Steve and Andrew, Thank you for responding to my query about the nature of the contemporary versions of AutoCAD. It would be nice to think that certain providers of EDA applications would regard AutoCAD as a role model as far as software quality is concerned, and as such, a target to similarly aspire to.
And in case anyone is interested, the other PCB designing application which I was thinking of yesterday (other than gEDA) was Kicad; two related URLs are as follows: http://kicad.sourceforge.net/en/index.shtml http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad There are both Linux and Windows versions of Kicad, and source code is also available for downloading by anyone who is interested in modifying it and/or contributing to its improvement. (And there are also two Yahoo! based two mailing lists, catering for users and developers.) Prior to acquiring and evaluating any related files, my initial assessment is that it is also unlikely to currently be a significant threat to Altium Designer. That said though, perhaps the potential for it to be a future threat to AD could be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to providing Altium with an incentive to lift their act. If I can find some time to look at Kicad and gain some idea of what it is like, I will report back. But if anyone else has already taken a look at it, I (and I suspect others) would still be interested to hear what they have to say about it. Regards, Geoff Harland. We use 2004 here at Avtron. Same conclusions. It is one of the most rock solid applications I've ever used. I've been using it for as long as I've been using Protel. It's not as tailored to EDA, but unlike Protel, it is solid, stable, and infinitely configurable. Sad to hear that it uses the new virtual dongling that has become the norm. Understandable from the software giant's POV (need I mention the wholesale and factory-sized IT thievery that certain far-east nations have and are engaging in?), but sad all the same. aj >Geoff, > >We have AutoCAD 2007. As far as major bugs, there are none to report. >It has on rare occasions locked up on me. I have used AutoCAD >11, 12, 2000, 2004 and it has always been a very stable >product. There have been only 2 patches released for 2007. >Printing has gotten incrementally easier with each release. >They added a PDF printout that is decent but could use a >little improvement as far as resolution is concerned. Moving, >editing, rotating and dimensioning have been marginally >improved over time. Editing blocks has gotten much easier. >Most of the old commands from the DOS versions still work. >Supposedly some of the biggest improvements have come in 3D >but we rarely use that here. Customizing the menus and >toolbars has been greatly improved along with text editing and >can now be linked to spreadsheets. I know that some claim it >is not intuitive for the casual user, but I have found it to >be a powerful, useful, and very stable piece of software. >What I dislike the most about AutoCAD is that I can no longer >have a second copy of it on my home system unless we purchase >their subscription plan, a $495 adder. > >Regards, >Steve Smith Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________ 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]
