[time-nuts] Schematic capture, anyone?

paul swed paulswedb at gmail.com
Fri Feb 24 18:56:11 UTC 2012


I suggested expresspcb earlier and all thats been said is on target.
General ease of use.
What is however tricky is if you need to create a symbol. Lets say a
particular PIC micro.
It is cumbersome to adapt one that exists and I am unsure as to why.
But that said its is pretty easy to use overall.
I do plan to try a few others suggested here. Like most of us I am a small
board/project kind O time-nut and since most of my stuff is really one off
do point to point and really just want to document what on earth I actually
did.
I do think this thread has been pretty good as a overall state of the
industry today. I want to go hunting for libraries since that does seem to
be pretty key.
Regards
Paul.
WB8TSL

On Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 12:52 PM, Brooke Clarke <brooke at pacific.net> wrote:

> Hi Bob:
>
> I'll second the usefulness of checking the layout against the schematic.
>  The early versions of ExpressPCB did not have schematic capture and even
> on very simple boards I ended up making patches.
> http://www.expresspcb.com/
> Now when you're doing the layout you can turn on checking and all the pads
> for the currently active note light up in a different color.  By stepping
> through all the nodes you can confirm that they are all connected to each
> other.
>
> I've been using ExpressPCB for a long time and for what I'm doing it's the
> most effective in terms of my time.  The down side is that their free
> software is proprietary to their process.  You don't get to shop vendors.
>  In exchange you get a very simple and easy to learn interface and an
> extensive library of standard parts.  It's also easy to add a custom part.
>  For me the learning curve for working with something like Eagle and the
> different file types and conventions is not worth the time.
>
> I use the schematic capture to draw schematics for things where I'm not
> going to make a board.
>
> Have Fun,
>
> Brooke Clarke
> http://www.PRC68.com
> http://www.**end2partygovernment.com/**Brooke4Congress.html<http://www.end2partygovernment.com/Brooke4Congress.html>
>
>
>
> Bob Camp wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> One very basic question to ask yourself:
>>
>> Do you want / need a program that checks the schematic against the layout?
>>
>> It's a feature that probably isn't needed for a really simple circuit.
>> It's
>> something that will save you a hundred dollars (one PCB run) pretty quick
>> on
>> things of even moderate complexity.
>>
>> You can indeed do the schematic on the back of an envelope and do the
>> layout
>> from that. Print out the layout and get out the colored pencils. Color
>> this
>> here and that there as you check it. Been there done that. Gets old pretty
>> quick.
>>
>> Next basic question:
>>
>> How big are the built in / available libraries? If not built in are they
>> free or an extra cost option?
>>
>> All of these programs have the very basic stuff in them. Even simple
>> designs
>> seem to get past the basics pretty fast. RF connectors, regulators, stuff
>> from Mini Circuits, something gets in there. Even a big library won't have
>> everything. Doing two things instead of ten is a lot less tiring.
>>
>> The library thing goes to both ends. Having a schematic with a bunch of
>> numbered boxes in it isn't very helpful. Having a layout made up of a
>> random
>> bunch of pads makes changes (and checking) tough. Again, loose one PCB run
>> to a mistake and you have paid for a license to some of these programs or
>> the library upgrade.
>>
>> No, I'm not trying to sell you on any specific program. I'm just trying to
>> complicate the decision process. It's better to look at all the issues
>> before you spend a couple months learning how a package works than to run
>> through three or four packages (and a years worth of agony).
>>
>> Bob
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@**febo.com<time-nuts-bounces at febo.com>]
>> On
>> Behalf Of Jim Hickstein
>> Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 7:39 PM
>> To: time-nuts at febo.com
>> Subject: [time-nuts] Schematic capture, anyone?
>>
>> What do people use these days for schematic capture (and just possibly PCB
>> layout), for low-budget homebrew stuff?  It's been so long since I did
>> this,
>> I
>> still own a T-square and a pile of contemporary relics like rules and
>> triangles.
>>   I'll get out my pencil sharpener if I have to.  But really, this must
>> be a
>>
>> solved problem by now.  For less than $300?  I only need TTL, not
>> striplines
>> or
>> any black magic like that.
>>
>> I'm a Mac shop, but can of course run Windows if need be.  And to make
>> matters
>> worse, I prefer ANSI logic symbology over shovels-and-spades (or, really,
>> over
>> plain rectangles where you're expected to know what the part number
>> means).
>> This comes from exposure to Control Data, who were big on it back in the
>> day.  I
>> even used to be on the mailing list of the standards committee.  I suppose
>> that
>> all sank without a trace?  If it's still controversial, I apologize in
>> advance
>> for trolling.
>>
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