[sdiy] Aaron's first PCB layout

[Aaron Lanterman]

dOn Jun 7, 2008, at 7:30 AM, Michael Zacherl wrote:

>> After much cussing and fussing, I think I finally have come to an  
>> understanding with Eagle. Wow, what an unintuitive program! But I  
>> think I have the hang of it.
>
> what did you find to be the biggest help to climb up the steep  
> learning curve?

Huh, I'm not sure. It just sort of clicked at one point. One big  
realization (someone on SDIY posted this observation a long time ago)  
is that every mouse click sequence is just mapping to a sequence of  
text commands. I was frustrated that you couldn't just click and drag  
to select a bunch of things to move - then I found the "group" icon  
that lets you do that (but note the groups are not persistent). You  
then have to right-click (or ctrl-click) and be sure to select move  
group to move the whole group, otherwise you just select one part.  
SMASHing the part lets you move the annotations around separately,  
which helps make things more readable.

Imagine something being as non-Mac-like as possible but still using a  
mouse - that's a start.

When I was an undergrad we used something called CAPFAST, IIRC. I  
hated it and called it CRAPFAST. I wound up drawing out schematics for  
our project (it was a system-level digital design class of some sort)  
in Canvas.

>
>> I find I really enjoy the puzzle of laying out PCBs - it's like a  
>> game of Tetris.
>
> heh - I can see your point, but what if somebody doesn't like ...  
> Tetris?  :-D

Another analogy is Resident Evil 4, in which you have to rearrange the  
equipment in your briefcase to get it to fit. I think my wife would be  
good at that part.

> uh ... I think I missed it somewhere: what is it?  (you could print  
> it on the component side ;-)

Take a look at how the inputs and the outputs are labeled, and see if  
you can guess. ;)

> Just my 2c, :-)  cheers, Michael.  (still enjoying your Videos!!)

Thanks!

- Aaron