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Eagle board layout newbie question

Hello everyone. Hope someone can give me some pointers: I'm trying to position components on the board in some kind of orderly fashion, a pattern rather. The most important are the few LEDs , but for the rest of them I'd also like it to look good from an aesthetic point of view.

Here is my problem: I cannot find a way to align components in the board layout window. I mean, you can move them, and they stick to the grid, but that's about as much control over positioning of the components as you have. Unless I'm missing something.

Is there a way to select a group of components and run a command like any of the desktop graphic editors would have: align top, align center, align bottom, distribute equi-spaced, distribute centers etc, you got the idea. Am I asking too much of Eagle? Can someone please recommend a board layout software that is capable of more precise components placement if Eagle can't do?

Thanks a lot to all responded!

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Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
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Reply to
Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com)
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"Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com)" wrote in message news:spHod.11384$Vy.4412@trndny06...

Pulsonix will do what you want:

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apart from equi-spaced distribution (next version should have it)

and EasyPC will do most of it:

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considerably cheaper. Both are from the same parent company.

Leon

Reply to
Leon Heller

Hi Leon, Thank you for the suggestion. The prices for both systems are way over my head, considering I'm a hobbyist. That was the reason Eagle got picked. I would consider another software if it can be kept as inexpensive as possible. So, is it definitely not doable in Eagle?

-- Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD

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Reply to
Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com

I just checked with the copy I have, and it doesn't look like it. EasyPC starts at under 100 GBP (500 pins limit), which is about the same price as Eagle.

Reply to
Leon Heller

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 14:02:00 GMT in sci.electronics.cad, "Dmitri\\(Cabling-Design.com\\)" wrote,

AFAIK, not provided in Eagle.

One time I wanted a uniform circle of LEDs, so I created a little basic program to calculate the positions using sin and cosine. I wrote out the results to a script file in the form:

move d1 (1.125 2.125); move d2 (1.50768 2.04888); move d3 (1.83211 1.83211); move d4 (2.04888 1.50768); move d5 (2.125 1.125); move d6 (2.04888 0.742317); move d7 (1.83211 0.417893); move d8 (1.50768 0.20112); move d9 (1.125 0.125); move d10 (0.742317 0.20112); move d11 (0.417893 0.417893); move d12 (0.20112 0.742317); move d13 (0.125 1.125); move d14 (0.20112 1.50768); move d15 (0.417893 1.83211); move d16 (0.742317 2.04888);

Then all I had to do was execute that script within Eagle board layout to move my parts before routing the board.

Reply to
David Harmon

Leon,

Eagle is Free (0 GBP) in its hobbyist configuration.

Markus

Reply to
Markus Baertschi

That's a great suggestion, David. I guess, I should spend more time learning the command language in Eagle. That would work perfect for me. Little cumbersome, but manageable.

--
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
http://www.cabling-design.com
Cabling Forum, color codes, pinouts and other useful resources for
premises cabling users and pros
http://www.cabling-design.com/homecabling
Residential Cabling Guide
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Reply to
Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 17:09:50 GMT in sci.electronics.cad, info_at_cabling-design_dot snipped-for-privacy@foo.com (Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com)) wrote,

Glad you like it. Here's another trick:

Since mouse clicks snap to grid, if you have a component misaligned relative to the grid (for instance, if you have changed the grid to a funny number) it can be tricky to move it where you want. Click, move, click leaves it still misaligned by the same amount, since both clicks were grid-relative.

Instead, type move d1 then click where you want it. The component is selected by its origin point, then dropped exactly at the grid snap point. Combined with suitably chosen grid, that may get you some of what you want.

Reply to
David Harmon

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