in a huge hurry and they get more complex every time.IMHO a higher end package also saves a lot of time when it comes to the logistics part. This is often overlooked by the lower end offerings. The Orcad package I'm using produces a ready-to-go bill of materials (including manufacturers parts numbers, order codes, etc, etc) with one click. AFAIK this is impossible with Eagle and Kicad.
<part device="OPAMP_CFB_X3" value="LMH6733" package="TSSOP-16" type="SMT" pins="16" description="Opamp, CFB, 3 channel, BW=1 GHz">
<manufacturer name="TI" PN="LMH6733MQX/NOPB" />
<vendor name="DigiKey" PN="296-37393-6-ND" USD="4.4682" qty="100" />
<vendor name="Mouser" PN="926-LMH6733MQ/NOPB" USD="4.74" qty="100" />
<stock date="9-Mar-2016" count="70" bin="vp"/>
</part>
Altium has been after me for $10k license - maybe I should be patient. I don't design a big volume of boards, but when I do - I am in a huge hurry and they get more complex every time.IMHO a higher end package also saves a lot of time when it comes to the logistics part. This is often overlooked by the lower end offerings. The Orcad package I'm using produces a ready-to-go bill of materials (including manufacturers parts numbers, order codes, etc, etc) with one click. AFAIK this is impossible with Eagle and Kicad.
It's easy enough to write a BOM generator that reads EAGLE .sch files, as an example of what can be done with the aforementioned XML format. But now I have an inventory database problem. I've been getting by with a hand-edited XML file with entries likeCode: [Select]<part device="OPAMP_CFB_X3" value="LMH6733" package="TSSOP-16" type="SMT" pins="16" description="Opamp, CFB, 3 channel, BW=1 GHz">
<manufacturer name="TI" PN="LMH6733MQX/NOPB" />
<vendor name="DigiKey" PN="296-37393-6-ND" USD="4.4682" qty="100" />
<vendor name="Mouser" PN="926-LMH6733MQ/NOPB" USD="4.74" qty="100" />
<stock date="9-Mar-2016" count="70" bin="vp"/>
</part>
... but that's going to get pretty cumbersome over the next few years. I'm taking a leap of faith that I'll eventually find an easy way to pull this file into a real database program with a real UI. If that doesn't happen, I will eventually end up growing an entire ERP system by accretion. The curse of the compulsive programmer...
<attribute name="C-TYPE" value="E"/>
<attribute name="DIGIKEY" value="NC7SZ125M5XDKR-ND"/>
<attribute name="FARNELL" value="2453005RL "/>
<attribute name="MANUFACTURER" value="Fairchild Semiconductor"/>
<attribute name="MAN_PN" value="NC7SZ125M5X"/>
<attribute name="MOUNTING" value="SMD"/>
<attribute name="MOUSER" value="512-NC7SZ125M5X"/>
<attribute name="PACKAGE" value="SOT23-5"/>
<attribute name="PRICE" value="0.284"/>
<attribute name="RS-COMPONENTS" value="670-9807P"/>
Eagle is only perceived "unusable" or "crap" to those who don't care to take the time to learn how to use it or those who don't need / want to use it as they have access to a higher end tool.
I'm sure many who use it daily also consider it crap.
The UI is prehistoric.
The wildcards in the library are cool (technology and package variants) but the tight coupling to footprints is horribly awkward. The library management itself is just awful.
Scriptability is cool but having to do so much via scripts is not. BOM mgmt (via scripts) is a chore. A huge problem with scripts is having to know so many things by rote instead of discovering it through the UI.
You can't even flip the PCB over to view from the other side!! Are you kidding me?
Eagle supports attributes for devices. This way you can store all kind of information.
In the *.sch or *.brd files it wil look like this:Code: [Select]<attribute name="C-TYPE" value="E"/>
<attribute name="DIGIKEY" value="NC7SZ125M5XDKR-ND"/>
<attribute name="FARNELL" value="2453005RL "/>
<attribute name="MANUFACTURER" value="Fairchild Semiconductor"/>
<attribute name="MAN_PN" value="NC7SZ125M5X"/>
<attribute name="MOUNTING" value="SMD"/>
<attribute name="MOUSER" value="512-NC7SZ125M5X"/>
<attribute name="PACKAGE" value="SOT23-5"/>
<attribute name="PRICE" value="0.284"/>
<attribute name="RS-COMPONENTS" value="670-9807P"/>
When you export the BOM in Eagle, there will be a colon for every attribute, e.g. "Farnell" with in that colon the ordercodes of
all parts available at Farnell.
It can store it as txt, html or csv. This way you can easily import it in Calc (or excell).
I don't think the asset purchase itself is worrisome -- Eagle is crap and I am surprised that it would be worth buying. Easier to start from scratch if you have those kind of resources.
What should be worrisome though is the shot across the bow that Autodesk is entering the e-cad market. Tight integration between e-cad and m-cad is a huge opportunity and the market is begging for it. Altium and Mentor have no answer for this.
But even that said, this isn't a play for Altium and Mentor customers. Eagle isn't in the same league as Altium. This is a play against CircuitWorks (SolidWorks module).
Only if they are "forced" to use it, there are far more that like it than those who don't.
The UI works just fine!
The footprint and library association is just a quirk to get used to.
The script-ability is what makes it so powerful, it's quite a treat in fact.
Altium has been after me for $10k license - maybe I should be patient. I don't design a big volume of boards, but when I do - I am in a huge hurry and they get more complex every time.IMHO a higher end package also saves a lot of time when it comes to the logistics part. This is often overlooked by the lower end offerings. The Orcad package I'm using produces a ready-to-go bill of materials (including manufacturers parts numbers, order codes, etc, etc) with one click. AFAIK this is impossible with Eagle and Kicad.
It's easy enough to write a BOM generator that reads EAGLE .sch files, as an example of what can be done with the aforementioned XML format. But now I have an inventory database problem. I've been getting by with a hand-edited XML file with entries likeCode: [Select]<part device="OPAMP_CFB_X3" value="LMH6733" package="TSSOP-16" type="SMT" pins="16" description="Opamp, CFB, 3 channel, BW=1 GHz">
<manufacturer name="TI" PN="LMH6733MQX/NOPB" />
<vendor name="DigiKey" PN="296-37393-6-ND" USD="4.4682" qty="100" />
<vendor name="Mouser" PN="926-LMH6733MQ/NOPB" USD="4.74" qty="100" />
<stock date="9-Mar-2016" count="70" bin="vp"/>
</part>
... but that's going to get pretty cumbersome over the next few years. I'm taking a leap of faith that I'll eventually find an easy way to pull this file into a real database program with a real UI. If that doesn't happen, I will eventually end up growing an entire ERP system by accretion. The curse of the compulsive programmer...
Eagle supports attributes for devices. This way you can store all kind of information.
In the *.sch or *.brd files it wil look like this:Code: [Select]<attribute name="C-TYPE" value="E"/>
<attribute name="DIGIKEY" value="NC7SZ125M5XDKR-ND"/>
<attribute name="FARNELL" value="2453005RL "/>
<attribute name="MANUFACTURER" value="Fairchild Semiconductor"/>
<attribute name="MAN_PN" value="NC7SZ125M5X"/>
<attribute name="MOUNTING" value="SMD"/>
<attribute name="MOUSER" value="512-NC7SZ125M5X"/>
<attribute name="PACKAGE" value="SOT23-5"/>
<attribute name="PRICE" value="0.284"/>
<attribute name="RS-COMPONENTS" value="670-9807P"/>
I don't know about Kicad, but to produce ready-to-go bill of materials (including manufacturers parts numbers, order codes, etc, etc) with Eagle is a breeze.
The various BOM generation options for EAGLE also aren't very flexible. That includes third-party contributions, some of which are fairly decent -- Xess's comes to mind -- but still hardwired to someone else's way of managing inventory.
All of which isn't to criticize EAGLE, or to argue that Autodesk should add a database module to it, but to point out how it's actually a pretty great EDA tool for people with specific needs but limited budgets.
But you have to enter that information for each part in the schematic... right?
Interesting times. Circuit Studio just got a price cut to $995. CircuitMaker is now running under Linux via wine so CircuitStudio should work as well.
http://circuitmaker.com/blog/Blogs/3-steps-for-installing-circuitmaker-on-linux
Autodesk is really going to have to step up or EAGLE will die on the vine at its current price.
Interesting times. Circuit Studio just got a price cut to $995. CircuitMaker is now running under Linux via wine so CircuitStudio should work as well.
You should be able to take the numbers directly off a data sheet an plug them in in less than a minute. Very simple, yet Eagle fails big time in this area.
.. The outline change took what felt like an eternity even after I knew the exact geometry from SolidWorks. The geometry creation and modification is uselessly cumbersome (even very minor stuff). I ended up outputting a DXF from SolidWorks which has to be converted to a script by a third party utility. What seemed like a thousand mouse clicks and fiddly figuring - I had updated the PCB outline. The change in SolidWorks took seconds.
...After a 2 year run in Eagle, I am not a beginner but I admit that because it is so frustrating, I don't want to dedicate huge amounts of time learning what I consider work around solutions.
The next task was creating the new MOSFET that was not in my library. I was looking for a tall bridge to jump from! At 3AM I gave up after many hours. Now I am back at in on Sunday, wasting more time on what should be small, easy, and fast changes to an existing design.... You should be able to take the numbers directly off a data sheet an plug them in in less than a minute. Very simple, yet Eagle fails big time in this area.
Frankly I blame the draughtsmen who create those data sheet drawings for this. Every time I need to create a new package, I always seem to have to reach for a calculator to derive the most fundamental dimensions like pad sizes and centerlines. The dimensions I need to plug into EAGLE often seem to be the only ones that aren't given explicitly.
.. The outline change took what felt like an eternity even after I knew the exact geometry from SolidWorks. The geometry creation and modification is uselessly cumbersome (even very minor stuff). I ended up outputting a DXF from SolidWorks which has to be converted to a script by a third party utility. What seemed like a thousand mouse clicks and fiddly figuring - I had updated the PCB outline. The change in SolidWorks took seconds.Sounds like you should look at KiCad.
It can import Eagle designs, and has direct DXF import into both PCB and Footprint areas, I believe using code they derive from 2D CAD LibreCAD.
I've not tested SolidWorks DXF import, but other CAD DXFs were ok....After a 2 year run in Eagle, I am not a beginner but I admit that because it is so frustrating, I don't want to dedicate huge amounts of time learning what I consider work around solutions.
The next task was creating the new MOSFET that was not in my library. I was looking for a tall bridge to jump from! At 3AM I gave up after many hours. Now I am back at in on Sunday, wasting more time on what should be small, easy, and fast changes to an existing design.... You should be able to take the numbers directly off a data sheet an plug them in in less than a minute. Very simple, yet Eagle fails big time in this area.If you are expert in SolidWorks, then DXF could be a good way to make complex new footprints.
Outlines are exact, and you can place circles at all terminals, and a vertex at any important reference like placement origin.
Most PCB packages come a distant second to real CAD pgms, when it comes to line editing.
KiCad can query any vertex or pad, and you can copy/edit numbers directly off a data sheet and also reset the grid origin to any user entered value (for small arrays of terminals).
Not yet in KiCad, (but something I noticed in LibreCAD & have suggested they add to KiCad) is a smarter grid/entity snap.
With this, at higher zooms, it hops on grid points, but if an entity vertex (line end,circle centre etc) is nearby, it will hop to that first.
That would make Add-Terminal & DXF-Imported-Snap a breeze, coupled with their nifty adaptive mouse-wheel Zoom.
I did this super fast demo that shows an example of how SolidWorks goes about 2D geometry. Not only do you tell it dimensions, you can also tell it about relationships - vertical, horizontal, parallel, coincident, perpendicular, etc, etc.