Anyone imported/export WinQCad <-> OrCad?

Insist on a free trial. My experience with OrCAD is that import/export leaves lots to be desired. ...Jim Thompson

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Sure, but if it works here a couple times that's no real guarantee. Orcad has this habit of not being very backward compatible so if this breaks with every new release it won't work well. Justwanted to know if anyone had some longer term experience.

This is where I must say that the ME world is better. I get a lot of stuff in Autocad and I can always read that in using my non-Autocad CAD. Two clients even send schematics in Autocad. Probably because it always reads in right ...

OrCAd's only guarantee is that it'll crash. The crashes are quite compatible from one version to version.

I think MEs demand that their software works.

You've got to be kidding. 3D CAD packages (eg. SW, SE) are not compatible from one YEAR to the next (only backward, and they can't save in older formats, only a mandatory update to the new version when saved). That forces everyone who deals with other companies to upgrade fairly promptly, and keeps a green gusher of "maintenance" payments flowing in.

Orcad is MUCH more compatible between versions, especially Crapture, which is where you generally interface between companies and designers.

Well, Acad probably still has moldy code in it from 1974..

New formats, yes, but:

Quote "Speaking of file size, AutoCAD 2010 brings with it a new DWG file format. While the software can open drawings saved in earlier versions, anyone needing to share drawings with someone using an older release will need to specifically save in the older format."

The usual, File -> Save as -> select from drop-down menu.

AFAIR it goes almost back to hieroglyphs, hammer and chisel.

That has sometimes resulted in a DBO3220 read error when at clients, whatever the heck that meant.

But it works, I can read the stuff, the information gets across :-)

That's one of the things that drove me away from it. I am not the most patient PC user and I've managed to bring it into hard freezes several times before it was even lunchtime.

So do I. Which is why I switched to Eagle. It doesn't crash.

But I am still in the market for something better that has a hierarchical sheet structure. That's IMHO the only (but huge) flaw of Eagle.