PCB layout with diff pairs

Thing is, a whole lot of folks won't need the layout part.

I just got a response from Kovac re AutoTrax, saying that it does support hierarchies by using subsystems, whatever that means. One can download the SW and test drive it for a while. So I'll do that. I remember that AutoTrax had a really good reputation back in the DOS days.

I think a lot of hobbyists do, although they're probably doing to be OK with the more pin-count-limited (cheaper) PCB packages too.

Cool, please let us know what you think of it.

This here, right? -->

---Joel

P.S. -- Next time you see an LDO misbehaving, here's a book you can point the designers to:

Eagle would be good for them. Pin-count limits are IMHO stupid. What Eagle does is limit the layout size and restrict to two layers.

I will.

Maybe he likes retro. Z80, SN7401 and uA741 are certainly blasts from the past. But I guess he isn't interested in marketing fluff, like other EDA vendors who ramble on "With our socks you can fly all the way to the moon" and then do not even list prices.

I usually point my clients away from LDO :-)

If you really need an LDO it may be better to go straight to a switcher.

PC,

ight try

Contact them for a quotation.

Leon

Caveat: This is not the same product, nor the same people as the DOS Autotrax.

DOS Autotrax was released to the public domain, along with EasyTrax, the less deluxe version. They're both now free.

I used the latter and loved its speed and point-to-point "autorouter". Good stuff.

Alas, I couldn't get either to run on modern Bill Gates computers.

Hmmm, Wikipedia says they should...

Cheers, James Arthur

Oh, thanks, didn't know that.

What happens? So far I could get all my DOS-SW to run. Some was compiled with a Borland Compiler that had a bug but there is a routine to fix the runtime error this causes. No idea about Vista since I do not use that.

I don't remember exactly. Worked fine under Win 3.1. Under XP I think a DOS box opens up and flashes something subliminally quickly, then closes before you can read it.

I tried mightily at the time to fix it, but I've since switched to Sprint-Layout 5.0 for circuit boards.

Cheers, James Arthur

I took a look at their sPlan. Seems they do not offer a sheet hierarchy either. Why do so many software houses miss that?

Altium Designer is doing that well. It equalizes the length of both conductors interactively. You can even define a set of say 4 differential pairs to be within eg. 10mil, and it does that while the

Rene

yeah, by definition, if you have to ask it MUST be too expensive :)

y PC,

might try

It starts at under $3,000.

Leon