Electronic Design Automation - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Lunat1c
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2010, 09:27:16 pm
content: Hi. What EDA do you guys use? I'm used to working with Proteus but was wondering if there's some better options out there

author: lamja
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2010, 09:44:43 pm
content: I use FreePCB for my simple PCB's. Freeware, and really I really like it. Simple, unlimited and full control.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 15, 2010, 10:58:06 pm
content: Altium is the industry standard in Australia and China.Dave.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 16, 2010, 06:40:51 am
content: I'm using expressPCB but will hopefully move to KiCAD

author: Lunat1c
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2010, 08:39:44 am
content: thanks for your input guys. I've heard a lot about Altium, maybe I'll try the trial version of it.

author: slburris
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2010, 03:28:18 pm
content: I use Eagle mostly and I'm currently trying out the Design Spark software.I think I'd like Altium if there were a hobbyist version :-)Scott

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 17, 2010, 08:11:08 am
content: Quote from: slburris on August 16, 2010, 03:28:18 pmSo would everyone, but unfortunately that does not look like happening, they abandoned that market a long time ago.Dave.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2010, 10:19:13 am
content: I use PCAD - Altium's sort-of predecessor (actually started off indepoendent as ACCEL, got bought by the then-Protel, which morphed into Altium, I think...). When they announced they were discontinuing it a couple of years ago I did a last-time upgrade to the 'final' version. The sales guy kept pestering me with special deals to upgrade to Altium but having tried a demo version immediately took a dislike to it as it appeared hugely bloated with stuff I was never going to use - all I need is a simple,reliablePCB-only tool, whearas Altium seem to think that a huge megalith which does everything from PCBs to mechanics to FPGAs to re-tiling your bathroom is the way to go, and they don't care if that's not what their users want.When I told the sales guy I wouldn't even be interested if it was a free upgrade he stopped bothering me....

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 17, 2010, 12:44:45 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on August 17, 2010, 10:19:13 amAnd they took their (old) "turning the world of electronics design upside down" slogan literally. The PCB part is the optional extra, it's only part of the "full" package.The base package has FPGA, Schematic, Embedded et.al.Dave.

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2010, 06:49:09 pm
content: If Altium bought out Labcenters Proteus VSM it would have support for discrete processors and that really would mean it does everything.David.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2010, 02:08:52 am
content: Quote from: djsb on August 18, 2010, 06:49:09 pmAltium already supports C and C++ on a bunch of discrete processors. ARM, MIPS 4K, 8051, etc with the Tasking compiler.No simulation of those though.Dave.

author: RayJones
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2010, 03:25:10 am
content: Totally off topic, but "Tasking" made me think it is pun/throw back to the heritage of Protel (Tasmania). "Tas King"The reason this crossed my mind was when I recently came across Kvaser's CAN monitoring software "canking" on a HDD.I wondered what the hell is cank-ing, then it hit me when I ran the software - CAN King. Duh!As I said, totally off topic - resume normal programming.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2010, 12:27:32 pm
content: Quote from: RayJones on August 19, 2010, 03:25:10 amNever realised that!They still have a Tasmanian operation, that's where the component libraries are done.Dave.

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2010, 02:16:39 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 19, 2010, 12:27:32 pmThis may sound weird, but I think I'd really enjoy doing parts libraries all day as a job. I'm having enough fun tidying up my KiCad library that I'm stretching it out on purpose.I've always been a bit weird, to each their own I guess.

author: Varal
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2010, 12:22:16 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 15, 2010, 10:58:06 pmAny info about other countries? A!tium is popular in Poland too (probably because the major electronics magazines use it for their designs) but during one of my labs at uni I've been told that Pads is the current world standard. (Can't believe it though - GUI from the middleages and every option has to be selected via right-click not to mention poor component libs)

author: jahonen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2010, 08:02:21 am
content: Quote from: Varal on August 29, 2010, 12:22:16 amPADS is pretty much the industry standard here in Finland. Most large (and small) companies use it. There are some users of Zuken CadStar also in addition some users of Mentor Graphics BoardStation. Signal integrity simulator included with PADS (higher end packages), HyperLynx is also widely used by DDR (and similar) memory industry for their simulations. It has been extended to simulate power planes (voltage drops and noise) recently.Lack of pre-made libraries has been traditionally no issue, since we usually make the PCB land patterns and schematic symbols ourselves anyway due to convention/stylistic issues, although it takes a while to enter/check those BGAs with 100s of pins.Regards,Janne

author: jimjim
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 03, 2010, 03:05:46 pm
content: I'm currently using an open source package called Gedahttp://www.gpleda.org/index.html- it looks really similar to Kicad.It's quite powerful for a free package.......and thus far the interface has proven to be super intuitive. You can also do massive boards with many layers and components - without worrying about running out of room!The Geda community is very supportive tooI'd love to try out Design Spark, it seems everyone is ranting about it at the mo, but I'm a Unix only fella, so - until they bring it out on Mac or Linux.....................I'll be giving it a miss.

author: Varal
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2010, 10:12:15 pm
content: You can always try and emulate via virtualbox