When I tried Design Spark PCB I wasn't impressed, though I'm told it has got better in the intervening year or so.
An example: most PCB design packages put down multi opamps/logic chips as individual pieces with 1 gate/opamp per piece (e.g. U16A, U16B, U16C, U16D), but DS PCB placed a single glom of all four opamps in a rectangular lump with all the pins and I had to sort out the mess. When I complained I was told - well it's easy to design your own component/footprint/package to do it your way - but I don't wan't to do that sort of basic stuff. That said I use Multisim/Ultiboard, and despair over Ultiboard's autorouting - it doesn't seem to understand that a straight line is the shortest route between two pins that have the same X or Y coordinates, and regularly fails to route when there is a blindingly obvious route (same layer, no obstructions etc.) that won't break any design rules. Regards, David Partridge _______________________________________________ volt-nuts mailing list -- volt-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volt-nuts and follow the instructions there.
