EAGLE FEATURE SURVEY

On 8/23/2012 6:38 PM, Jorge_Garcia wrote:

Hello fellow EAGLE users,

 

I've made a simple GoogleDocs Form as a type of survey and I would like to gather as much feedback as possible. The survey has only one question: What features would you like to see in future versions of EAGLE? Simply select the radio button of the feature you'd like to see, type in a few comments if you so desire and hit the submit button. That's it.

 

Here's the link for the form:

 

http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEF4MWdPVXgxNjdHMk9aWE5wOTNyQmc6MQ

 

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reply to this thread.

 

Thanks in advance for your participation.

 

Best Regards,

Jorge Garcia

Cadsoft Support

 

When I tried to use the form it would not let me select more than one

feature.   My impression from the instructions was that I would be able

to select several?

Jim

The URL does not work for me . . .

On 8/23/2012 3:38 PM, Jorge_Garcia wrote:

Hello fellow EAGLE users,

 

I've made a simple GoogleDocs Form as a type of survey and I would like to gather as much feedback as possible. The survey has only one question: What features would you like to see in future versions of EAGLE? Simply select the radio button of the feature you'd like to see, type in a few comments if you so desire and hit the submit button. That's it.

 

Here's the link for the form:

 

http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEF4MWdPVXgxNjdHMk9aWE5wOTNyQmc6MQ

 

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reply to this thread.

 

Thanks in advance for your participation.

 

Best Regards,

Jorge Garcia

Cadsoft Support

 

On 8/23/2012 10:53 PM, Jim Littlefield wrote:

>>

>

When I tried to use the form it would not let me select more than one

feature.   My impression from the instructions was that I would be able

to select several?

 

Jim

 

Hi Jim,

The form only allows you to select one of the various options, however

we do look through the comments so if you have a top two or three,

select the Top feature with the radio button and right the other two in

the comments.

hth,

Jorge Garcia

On 8/25/2012 12:46 PM, Marvin Dawson wrote:

The URL does not work for me . . .

 

Hi Marvin,

Certain firewalls block GoogleDocs, so you may have to try on another

computer or temporarily disable your firewall to access the form.

hth,

Jorge Garcia

Am 24.08.2012 00:38, schrieb Jorge_Garcia:

I've made a simple GoogleDocs Form as a type of survey

Here some random thoughts about the different list entries. Numbers in

front of the list signify the importance of this entry (10=yes PLEASE,

0=forget it) based on my own very personal opinion.

  8  User Interface Improvements

       (See my previous posts for this)

  1  3D Visualization

       (That WOULD be nice in principle, but takes an AWFUL amount of

       manpower away for 3D library creation, so perhaps better

       not - we NEVER use the libraries from CadSoft, but ALWAYS

       create our own ones...)

10  Pad Stack

       (If 'pad stack' means the possibility of having different pads

       for top and bottom layers, YES PLEASE! If it means something

       else, I don't know)

  9  Schematic Hierarchy and Design Modularity

       (It would be VERY nice to have a sheet with some sort of block

       diagram, and if you double-click on a block, the corresponding

       sheet pops up. Additionally, with multi-channel boards one

       often finds a small error in one channel, and this then needs

       to be corrected eight times. It would be nice if there could

       be some channel connections so that a change oin one channel

       would be reflected in ALL of them. Though HOW this thing can

       be made to work EASILY, I've no idea)

  5  Simulation Facilities

       (Would be nice to have, but we can already do this with

       well-behaved ULPs here)

  4  More Import/Export Formats IDF, DXF, Netlists

       (Proper bitmap/vector imports/exports would be nice to have -

       and NOT only via external strange ULPs - but we don't need that

       SO often)

  2  Auto Placement

       (An auto-placer WOULD be nice in principle, but in order to

       get DECENT results, one would need to define SO many parameters

       that hand-placing might be easier overall)

  0  Multi-core or GPU support

  0  ODB++ Export

  0  Electrical Planning

  0  EAGLE for Tablet or Smartphones

       (or perhaps even MINUS ten instead of a zero in front)

  2  Autorouter improvements, push and shove, shape based, etc.

       (The current autorouter is possibly the worst in industry,

       and doing it correctly is an AWFUL amount of advanced

       programming. There are much more important things at the

       moment)

  8  Simplified Library Management, speedier part creation, etc.

       (though EAGLE has all NECESSARY functions for library management,

       their usage is QUITE outdated and VERY impractical. I'll write

       some additional posts with LOTS of suggestions concerning this

       when I find the time)

  0  Cloud Interface

  3  Version Control

       (With the current XML file scheme, integrating a version control

       should not be THAT difficult. BUT normally, one board is mainly

       created by ONE designer, and not many people fiddle around with

       it at the same time, so a version control might not be THAT

       important)

  4  Visual Difference Tool (Visually see differences between two boards)

       (That WOULD be nice, but I have no idea how the output of such a

       thing MIGHT look. Depending on that, it might be valuable or

       completely useless)

Overall, I think version 7 should include hierarchy and pad stack (for

the professionals), better user interface (for the newbies) and nicer

library handling (for both of them).

Andreas Weidner

On 9/5/12 12:20 PM, Andreas Weidner wrote:

Am 24.08.2012 00:38, schrieb Jorge_Garcia:

>> I've made a simple GoogleDocs Form as a type of survey

 

Here some random thoughts about the different list entries. Numbers in

front of the list signify the importance of this entry (10=yes PLEASE,

0=forget it) based on my own very personal opinion.

 

  8  User Interface Improvements

       (See my previous posts for this)

  1  3D Visualization

       (That WOULD be nice in principle, but takes an AWFUL amount of

       manpower away for 3D library creation, so perhaps better

       not - we NEVER use the libraries from CadSoft, but ALWAYS

       create our own ones...)

10  Pad Stack

       (If 'pad stack' means the possibility of having different pads

       for top and bottom layers, YES PLEASE! If it means something

       else, I don't know)

  9  Schematic Hierarchy and Design Modularity

       (It would be VERY nice to have a sheet with some sort of block

       diagram, and if you double-click on a block, the corresponding

       sheet pops up. Additionally, with multi-channel boards one

       often finds a small error in one channel, and this then needs

       to be corrected eight times. It would be nice if there could

       be some channel connections so that a change oin one channel

       would be reflected in ALL of them. Though HOW this thing can

       be made to work EASILY, I've no idea)

  5  Simulation Facilities

       (Would be nice to have, but we can already do this with

       well-behaved ULPs here)

  4  More Import/Export Formats IDF, DXF, Netlists

       (Proper bitmap/vector imports/exports would be nice to have -

       and NOT only via external strange ULPs - but we don't need that

       SO often)

  2  Auto Placement

       (An auto-placer WOULD be nice in principle, but in order to

       get DECENT results, one would need to define SO many parameters

       that hand-placing might be easier overall)

  0  Multi-core or GPU support

  0  ODB++ Export

  0  Electrical Planning

  0  EAGLE for Tablet or Smartphones

       (or perhaps even MINUS ten instead of a zero in front)

  2  Autorouter improvements, push and shove, shape based, etc.

       (The current autorouter is possibly the worst in industry,

       and doing it correctly is an AWFUL amount of advanced

       programming. There are much more important things at the

       moment)

  8  Simplified Library Management, speedier part creation, etc.

       (though EAGLE has all NECESSARY functions for library management,

       their usage is QUITE outdated and VERY impractical. I'll write

       some additional posts with LOTS of suggestions concerning this

       when I find the time)

  0  Cloud Interface

  3  Version Control

       (With the current XML file scheme, integrating a version control

       should not be THAT difficult. BUT normally, one board is mainly

       created by ONE designer, and not many people fiddle around with

       it at the same time, so a version control might not be THAT

       important)

  4  Visual Difference Tool (Visually see differences between two boards)

       (That WOULD be nice, but I have no idea how the output of such a

       thing MIGHT look. Depending on that, it might be valuable or

       completely useless)

 

Overall, I think version 7 should include hierarchy and pad stack (for

the professionals), better user interface (for the newbies) and nicer

library handling (for both of them).

 

Andreas Weidner

+10 for Andreas! I agree with all the numbers except the Autorouter

Improvements should be 8 instead of 2 (IMHO).

This would be a great list to put forth on the Internet for users to

vote on

Andrew.

Andrew Sterian wrote on Wed, 05 September 2012 12:44

On 9/5/12 12:20 PM, Andreas Weidner wrote:

Am 24.08.2012 00:38, schrieb Jorge_Garcia:

>> I've made a simple GoogleDocs Form as a type of survey

 

Here some random thoughts about the different list entries. Numbers

in

front of the list signify the importance of this entry (10=yes

PLEASE,

0=forget it) based on my own very personal opinion.

 

  8  User Interface Improvements

       (See my previous posts for this)

  1  3D Visualization

       (That WOULD be nice in principle, but takes an AWFUL amount

of

       manpower away for 3D library creation, so perhaps better

       not - we NEVER use the libraries from CadSoft, but ALWAYS

       create our own ones...)

10  Pad Stack

       (If 'pad stack' means the possibility of having different

pads

       for top and bottom layers, YES PLEASE! If it means

something

       else, I don't know)

  9  Schematic Hierarchy and Design Modularity

       (It would be VERY nice to have a sheet with some sort of

block

       diagram, and if you double-click on a block, the

corresponding

       sheet pops up. Additionally, with multi-channel boards one

       often finds a small error in one channel, and this then

needs

       to be corrected eight times. It would be nice if there

could

       be some channel connections so that a change oin one

channel

       would be reflected in ALL of them. Though HOW this thing

can

       be made to work EASILY, I've no idea)

  5  Simulation Facilities

       (Would be nice to have, but we can already do this with

       well-behaved ULPs here)

  4  More Import/Export Formats IDF, DXF, Netlists

       (Proper bitmap/vector imports/exports would be nice to have

-

       and NOT only via external strange ULPs - but we don't need

that

       SO often)

  2  Auto Placement

       (An auto-placer WOULD be nice in principle, but in order to

       get DECENT results, one would need to define SO many

parameters

       that hand-placing might be easier overall)

  0  Multi-core or GPU support

  0  ODB++ Export

  0  Electrical Planning

  0  EAGLE for Tablet or Smartphones

       (or perhaps even MINUS ten instead of a zero in front)

  2  Autorouter improvements, push and shove, shape based, etc.

       (The current autorouter is possibly the worst in industry,

       and doing it correctly is an AWFUL amount of advanced

       programming. There are much more important things at the

       moment)

  8  Simplified Library Management, speedier part creation, etc.

       (though EAGLE has all NECESSARY functions for library

management,

       their usage is QUITE outdated and VERY impractical. I'll

write

       some additional posts with LOTS of suggestions concerning

this

       when I find the time)

  0  Cloud Interface

  3  Version Control

       (With the current XML file scheme, integrating a version

control

       should not be THAT difficult. BUT normally, one board is

mainly

       created by ONE designer, and not many people fiddle around

with

       it at the same time, so a version control might not be THAT

       important)

  4  Visual Difference Tool (Visually see differences between two

boards)

       (That WOULD be nice, but I have no idea how the output of

such a

       thing MIGHT look. Depending on that, it might be valuable

or

       completely useless)

 

Overall, I think version 7 should include hierarchy and pad stack

(for

the professionals), better user interface (for the newbies) and

nicer

library handling (for both of them).

 

Andreas Weidner

 

+10 for Andreas! I agree with all the numbers except the Autorouter

Improvements should be 8 instead of 2 (IMHO).

 

This would be a great list to put forth on the Internet for users to

vote on

 

Andrew.

I think you guys are pretty close to right on.  I would add for design

houses like us, being able to get the design data into and out of other CAD

formats is a great feature.  I can see why normal usage in a company

wouldn't normally use this a lot.  But I get all sorts of projects in all

kinds of formats.  Being able to read in many formats would be a great

benefit.

I often see this around eval boards.  We get requests to take an eval board

(usually in Mentor or Cadence) and make a small change.  But I have to

quote a complete redesign and of course the cost is way too high.  CadSoft

just lost a customer because they would have moved to EAGLE.  In fact, if

EAGLE did this I would win lots of contracts like this.  And when the quote

includes the CAD tools they'll need to manage the design going forward they

save 1000's of dollars by using EAGLE over other options.  This is a design

cost that lots of people ignore but I use to win lots of design work.

I'd also add for library management, Altium has a really nice feature that

allows you to copy pin names out of datasheet tables and paste them into

the GUI.  Works great for parts with lots of pins and with copy/paste it is

very quick and reduces the possibility of typing errors or missing one

entry.  The same concept would be great to create pins in symbols and do

the connections in the device editor.

Forget the cloud.  What a useless marketing buzz.  The tech has been around

forever to have a remote hard drive.  Sure it's a bit easier but IMNSHO it

takes too much control and I turn it off in Mac OS X because I'd rather

control where my data goes.  And there are huge IP issues with that as

well.

Cheers,

James.

--

James Morrison  ~~~  Stratford Digital

Specializing in CadSoft EAGLE

• Online Sales to North America

• Electronic Design Services

• EAGLE Enterprise Toolkit

--

Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

- 10!!!! Better measure tool! I want an affordable tool to inspect lenght and distances in my pcb!!

- 10000 better DRC error description: For example If I have a  clearance error I want a column or popup or some system to tell me that

" the pad is only 0.0000001inch far from pin" and that tells me the rules that generate the error not only error and layer!!!!!

the measure tool can be useful to measure clearance, distance, etc etc

- a way to export settings/port it in another eagle

- a version control for all files! libraries, ulp, scr, schematic, project!!!

- port all ULP/ addendum to github or some other online collaboration tool in order to incentivate other people to contribute and manage to update libraries more easily

-  Schematic Hierarchy and Design Modularity;  I've used previously altium designer and I very like the possibility for example to group part of schematic and route them separately with autorouter or replicate a layout for multichannel design

- REPLACE some major ULP with program features for example 3d wings export, dxf imports. panelize, spice export, etc etc give it a menu name and incorporate these.

- !!!! DXF BOARD SHAPE IMPORT give the possibility to import dxf (or step :-) shapes to define board shapes!!! If I have a dxf/some other file with for example hole locations, board shape, precise component location I want to import it in eagle and use it to redefine board shape, place holes, snap components into specific places

- better snap: give the possibility to snap object position in other position other than the standard grid!: for example I have imported a dxf with the hole location of some control and I want to put potentiometer, button, led and snap it to the position definited by the mechanical cad

- Multi-core or GPU support -> not needed without 3d I think

- EAGLE for Tablet or Smartphones -> NOOO

- Simplified Library Management, speedier part creation, etc.

(+1 I also like to have a tool to automatic create array of holes, smd body part, or simply have menu to import some other package or symbol in library and after modif it to create a new part)

- Version Control

       very important! especially for share the created library and ULP between users!!! I think that a revision control system integrated in eagle website

with the extension download (ULP, scr, etc etc) can permit more users to integrate their correction and to expand the funcionality of eagle)

- Visual Difference Tool (Visually see differences between two boards)

       (very useful to multiple tasks, could be useful also for design variations

- An Eagle API to create extensions!! ULP are great but I think that an api could be better

Am 05.09.2012 18:20, schrieb Andreas Weidner:

Am 24.08.2012 00:38, schrieb Jorge_Garcia:

>> I've made a simple GoogleDocs Form as a type of survey

 

Here some random thoughts about the different list entries. Numbers in

front of the list signify the importance of this entry (10=yes PLEASE,

0=forget it) based on my own very personal opinion.

Here comes a 10 for Andreas... and i hope you don't mind taking your

list as a base for my vote

 

  8  User Interface Improvements

     8 from  me

  1  3D Visualization

       (That WOULD be nice in principle, but takes an AWFUL amount of

       manpower away for 3D library creation, snip

     1  from me because I see it the same way

10  Pad Stack

    5 from me, nice to have

  9  Schematic Hierarchy and Design Modularity

    10 from me. Certainly not easy imo, but that should be given hi

  priority...

  5  Simulation Facilities

       (Would be nice to have, but we can already do this with

       well-behaved ULPs here)

     Agreed

  4  More Import/Export Formats IDF, DXF, Netlists

       (Proper bitmap/vector imports/exports would be nice to have -

       and NOT only via external strange ULPs - but we don't need that

       SO often)

     6 from me because I often run into time consuming problems..

  2  Auto Placement

       (An auto-placer WOULD be nice in principle, but in order to

       get DECENT results, one would need to define SO many parameters

       that hand-placing might be easier overall)

     Yes, same sight here...

  0  Multi-core or GPU support

     There are more important things...

  0  ODB++ Export

     There are more important things...

  0  Electrical Planning

     There are more important things...

  0  EAGLE for Tablet or Smartphones

     There is always the cry for bigger screens...,or even multi screens

and now some people want a screen the size of three stamps...

  2  Autorouter improvements, push and shove, shape based, etc.

       (The current autorouter is possibly the worst in industry,

       and doing it correctly is an AWFUL amount of advanced

       programming. There are much more important things at the

       moment)

    Yeah, there IS an autorouter...

  8  Simplified Library Management, speedier part creation, etc.

       (though EAGLE has all NECESSARY functions for library management,

       their usage is QUITE outdated and VERY impractical.

     Fully agreed

  0  Cloud Interface

     Imho for the birds... Most work I do is confidential, so it goes to

the client and nowhere else.

  3  Version Control

       (With the current XML file scheme, integrating a version control

       should not be THAT difficult. BUT normally, one board is mainly

       created by ONE designer, and not many people fiddle around with

       it at the same time, so a version control might not be THAT

       important)

       Yes from me

  4  Visual Difference Tool (Visually see differences between two boards)

       (That WOULD be nice, but I have no idea how the output of such a

       thing MIGHT look. Depending on that, it might be valuable or

       completely useless)

     I have not seen that, so I say nothing to this item.

Personally I like to have either a second setting of size, one for

text/label and one for xref, or an automatic calculation that sets the

xref frame size (then with smaller text inside of course)equal to the

normal text size.

--

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With best regards

Joern Paschedag

Quote:

User Interface Improvements

Like what?  Actually not changing things has great value here.  I've gotten

used to how things are, so I don't want to have to re-learn some other way.

I've also got my user interface highly customized with hot buttons,

scripts, and ULPs.  Don't mess it up.  The easiest way to guarantee that is

don't mess with it at all.

Quote:

3D Visualization

That would require all kinds of 3D information in each part, which I don't

see adding.  I can possibly see value to checking the mechanical fit of a

board as part of a larger project, but this sounds like huge work, both for

you and for me, and there are plenty of more valuable and easier to do

things on the list.

Quote:

Pad Stack

I can see the point to it, but I haven't personally run into a case where I

would have needed more than Eagle provides now.  Probably a reasonable

feature to have, but not high on my priority list.

Quote:

Schematic Hierarchy and Design Modularity

Yes, definitely!  Designs are inherently hierarchical things, at least

large ones.  You think of susbsystems, communicate the design that way,

document it that way, but in Eagle it all has to be flat.  This is not all

about documentation either (although that is important), but being able to

re-use subsystems accross designs would be very useful.

Quote:

Simulation Facilities

Not Eagle's job.  Move along.  Let's not waste time here.

While simulation can be a useful tool, it is also overused and overvalued.

Good simulation is also complex, and would require entering a lot more part

information than there is now.  This sounds like a huge job just for me to

make use of, let alone for you to implement.  Stick to things that I can't

get externally to Eagle, since there are plenty of those.

Quote:

More Import/Export Formats IDF, DXF, Netlists from other programs, etc.

I can see the point to this in some environments, but it wouldn't do much

for me personally.  However, I don't see this working well.  How is

something imported from Altium going to adhere to my part and BOM

conventions in Eagle?  It could be useful if it really worked reliably, but

more likely it will get to the 80% level and stall, which would still be

largely useless.

Quote:

Auto Placement

LOL

I really hope you don't seriously think you can do that, and that anything

you cooked up would actually be useful!!?

Quote:

Multi-core or GPU support

Yes.  The Eagle autorouter is one of the few things I run nowadays that is

CPU limited and takes a significant amount of time in human terms.  The

rest of Eagle is fast enough that there is no need for more speed, but I

want all the speed I can get from the autorouter.  I want the autorouter to

make full use of whatever computer I am running it on.

Quote:

Other

There have been many suggestions here over time.  Take a look.

My #1 feature request is to allow for more flexible package definitions

without massive DRC errors.  This has been discussed at length before, so

no need for more now except to re-iterate this is the most importance

enhancement on my list.

Quote:

ODB++ Export

Huh?

Quote:

Electrical Planning(Residential Electrical Plans, Electrician oriented

 

applications)

Not Eagle's job.  You've got lots of features that Eagle needs that would

help people get things done that they bought Eagle for.  It would really

piss me off if you strayed to do these side things while there are so many

important enhancements left to do.

Quote:

EAGLE for Tablet or Smartphones

Oh yes, and it should have voice prompts too, and automatic posts to

twitter so I can tell the world I just added a 10k resistor to a schematic!

And while you're at it, make it work with the cloud.  Nobody knows what

the "cloud" really is but it sounds cool.  I'm sure the customers would

love to hear their data is out in the cloud somewhere where somebody can

get at it somehow.  To be complete, this must come with a proper shirt,

cool designer glasses, and special overpriced shoes.  You can't do trendy

and cool half-assed.  Don't listen to all the nay-sayers who point out you

can't actually do anything useful on a smart phone with a schematic.  Of

course you can't, but that's obvious so it's clearly not the point.  It's

about being cool and trendy.  Hey, I get paid by the hour, so I'm still

making money when I'm talking into a smart phone getting nothing

accomplished.

Quote:

Autorouter improvements, push and shove, shape based, etc.

I can't say as you haven't defined "push", "shove", and "shape based"

(duh).

Quote:

Simplified Library Management, speedier part creation, etc.

Only on the smartphone and tablet version.  Since it's all for show, you

can skip all the fluff for making parts.  All those pin thingies get so

tedius, especially when you're busy tweeting about the resistor you just

added, someplace, it doesn't really matter, 10k Ohms can go lots of

places.

Back on my PC, quality is what counts.  I can't think of what exactly you'd

do to speed up part creation.  When you have repetitive things to do, you

use scripts anyway.  As for one-offs, what would you leave out?  This

sounds like nice on the outside, but I don't see how you're really going to

make it work with all the necessary details on the inside.  All in all,

part creation isn't that difficult as it is now, and I make all my own

parts.

Quote:

Cloud Interface

Lol.  You guys are actually serious!!?

Quote:

Version Control

Already available externally, so spend your time on something more core

that I can't get externally.

Quote:

Visual Difference Tool (Visually see differences between two boards)

I can see the point to it, but not much value for me personally.

--

Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.