What a year! 2017 was a turning point in EAGLE's evolution with Autodesk releasing version 8, their take on a classic product with a pedigree going back over 30 years. What can one say but wow, what a deluge of changes and releases that have taken place this last year. Who could have guessed the pace of change of one of the world's best known PCB design packages. Although the change to a subscription license model was unpopular with a subset of old EAGLE users the energy, enthusiasm and devotion shown by Autodesk to developing the capabilities of Eagle demonstrates the positive side of the subscription model - genuine progress and continuous improvement.
Now for the review, lets look at a simple timeline for last year to see just how active Autodesk have been with Eagle.
| Month | Date | Version | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16/01/2017 | 8.0 | Design Blocks BGA fanout router Loop removal for redundant path wires Manual routing can now start at a pad, trace or via. |
| February | 10/02/2017 | 8.0.1 | Standard Edition now supports 4 signal layers (up from 2). Interactive MITER now closely follows cursor in route and straight mode. SLICE command made grid aware like similar commands. |
| March | 03/03/2017 | 8.0.2 | Improved Linux performance. |
| 15/03/2017 | 8.1 | New ROUTE mode settings (ignore obstacles, walkaround obstacles) adjusts routing to contour around obstacles. BGA router support for non-square BGAs. Support Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V for copy/paste operations. Various bug fixes. | |
| April | 17/04/2017 | 8.1.1 | Comprehensive align and distribute options for PCB editor. DRC airwires error reporting improved. Improve library editor add device/symbol/package |
| May | 11/05/2017 | 8.2 | Managed libraries. Support for easily downloading updates to the built-in EAGLE libraries and installing new libraries. Design blocks can be directly accessed from the control panel's tree view. Various bug fixes. |
| 22/05/2017 | 8.2.1 | Improved performance for ROUTE avoid obstacle mode. | |
| June | 15/06/2017 | 8.2.2 | Offline mode for license, allowing local use for 14 days. Improved start up times. |
| July | A quiet month, maybe the developers were enjoying a well deserved summer holiday! | ||
| August | 08/08/2017 | 8.3.0 | Integration with Fusion 360 (FUSIONSYNC command) allowing 3D board models and bidirectional synchronisation. New Single Layer Mode to grey out all layers except the one being routed. Managed library 3D package support. New design blocks from SparkFun, AdaFruit adn Nordic. New vector font. |
| 16/08/2017 | 8.3.1 | Update tutorials and demo examples to reference 3D models. Upgrade to many bundled libraries to add more 3D models. | |
| September | 06/09/2017 | 8.3.2 | ROUTE enhancements including switching to opposite ends of airwire, snap to grid when routing to and existing wire and allowing microvias to be placed when routing out of a SMD. Added ULP support for 3D packages. Various bug fixes |
| October | 17/10/2017 | 8.4.0 | Integrated SPICE simulation based on ngspice simulator. Supported simulation types include AC, DC, Transient and Operating Point. Live DRC to update as you work on a design Flip Board feture to allowing viewing from bottom side. Command line autocompletion added. Various minor enhancements and bug fixes. |
| 31/10/2017 | 8.4.1 | Preview window added for library editor table of contents. Various bug fixes. | |
| November | 15/11/2017 | 8.4.2 | Lots of bug fixes and small improvements. |
| 27/11/2017 | 8.4.3 | Minor bug fixes. | |
| December | 12/12/2017 | 8.5.0 | Interactive Push and Shove trace routing Simulation plot enhancements. Ability to lock wires, holes, vias and polygons. Enhance execution to ULP and Scripts. Minor bug fixes. |
| 21/12/2017 | 8.5.1 | Minor bug fixes | |
Quite a list I'm sure you'll agree, and some really big features in there such as ECAD<=>MCAD integration, 3D libraries, design blocks, SPICE simulation and and push & shove routing. I would like to congratulate the EAGLE software development team for doing a truly impressive job, long may it continue.
Why not add a comment and congratulate the developers and maybe let them know what you would like adding next. With the speed features are getting added you never know what will turn up next.
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