Homebrew PCBs

Andrew wrote:
> I use autotrax (protel now free one - not the
> new thing called autotrax) and it dates back
> to DOS itself.

Oh, I love Autotrax. It's just a bit on the outdated side, but still perfectly 
usable. I've been running it inside a patched copy of DOSBox (the CVS 
version). My version has "pause on focus loss", i.e. if the window doesn't 
have input focus then the simulation pauses. This sends DOSBox's CPU usage 
plummeting to near zero while you're scanning through your design notes.

What I'd REALLY like to get my mitts on is a copy of the old OrCAD SDT DOS CAD 
package. One of my friends had a copy and showed me the basics, but I've not 
been able to track down a copy of my own yet :(

> I LOVE the weird alien keystrokes and have been
> holding off getting new windows based SW
> becuase they all do weird things like CTRL+C
> for copy.  Its just not as natural as
> B-D-B-C-Y.

Block-Define, Block-Copy, Yes

> But then again - I thought WordStar editing
> keys where very useable.

Try Vim :)

INS The quick brown fox ESC :wmyfile.txt<CR> V <cursor left 3x> Y <cursor 
right 3x> P :wq

It's convoluted, but it's fun!

> But seriously guys - the UI is pretty unimportant
> isn't it ?  It's like saying a honda CB250 is a
> better family car than a volvo becuase it comes
> in red.

That's true to a certain degree. EAGLE, Autotrax and SDT are nice because 
they're logical. Everything has a reason for being, and you can sort of plan 
out how you're going to do something. EAGLE follows enough of the Windows UI 
styles to be easy to use, and also has the command line for when you really 
don't want to move your hand off the mouse.

The free version of Seetrax Ranger 2 for Windows is - hands down - the single 
worst CAD app I've ever used. The whole "libraries have numeric IDs" is 
incredibly annoying, as is the lack of scroll bars or any easy way to move 
around the page, short of move-mouse, hit space, pray. No thanks...

But I will take a look at KiCAD. That looks nice, although the lack of an 
autorouter might be a bit bothersome.

Thanks.
-- 
Phil.                         | Kitsune: Acorn RiscPC SA202 64M+6G ViewFinder
philpem@...         | Cheetah: Athlon64 3200+ A8VDeluxeV2 512M+100G
http://www.philpem.me.uk/     | Tiger: Toshiba SatPro4600 Celeron700 256M+40G