Proteus Reviews Wanted

[Robaroni]

I've been doing EDA for well over 20 years. Eagle was always cumbersome to me and now that Autocad has it I guess the price is getting uglier.
One of my favorites was the original Circuit Maker before Altium bought it. It's still on my computer somewhere in fact. I like the Protel format which CM was.

I've been using Proteus about 6 or 8 years now. It does make polished schematics my editors like and I find the simulator to be top notch. I don't look much at programs without simulators although I may have to at some point.

MY overall take is that the program is good for medium to slightly above medium complexity. It's getting better but I'm not in love with the manual routing and parts movement, it could be better. 3D is just OK, autorouting is not bad but could be better - it works well enough though.

There's a lot in the package. I like the ability to insert sch. blocks into new designs, panelization works but only with the new X2 Gerber and not 274x so you have to work around it. (board houses don't seem to be taking the X2 that I've found)

It's less buggy than some of the other programs I've used.

Over all it's a good program but it's not cheap to renew the license so I may look at something else in the future. For what I'm paying I might look into Altium but that's even more expensive. I could keep the simulator I've paid for (advanced sim) and run something else but learning another program is a pain.

The Gerbers are easy to generate and there are a lot of extensions I can send out files in. Also it has a lot included in the package and unlike Eagle you don't have to write ULPs to do what should be included in the program!

The main thing is the advanced simulator, it's one of the best I've used and the overall program, like most, keeps getting better. Now they have teardrops and equal trace length tools.

It was a little awkward to learn but it's not bad and they seem to care about the product. I always live in dread that manufacturers will sell their program after I've invested time in learning it well enough to do real work.

Rob

 

[Simon]

The autorouter is not theirs, they integrate someone elses, currently it can't do 45 degree pads as they have not upgraded. Although I am looking to move to CS which I have bought I will likely keep my Proteus license.

[Robaroni]

Simon,
CS doesn't have a simulator does it?

And isn't it one of those Cloud configurations?

The autorouter I think is from Spectra which is pretty good and it integrates fairly well.

[Simon]

I think there is a simulation addon but not got that far yet as I'm just trying to create my symbols. Cloud configurator?

[Simon]

yes it is the spectra autorouter, they really should upgrade.

[Robaroni]

I think there is a simulation addon but not got that far yet as I'm just trying to create my symbols. Cloud configurator?

Cloud, don't the schematics and pcbs go into the cloud for everyone to use? Am I wrong?

I'd be interested in your review of CS. What's the pricing?

[Robaroni]

I just looked at CS.
It seems to be missing a lot of what I already have in Proteus:

Here's a list of requests form one of CS's users:

This really needs to have the following features that the full AD has:
1) Add Sch List panel like in AD
Proteus - yes

2) Find (and select and edit) similar objects
yes

3) Parameter manager; for multi-object editing
yes

4) Project packager wizard
not sure- it's so easy I never looked.

5) Improvements to 3D capability including Free (unattached) 3D body support instead of just 3D bodies on components, measurements in 3D
no

6) CAM viewer integration.
yes

7) Polygon pour manager
yes

[Simon]

CS is a cut down version of AD with no altium support, or any support for that matter.

[Robaroni]

CS is a cut down version of AD with no altium support, or any support for that matter.

Proteus is looking a lot better!

[Simon]

I have had Proteus for 1 year and have struggled as well as found it good hence I will maintain my licence for it although I am going to take a look at CS as well.

[Robaroni]

I have had Proteus for 1 year and have struggled as well as found it good hence I will maintain my licence for it although I am going to take a look at CS as well.

Let us know what you find. It does look a little anemic from what I've read but they may be introducing new options.

[Simon]

It is circuit maker that stores all your stuff online and publicly. I don't know what happened to that but circuit studio is standalone and your design is yours.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Robaroni]

It is circuit maker that stores all your stuff online and publicly. I don't know what happened to that but circuit studio is standalone and your design is yours.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

OK, thanks for the clarification.

[electrolust]

The problem I found was that once you place a part you no longer know what it is as double clicking on the symbol yields nothing but the name of the part so I ended up with made names like "1K 0805 1%" which is disruptive to the schematic. what you want is "1K" then double click on the symbol and find out what it is. Yes you can setup links to datasheets etc but the whole thing is painful, a year later I still can't sit down and just design something.

If you place a generic part, you would then go into the BOM and enter the specifics you need.  Then when you are in schematic you can edit properties (ctrl-e, or right-click->edit) and you'll see the BOM notes.  Or you can create custom properties (say, {TOL=1%}).

If you place a specific part, the BOM info would be prepopulated.

I would think that if 1% is important, that in fact should be on the schematic and not relegated to the BOM info.  Note that you can have any number of lines of text describing the name/value of the part, you just enter any additional notations in the additional properties as arbitrary text strings.  So then on the schematic you'd have a part annotated something like

R1
1k
1%

[Simon]

I normally set up my parts first and then expect to be able to double click on them and find out what they are. I use things like "1K 0805 1%" to identify the part in the library, I don't necessarily want this text to appear in the schematic.

[electrolust]

great, then just set up the additional info as device properties.

[Simon]

There are already properties there for putting part numbers in etc but these do not appear if you just double click the component in schematic, you have to go find it on the BOM which is extremely stupid and unique ti Proteus.

[electrolust]

They show up for me.  This is the result of double clicking a part.  You can also just mouseover then hit ctrl-e, or right click->edit properties.

If you double click the part name (eg C3) or value (eg 82n), then instead you get a different dialog which is limited to the name/value data.  Maybe that's what you're doing?

[Simon]

mine does not display any of this information and frankly if I have to keep enabling it then it's a waste of time. A default condition that does not give you any information about the part is plain stupid.

[electrolust]

mine does not display any of this information and frankly if I have to keep enabling it then it's a waste of time. A default condition that does not give you any information about the part is plain stupid.

The information I showed is the default and only condition.  It cannot be disabled AFAICT.  If such information isn't present for your parts, you haven't chosen the correct parts or haven't set up your parts correctly.

[Simon]

Well I don't know, the good news is that £1400 later I have both options

[DerekG]

I have had Proteus for 1 year and have struggled as well as found it good hence I will maintain my licence for it although I am going to take a look at CS as well.

Simon, how did you find Circuit Studio in comparison to Proteus?

I'm not sure what your last version of DipTrace was, but ver 3.2 has quite a few improvements, particularly with the libraries & in selecting/moving/modifying copper/mask polygon pours etc.

[Simon]

I have had Proteus for 1 year and have struggled as well as found it good hence I will maintain my licence for it although I am going to take a look at CS as well.

Simon, how did you find Circuit Studio in comparison to Proteus?

I'm not sure what your last version of DipTrace was, but ver 3.2 has quite a few improvements, particularly with the libraries & in selecting/moving/modifying copper/mask polygon pours etc.

BUGGY

It feels more modern but does need work to improve it's stability as I have had numerous issues often to complicated to explain to the support guy that is helpful like libraries just vanishing. I've done one PCB design so far so can't say I know it well but when you have to set a board boundary having already set a board edge to stop the autorouter straying off the board you have to wonder what exact type of pot the guy was on that day. Yes I can understand setting a routing boundary if you want to constrain routing to a smaller area than the board but having to use it to duplicate the board edges just seems silly.

[Simon]

I am wary of diptrace given that it is practically made in Russia and i don't like the attitude of the support and developers. So we are lucky now that some improvements have been made, will we see a version 4 next with few changes announced to much fanfare because the one and only developer has had another kid?