What is the Best PCB Layout software ? (Money no object)

:)

I would think three would be the minimum (one is definitely out of the question). IMO you need a third monitor for datasheets, web browser, e-mail, and other stuff that needs to be consulted while working on the schematic/board.

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Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! Should I get locked 
                                  at               in the PRINCICAL'S 
                              gmail.com            OFFICE today -- or have 
                                                   a VASECTOMY??

I've got a color laser printer---the color printout is better, but still less readable than B&W.

I wish that people who put out schematics as PDF documents would offer a B&W version. The color PDF schematics are also illegible.

Mark Borgerson

I got the PADS software long before I had a color laser printer. As I said, the nice thing about PADS is that it produces good B&W output. I've just found out that EAGLE will also do B&W outputand I wish that people who put schematics into PDFs would use that option.

As for the PADS cost, it was part of a consulting contract. I didn't plan to do color prints, so I didn't add a color printer to the contract.

Mark Borgerson

Good point. I use a second computer with a single monitor for the, emails and web browsing. The two computers are on two sides of an "L" on my bench, so I can just swivel my chair and move about a foot to type on the other keyboard.

I can usually get by with two monitors for the PCB layout stuff. By the time I get to the layout stage, I'm pretty much past the data sheet stage. It generally works out as schematics on one monitor and data sheets and web on the other. At the layout stage it is layout on the larger (24") monitor and schematic on the 21" monitor.

With even 1920x1080 24" monitors being under $200, there's no reason not to have at least two. If you want more than two, you may need a second graphics card in the PC.

Mark Borgerson

I have two machines at work too - a Linux system with two monitors for doing most of my work, and a Windows one with a single monitor for legacy stuff (including Altium, though I don't do much with it).

Always go for 1920x1200 if you can - the extra vertical pixels are invaluable for most purposes other than watching films. I used to like a 1600x1200 monitor for a second (or third) monitor, simply because they don't take up as much desk space and you don't need so much horizontal pixel space for email or a web browser (though vertical space is essential). But the price of such monitors has gone through the roof in recent years.

2560x1440 monitors are getting much cheaper now too, and are great for design work or programming - I am very happy with the one I have at home.

I wonder if you could turn a 19" monitor on its side and get the OS to swap the axes. Phones and tablets do that---why not computer monitors. Radius or somebody used to make a monitor with a swiveling stand so that the display better matched paper pages. Now most software just gives you the option to see two pages side-by-side.

Those larger monitors are still 3 to 4 times the cost of the 23 and

24" monitors. If I were doing boards larger than 3x5", I would probably get one in spite of the cost premium.

Mark Borgerson

30" monitors are quite affordable these days.. $999 Cdn. on sale for the Dell UltraSharp. Three would be nice.. 2560 x 1600 each.

Cripes. The Canadian dollar must be worth a lot. I'm seeing USD1399 at the above link. And no sale price on it.

Jon

If this link doesn't wrap everywhere in the post:

I see that this store offers it at USD1049.

Jon

In Windows, it's a function of the video card or device driver. And usually the utilities that come with the video card will provide that function. Usually you can right-click the desktop, and find those controls somewhere under there.

Sure. All my Samsung LCD monitors will rotate into a "vertical" position.

However, they don't inform the system about it electronically, so you have to configure the Xorg server to let it know which monitor(s) you've rotated.

I know Xorg lets you rotate monitors, and I assume Windows does too...

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Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! I know how to do 
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                              gmail.com

Only worth a bit more (but buys less generally) than a USD. Boxing day sale seems to be over now, but it goes on for 999 a couple times a year. It's CAD 1399 at the moment.

Prices _were_:

23" - $179 24"- $249

27"-$699

30"-$999

Optimum pixels or in^2 per dollar is THREE of one of the first two, pivoted to vertical. Not counting what the video card(s) might do to your wallet.

Unfortunately, they don't often offer that option with monitors larger than about 24".

I used P-CAD for many years and dumped them when Altium bought it out and turned it into Protel.

I have been very happy with Zuken, especially their customer support.

Most (all?) monitors have provisions for mounting screws - usually four threaded holes in a rectangle on the back. Just like most (all?) TVs.

You'd think that in c.a.e needing a sideways monitor stand would be more an invitation to haul out some tools than an actual problem... ;-)

At the risk of stating the obvious... If money is no object, pick up the phone and farm out the PCB design...or the schematic...or the project. Life is too short to waste on things where money is no object.

Send all that excess money to me. I'll put it to good use.

While money may not be a constraint, complete control of the board design process may be on the list. You lose a lot of that control when you farm out the board layout.

Mark Borgerson

I'm not in front of a Windows machine right now, but ISTR you need to experiment with ctrl-alt-cursor key combinations.

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Andrew Smallshaw 
andrews@sdf.lonestar.org

While I can't argue with your statement, I suggest that anybody asking such a vague question is unlikely to do a better layout job than someone experienced with the types of designs being implemented and the tools to do so.

"Money is no object" is a clue that the OP is clueless.