[Cryptech Tech] design software

[★ STMAN ★]

Hi !

There is a very nice « in the middle choice » for PCB schematics/routing/auto-routing/emulation(spice) between free and non free (commercial) softwares, it is Boardmaker3 : The licence is affordable (350 € / year), and there is a Free version that can be used to check the designs.
Boardmaker2, the older version, is completly free.

Adium is great but too expansive.

Regards,

Stman.

Le 17 janv. 2016 à 12:23, Randy Bush <randy at psg.com> a écrit :

> tl;dr: if you will be using cryptech designs to make real products,
>       would you prefer freeware schematic/layout software or
>       professional level tools?
> 
> the current schmatic in review [0] is done using eagle [1], a $500
> package (for multi-sheet multi-layer) at our scale of use.  this choice
> was made for a number of reasons:
> 
>  o there is no better open source tool-set, and our design engineers
>    think Eagle is the best low-cost chouce  :(
> 
>  o we could easily afford it, but more important
> 
>  o we thought that it would widen the community using cryptech designs
>    as hackers and pros would be able to adapt the designs usin tools
>    affordable by all.
> 
> but, as we move from schematic to layout, our engineers are feeling a
> bit of strain.
> 
>   "it is pretty limited, and it may be difficult do design Alpha with
>   it, because even the simplest instrument for pin swapping doesn't
>   work very well :("
> 
> and
> 
>   "A rough analogy of our situation is that we have a thousand of
>   screws in our product.  They can be cross-threaded with a very cheap
>   hand screw driver, that nearly everyone has at home, but it will take
>   a very long time, because the instrument itself is rather primitive.
>   This can also be done easily with a powered screwdriver, but people
>   will have to buy it.  I think, companies are refusing to work in
>   EAGLE, because it would be tedious for their designers, like why use
>   inconvenient instrument, when you can use a better tool to accomplish
>   the same task faster?"
> 
> on the other hand
> 
>   "What software we use have different ramifications for different
>   potential downstream users of our designs."
> 
>   "If we ... go with Eagle, we better serve the long tail of hobbyists and
>   people with few resources."
> 
>   For large potential users (e.g. big companies) ... this is
>   indifferent - they would re-do our schematics/layout anyway."
> 
> if we move to a more pro tool-set, there is a small chance we could do
> the layout in-house, giving us more control and maybe saving money.  but
> we do not have the time to do it in eagle, so we will have to go out of
> house, and a pro design house may not use eagle anyway.
> 
> randy
> 
> 
> [0] https://lists.cryptech.is/archives/tech/2015-December/002382.html
>    https://lists.cryptech.is/archives/tech/2016-January/002406.html
> 
> [1] http://www.cadsoftusa.com/eagle-pcb-design-software/
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