[sdiy] OT: Help with Eagle CAD

[Rainer Buchty]

> Is there some way of changing where the ID sits in relation to the 
> actual component like in ExpressPCB?

I don't now anything about ExpressPCB, but you can use the "Smash" 
function to separate ID and description ("name" and "value" in Eagle 
terms) from the main symbol.

The default placement is defined within the library, i.e. where the 
>NAME and >VALUE texts are placed.

> In the schematic mode I like to place the values of the compnents but 
> I don't necessarily want them to be printed on the PCB. If I turn off 
> the values in the view menu for the PCB does this mean they will not 
> be printed when the PCB is made?

Ask the PCB manufacturer... But I would think that they respect those 
settings.

In the end, they will fire up the CAM processor anyway, I guess.

> The autorouter uses extremely thin wires, where can I change the wire 
> width it uses by default?

It's a long time since I used the autorouter (it's no good anyway), but 
IIRC just set the general wire width (click on the Route symbol, then 
set the width in the upper right) to the desired size and fire it up.

> I must say though I would never pay money for it unless they did 
> something about that dreadfull library - sheesh was that the best they 
> could come up with?

The library concept in Eagle 4 is *much* better than that of V3.x, but 
agreed, compared to others it's a major PITA.

If you want to try out something more professional, get the freeware 
version of BAE (Bartels AutoEngineer). Its Unlike Eagle, it's not space 
but component-limited (also CAM and User Language output are disabled), 
and contains a damn good autorouter. However, the learning curve is much 
steeper for the average user. Also BAE is available for Linux and 
Windows, see
	http://bartels.de/bae/bae_en.htm

Rainer