PCB Cad

[jorgen.bergfors at idg.se]

>All,

>   Just my two-penny worth on the subject of cad/auto routers.. I've played >with a few of these and to be honest they are ok if you want to go into mass >production of a double sided pcb.

>   Personally I prefer to do the layout myself.I like to play with designs, >move bits around, allow for expansion. I use PCB Designer, its a french >package and works well.. You place chips on, and wire the tracks, set the >snap and so on.. its basic but its easy to use and clear as to what you're >doing.
>
 >  Anyway, enough from me.
>
>  Paul

I agree with Paul here. Doing PCB layouts manually is actually good sport and fun. It's a bit like laying a puzzle, only that you actually create something of lasting value in the process.
I design my boards in Corel Draw. It's not very difficult as long as you do analog circuits with a high proportion discrete parts. I wouldn't want to do designs with mainly ICs this way.
Looking at PCB layouts that others have put up on web sites, it is clear that my layouts are almost always tighter and use less wire links too.

/Jorgen




***************************************************
*  Modulus DIY Web Page ;-                        *
*      www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/park/2707  *
*  E-Mail ;-                                      *
*      Space_banana at hotmail.com                   *
***************************************************


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com