EAGLE FEATURE SURVEY

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.

Am 06.09.2012 17:22, schrieb Olin Lathrop:

>> 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.

There are TWO kinds of user interface improvements:

  1. Completely changing a useful interface to make it more trendy or

     something like it. This obviously is rubbish. See Microsoft

     'fluent' interfaces, which for the professional are anything BUT

     fluent.

  2. Using the available interface and improve things so that NEW

     users can UNDERSTAND the functions more quickly and REMEMBER them

     easier, but WITHOUT breaking the workflow of the 'professionals'.

     Here, EAGLE can be improved LOTS - see my EAGLE GUI posts in

     eagle.suggest.eng...

     (Or would you NOT like to SEE the symbol before adding it to the

     device in the device editor? The usage of the dialog would be

     COMPLETELY the same as it is now, only a symbol preview would be

     added)

Andreas Weidner

Am 06.09.2012 17:22, schrieb Olin Lathrop:

>> 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.

There are TWO kinds of user interface improvements:

  1. Completely changing a useful interface to make it more trendy or

     something like it. This obviously is rubbish. See Microsoft

     'fluent' interfaces, which for the professional are anything BUT

     fluent.

  2. Using the available interface and improve things so that NEW

     users can UNDERSTAND the functions more quickly and REMEMBER them

     easier, but WITHOUT breaking the workflow of the 'professionals'.

     Here, EAGLE can be improved LOTS - see my EAGLE GUI posts in

     eagle.suggest.eng...

     (Or would you NOT like to SEE the symbol before adding it to the

     device in the device editor? The usage of the dialog would be

     COMPLETELY the same as it is now, only a symbol preview would be

     added)

Andreas Weidner

Andreas Weidner wrote on Fri, 07 September 2012 07:46

(Or would you NOT like to SEE the symbol before adding it to the

device in the device editor? The usage of the dialog would be

COMPLETELY the same as it is now, only a symbol preview would be

added)

Usually there is no question as to which symbol I want to add because I

probably just created it.  A preview does no harm as long as it doesn't

change the current command flow and shortcut keys.  Right now, adding a

symbol to a package is very easy, type Alt-E A.  That gives you a list of

symbols in the library.  Now you use up and down arrows to select the right

one, then ENTER to confirm.  This works fine.  There is no problem to

solve.

I am worried that a preview would make this process more complicated or

bloated.  Right now each symbol uses up one line.  That's nice since a lot

of them can fit onto the screen.  If they took up more space due a preview,

then it would make the process more tedius.

Perhaps in rare cases there might be confusion between different symbols,

but this is the exception case I wouldn't want to have Eagle optimized for

at the expense of the normal case where you can easily see which symbol you

want.

Maybe you need to be more careful about giving symbols useful names?

--

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

Am 07.09.2012 14:40, schrieb Olin Lathrop:

Maybe you need to be more careful about giving symbols useful names?

Yes. BUT:

  1. Since some of my libraries are 18 years old, and you COULD not

     give symbols useful names then (8 character limit), there is a

     lot of historical rubbish still around. And with, e.g., a

     nearly unlimited supply of OP symbols - with/without compensation,

     with/without offset, with/without shutdown, one/two/three

     output pins etc. - naming them with 8 characters IS a trifle

     difficult. And renaming ALL my symbols created in 18 years is

     QUITE a lot of work...

  2. I often do not want to reinvent the wheel, so want to search

     for a symbol that already looks NEARLY as needed, copy it and

     patch it accordingly. Saves LOTS of time. A preview would be

     GORGEOUS. OK, this would not be in the ADD dialog, but somewhere

     else, but still previews are nice.

  3. And obviously, the previews would behave as everywhere else

     in EAGLE, and NOT break the workflow. NO preview broke the

     workflow so far, so trust CadSoft not to screw everything up.

Andreas Weidner