I've owned a 99SE license for several years, but I'm still using my old copy of Protel 98. It's looking like I'd better get up to speed on 99 (Still being used at several of our contractors in China). I have several areas where I'm in need of some strategy advice. You know, the kind of decisions you don't want to make by digging through the help system when it's too late. 1. I'm a bit apprehensive about the "DDB vs. Windows File System" decision. In the past, I've been content with having to manually generate & load Netlists and back-annotation. I often use the PCB editor to create sketches, etc that are never related to a schematic, so just having a .PCB file was fine. It looks like keeping every part of a design within a single DDB can simplify things, but it forces a working style that packages *everything* at a 1-DDB-per-project level. What if there is a logical system/schematic heirarchy, but different contractors working on different PCB designs? Also, libraries concern me - see next 2 items. 2. I want to maintain a central PCB Footprint library that contains all of the component types we use. So far, that's only ~400 parts and ~4Megs (I draw relatively fancy silkscreen outlines). Can I reference one copy of one library for multiple projects? 3. A similar question applies to Schematic Libraries - Just one central library suits me well. When I need to create a new symbol, usually I either copy and modify an existing part, or I import from one of the existing Mfr's libraries. There is always some editing involved - I use different fill & outline colors based an part types, and I *never* use hidden power pins. 4. Something tells me I'll have to re-learn everything about printing & Gerber generation - any advice/good links for some Quick-Start info.? So, which file system, and what do I need to watch out for? Hopefully, I can start out by importing my P98 Libraries & designs. Thanks for any advice - Dan Pearce Sr. Design Engineer Bose Corporation Professional Systems Division
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