Hello Everyone,
I am wondering about some aspects of Eagle. Do these exist. or how do they work?
Auto router: Available in some versions. Is there a time period where it is available as part of the demo version, that closes? I though I was able to try it out on the freeware at first.
Forcing pads to the bottom only. If one is using through hole components, some things like capacitors, can't be soldered on the top. Is is possible to tell the router this information before routing?
Autorouter again. The list of " * - | / \ na " is *sort of intuitive* could be improved. What about the design and optimization part of it. How is that supposed to work? "low med high"?
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Netlist wiring and checking: When one wants to check if a net is completely connected properly, (no shorts to other nets, no opens within the net), is this possible?
I once had another software that had this exact feature. Click on a button, then click on a pad or wire and it would highlight the entire circuit that was attached to it. VERY useful for checking. VERY.
Related question: If one connects two nets that should NOT be connected, by wiring two bottom traces together inadvertently, do they get connected? Possibly after a query.... ( I have some airwires that are showing unconnected nets, but they should not be connected! )
I see that if a net still has air wires, it can be highlighted, but that means to check it, you have to remove part of it and then put that back in. Having to edit and un-edit leads to tons of extra work and mistakes.
I see a section that thinks it is not connected, but has copper from wire to pad. Trying to fix it has been unsuccessful. the defaults for "who is being worked on" jump in and the incorrect airwires make for much grief.
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Libraries. I asked in another forum about how to modify an existing package and save it as separate package, because I seem to have done it wrong.
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I find that EAGLE seems to require a lot of extra mouse clicks and has defaults, that I don't like. I don't find it nearly as intuitive as the software that I used to use which was once available as Shareware. It is very hard to justify even the lower tier of pricing when it is frustrating tool.
The software I used to use was Proteus Lite and Ares Lite. They were very very elegant and intuitive. Schematic and board layout and autorouter. About $70. No longer available as Shareware. If you want to see what I mean. Many fewer mouse clicks.
Thanks!
Sandy Roman
I
