Re: Learning schematic layout - Orcard or PADS?
- From: James Morrison <spam1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 07 Jun 2005 08:50:14 -0400
Andy,
If you just want to learn about PCB layout then there are much cheaper
options than PADS or Orcad. I use Cadsoft Eagle and I like it. It
takes a bit of getting used to but its not bad. Its really no different
than any other system I've used: Once you know how to do things its
pretty good. It has some limitations but for the price you can't beat
it. There are also various license arrangements from free to the full
blown professional. There is a not-for-profit license that you would
qualify for if you're just tinkering around.
I'm not sure that you will be able to avoid learning PCB design if you
want to do layout. That's sort of like saying you want to drive but you
don't want to study to get a license. Sure in the end you may be able
to point the car somewhere at you'll probably move if you know just a
little bit. But the results will be less than desirable. If your PCB
isn't designed correctly you can completely negate a well designed FPGA
or ASIC and cause the whole assembly to not even function.
There are other free packages out there as well that will allow you to
learn. Someone has a list of over 60 packages that are reviewed and
linked. I can't recall off the top of my head but its been posted
either here or in sci.electronics.design. Try google to find it.
Cheers.
On Tue, 2005-06-07 at 03:41 -0700, andy@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm a VHDL designer (of sorts) using FPGA's. Short of specifying pin
> outs for FPGA's I haven't got involved in board level layout, so far...
>
> I'm thinking of taking the plunge and buying Orcad or PADS, but as
> these are both expensive packages, I'd like to know first, just how
> difficult is schematic layout at the board level?
>
> What areas of knowledge do I have to learn? Primarily I'm designing PCI
> cards.
>
> I don't want to learn PCB design, that certainly seems to be a large
> area best left to experts! But I think being able to do my own layouts
> will save me some money... providing it's not to difficult and doesn't
> take a long time to learn.
>
> Any advice would be great.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andy
.
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