Hi Brad, > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brad Velander > > > Dennis, > I watched a few of them (6-8), yes I would have to > admit they are minimally instructive but I found them far > from complete or fully instructive. It is not much better > than sitting and watching an experienced user operate the > package in real-time (as fast as they can go) while you are > trying to learn. Some of it just raised more questions than > they answered. I went back and checked for a pertinent > example from what I viewed.
That's what I want to see, how a pro users the package. The videos are not step by step instructions yet, expect that will come in time. The speed can be too fast, when you see it for the first time, in fact these are slower then the earlier videos which I made the same comment to Altium about them being too fast. But you can pause and watch them over as many times as you like. I don't find them fast at all now. > In the Smart Paste demo at approx. the 35-40% mark they > are creating a smart paste bus based upon the previously > selected nets. I rewound and replayed this section of the > demo many times just trying to see what I might have missed > the first few times. They select "Ports, Wires and Netlabels" > but from that point forward there is no additional details > that define a Bus, Wire, Port or a Netlabel. Why it places a > bus and doesn't place a set of wires or a Port. There is also > a port length setting as well as "Wire length", what > determines that you placed a Bus with the "Wire" length > setting vs. a Port with the set "Port length"? There was no > choice or selection made to place a Bus, "Ports, Wires and > Netlabels", so if I had wanted individual Wires, a Port or > Netlabels, I got a Bus! I the lower middle part of the Smart Paste dialog _you_ choose the modes, grouped nets (bus) or Expand Nets (wires etc). No Magic so far. She talks about this at about 30% in. Here is a picture of the dialog... http://www.altium.com/Files/AltiumDesigner/images/smartpaste.jpg > At about the 60% point of this same Smart Paste demo > they add an input port to a sheet, all that occurs on screen > is that a bus and port symbol are pasted next to a sheet > symbol and then the cursor is clicked on the edge of the > sheet, magically a sheet input symbol with the correct symbol > naming appears. It is even already an input symbol with the > correct name (how was it determined that the symbol should be > input and not output or bidirectional?). Sheet Entries is the Paste as choice in the Smart Paste Dialog, (top middle section). The direction is just a default, you need to double click on it and change to the required type. > Maybe I am missing > something on this one because it seems it is part of the FPGA > suite function. Is it that advanced that it assumes your > single click wants the input port symbol, somehow based upon > some previous input/output function elsewhere on those > signals? It may pickup the direction from the sheet, as the direction is already set on the sheet below earlier. She does open this dialog and change the direction on the second sheet symbol. > they have similar intelligence in regular SCH as > well? Although it could be rather annoying at times when the > program is trying to second guess your design intent. What > happens with multiple outputs or inputs tied together at some > point, how would it determine your connection/signal-flow > intent in those cases? So here this is just one example where > I have assumed there were additional operations missing from > the video. Most operations are shown, the only jumps are when they change to another sheet, they would use the favorites panel to do this, you can jump to pre saved locations. None of the example is special to FPGA's, this is all working in any schematic. It is a lot to take in at first, but doesn't take long to get the hang of it. Regards, Darren Moore PS There has been a lot of changes since 99SE, most over the last few years, and if you have been holding out, then it does look like a strange world for a while. The only way I found it to really become easy to use was to switch, and stop thinking like 99. ____________________________________________________________ You are subscribed to the PEDA discussion forum To Post messages: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe and Other Options: http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/peda_techservinc.com Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004): http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current): http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
