I've been using Protel since version 2.05 or something like that. ( it was a pig ). Then along came Protel 98. It was better but still oinked too often. Then came Protel 99. Finally something useable most of the time. Then the 99SE upgrade and finally service pack 6.
Protel 99SE is my mainstream package. I usually do at least 1 board a week with it. I've grown accustomed to it's bugs and can work around them with no problems. The biggest board I've done with Protel 99SE was a Windows CE based handheld computer with 400+ components and an 8 layer board. 5 mil traces on 5 mil spaces. I had a few problems with corrupted data files with that large of a design but tech support worked them out for me. 15 or so schematic pages made up that design. The schematics never had a problem, the PC board files were the corrupted ones.
So I'd say I'm a satisfied Protel 99SE user.
Having not yet seen the new version that will be released soon, I would be hard pressed to buy it as a new user today.
With the original price I paid for the Protel package and all the upgrades I feel I just got a useable system with the 99SE version. It still has memory leak problems that I will be suprised if they ever get fixed. No way I would pay 8 grand for it. At $6000 it was overpriced. I got in at $3000 + $2000 in upgrades over the years.
I also got into Pads PCB 3.something last year and now the 4.0 upgrade for only $495 as a Protel user. It's different
but I think a little more stable. The Pads PCB layout software is great. Powerlogic the schematic capture of Pads in my opinion sucks. I much prefer Protel.
Pads only dings you for $495 maintenance a year.
The 3D board feature of Protel is cool. But it's only a tease. It's very lacking for what they could have done with it. I rarely
use it. The PLD programming features are a joke. I've never gotten more than a very simple logic design to work. If you want to do programmable devices, stick to Abel, CUPL or one of the CPLD / FPGA vendor's proprietary toolsets.
The electrical simulation and signal integrity analysis also needs a lot of work. You would be better served with other SPICE type tools or even PCAD ( who Protel bought out by the way ).
The autorouter in Protel 99SE is useable for simple designs. The Blaze Autorouter from Pads is probably a few notches better. Protel will usually route the board but will do UGLY stupid stuff. It also has a habit of leaving conflicts routed which can result in shorted traces you might not notice.
If you want a real autorouter, then of course get Cadence Specctra. Now that is a FANTASTIC autorouter! But it's WAY pricey and certainly not affordable unless you are making $$$ ( and a lot of them ) with it.
The interface between Protel 99SE and Specctra works great. Only one minor bug that pops up every once and a while and it's no big deal. 95% of the time it's seamless.
I personally would take a very close look at Pcad if I were buying new today. That view may change after I upgrade to the latest thing Protel is now advertising.
later,
Larry E.
----- Original Message -----
From: Randy Knutson
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Spray Etcher Geometry
Greetings!
I don't mean to advertise on this group but I think people should know about good software! Has everyone checked out protel 99se? www.protel.com It is an 8000 dollar software package but you can download the evaluation version which does EVERYTHING the real version does except that it does it for only 30 days. I downloaded the evaluation version and have fallen in love with it! :) It does schematic capture, simulation (XSPICE), and PCB (autoroute). If your graphics adapter is OpenGL compatible you can render your circuit board. This thing is sweet!
Hope it interests you!
Randy Knutson
Minnesota State University, Mankato
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