Quick bug fix!

A serious bug manifested itself earlier in the Pulsonix PCB software I use - I'd updated a complex part (FPGA) with additional net names assigned to pins and the software crashed whenever I performed an electrical rules check. I emailed the design to Pulsonix support and they sent me an updated DLL within two hours which fixed the bug!

Leon

Reply to
Leon
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In other words, either they already had the fix and hadn't notified their customers, or else they sent you an untested patch.

Sorry, I'm just a cynical software guy :-) Still, it's nice they sent you anything at all.

Reply to
Walter Harley

Actually, they are very good at fixes, even for the junior version Easy PC. A lot of effort is put into a product costing a few hundred pounds. Unlike some expensive compiler vendors I could name.

Paul Burke

Reply to
Paul Burke

No, they really do fix bugs you find. I found one as well (one of those minor "if you do this, which you might do accidentally but it's actually pretty unlikely you'd ever _intentionally_ do it, the software crashes" kind of bugs) and they fixed it within a few days.

I would say that some of the reason they have to be so responsive to bugs is that, being somewhat newer, I think they have a few more than some of the more established pieces of software; I also suspect that -- due to their considerably smaller user base -- there isn't exactly much of a "beta tester" program yet so more bugs make it out into the wild before being caught. But still, some of those "established" pieces of software such as Protel and ORCAD still have bugs that are now at the point where they'll probably never be fixed (i.e., they've been around through multiple major revisions), so Pulsonix's attitude is quite refreshing in this day and age.

I think Pulsonix stands a decent shot at gaining significant converts from the demographics that's willing to pay some amount of money for their software (there's many people who'll be using, e.g., ExpressPCB or GNU EDA or any random piece of pirated software because they're 100% unwilling or unable to pay _anything_ for their software), especially since Protel removed itself for the lower end of the market (and then purchased Accel's PCAD for their "higher end" offering), ORCAD has kinda stagnated, and PADS has firmly cemeted its position in the stratopshere, all within the past handful of years now.

For the really inexpensive market, Pulsonix has EasyPC, which I think compares favorably with Eagle (although Eagle does have scripting and a certain degree of cross-platform compatibility, which neither EasyPC nor Pulsonix do). Another newcomer to that market segment is Rimu PCB

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which looks incredibly good for the near-"giveaway" price the guy is charging for it.

---Joel Kolstad

Reply to
Joel Kolstad

I purchased RimuPCB back in mid-2003 and used it to do my first non-ExpressPCB layout. It was a 4-layer with inner layers for power and ground. I finished the layout, generated the gerbers, and sent them to a local fab shop. I received a call later in the day, and was told that that THERE WERE NO PADS ON THE INNER (PLANE) LAYERS!

I emailed Julan Hutson, then spoke with him by phone that evening. By the time I got home, he had sent me a new version (or DLL, I don't recall exactly) which fixed the problem.

As someone who has kicked the tires on quite a few PCB layout programs, I can honestly say that RimuPCB was one of the most intuitive programs I have tried - similiar in 'high intution' ranking to ExpressPCB.

There is one aspect of RimuPCB's design rule checking (DRC) which could cause a serious problem if one is not careful. If nets are connected through a power plane polygon (poured copper), these nets are not flagged as 'connected' in a DRC run. The following is an excerpt from my original inquiry to the author about this issue.

"If I run an electrical DRC after I have updated both power plane polygons, it still shows that I have lots of 'incomplete nets', even though they are connected together through the power plane thermal reliefs."

The author replied to me on 17 January that "I will think about that before the new version comes out."

Until this issue is fixed, the DRC is incomplete. But, if one verifies that all power is connected after copper pours, this is one tool that is well worth the money.

I have no affiliation with or stake in RimuPCB. I just like to recommend things that are elegant and work in an intuitive manner.

YMMV

Urb

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Reply to
Paul Urbanus

Like when my Electrolux hoover shredded a plastic bit: The lady in the service department knew EXACTLY which part no. is was straight off the trigger word "hoover"...

Reply to
Frithiof Andreas Jensen

They have a very thorough beta-testing programme on every new release, I'm one of the testers! The beta-testing phase typically takes six months.

Leon

Reply to
Leon

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