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Proficiency with Eagle?

lix

Hello,

 

Some about five years ago I completed a small, private project using Eagle; then I posted some thoughts about my frustrating experience. Unfortunately, the following discussion focussed more on "to CLI or not to CLI", see here:

 

A newcomer's experience and what can be done about it

 

Fast forward today, were I have to complete a somewhat more complex project, and this time it is not private. Therefore we bought a commercial license. Unfortunately, not more changed during these almost five years: Eagle has the same infuriatingly different, non-standard user interface. The GUI is still centred on the command line paradigm, where you first select an action, then the object(s) upon which this action will be executed. From my point of view, I simply can't understand how one can be proficient with this tool.

 

So I have a simple question that I hope someone can enlighten me, because I can't find an acceptable solution even after re-reading the manual. What is the workflow for the following scenario:

 

Suppose you have a 100 pins micro controller that you need to wire the nets to various other components' pins. The way I do it is:

 

1) Draw a short net from the controller pin;

2) Draw a short net from (e.g.) a memory, that will be connected to the controller;

3) Add a label to the net just drawn from the controller (at this time, there is no way in Eagle to name the label);

4) Add a label to the net of the memory;

5) Select the "Name" button to name both Labels, including activating the Xref.

6) Answer each time, YES, I want to merge the nets.

 

Isn't this crazy? If you have to do this tens of times, that would take an eternity! Can anyone tell me how their workflow looks like for such a trivial operation? I don't care if with the GUI or the CLI.

 

This software drives me crazy. I invested already so much time in Eagle and I still am not efficient with it. With PADS I would have done this in one hour or so (only that PADS costs 10x more than Eagle).

 

Lix

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  • Hi,

     

    This type of thing requires following the PDF user manual. It takes just a day to flick through it, and learn the features available. Otherwise you'll repeatedly do things the slow way when there

    are built-in features that will save time.

    From my perspective, I like the GUI paradigm in EAGLE. I wish other software would allow me to work as fast.

    If I had 100 pins to connect, this is what I'd do:

    First, try to break it down into groups of pins (e.g. data bus, address bus, port A 0-7, port B 0-7, etc.

    Next, create a bus for each group. You only need to type the range (e.g. D[0..7]) when naming the bus.

    Or just create a single bus for all, and separate with commas any signal names or groups of names. I prefer separate busses per group, for nicer looking schematics.

    That's it, no more typing or confirmations or clicking on 'Yes'.

    Next, bring a signal from the microcontroller onto the bus. Do the same from your other device(s), e.g. memory etc.

    As you bring and connect to the bus, you'll be presented with the list of possible pins within the bus. Just click and choose.

    Optionally afterwards, place a text name besides each pin (recommended for clarity and peace of mind).

    I'm pretty confident 100 pins could be attached to two devices easily within 10 (ok perhaps 20 at a stretch) minutes with this method.

  • in reply to shabaz

    Who would use busses nowadays? To avoid clutter, modern schematics do away with wires and buses. In a normal CAD program you would select a pin, right click on it, and assign it to a net. Go to the next pin and do the same (the last net you selected is already in the pop-up box). With Eagle you can't even assign a specific net directly to a pin, you MUST first append a default net (or wire) and only then re-name it, and all this with its clumsy interface.

     

    You must be kidding with your 10 minutes, if I do all the steps you described, I would certainly need a workday. Unfortunately, my application is about a micro controller (STM32F745) and there are no simple cases as a data/address bus with similar signals (i.e. D0...7 or A0...20), rather each pin has its function (three USARTs, a CAN, 2xUSBs, a SPI flash, SD card interface, JTAG, etc.). So you really have to deal with each signal individually.

     

    Any other idea, anyone?

     

    BTW, I read the manual several times, I spent way too much time with it. It is written on the same note as the User Interface, not very useful.

  • in reply to lix

    Lix Paulian wrote:

     

    You must be kidding with your 10 minutes

    I don't joke about such things : ) I wouldn't state a number if the procedure I mentioned was slower than that. Still if it doesn't suit your needs then we should move on.

     

    There actually is a solution that would provide nets with names in the manner you describe that would take 15 minutes max for 100 nets, but I'm not sure I'd like to discuss further given the negativity when someone has tried to help you.

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  • in reply to lix

    Lix Paulian wrote:

     

    You must be kidding with your 10 minutes

    I don't joke about such things : ) I wouldn't state a number if the procedure I mentioned was slower than that. Still if it doesn't suit your needs then we should move on.

     

    There actually is a solution that would provide nets with names in the manner you describe that would take 15 minutes max for 100 nets, but I'm not sure I'd like to discuss further given the negativity when someone has tried to help you.

Children
  • in reply to shabaz

    "There actually is a solution that would provide nets with names in the manner you describe that would take 15 minutes max for 100 nets, but I'm not sure I'd like to discuss further given the negativity when someone has tried to help you."

     

    That means I was a bad boy and I don't deserve a cake...

     

    Well, I am truly interested in a solution. I simply said that what you offered doesn't solve the issue. I am simply frustrated that for such a trivial problem (connect the pins of various devices on a schematic diagram) Eagle seems to me totally unproductive.