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Iain Wilkie
United Kingdom
1015 Posts |
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edrees
United Kingdom
779 Posts |
 Posted - 27 May 2021 : 16:51:37
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Hi Iain,
With Parallel Systems presently offering Orcad PCB Designer (Schematic Editing, PCB Layout & Router (inc. Diff pairs!), Simulation & Analysis) on a perpetual License and no pin limit for £425 + VAT, maybe the Pulsonix "elephant-in-the-room" will no longer be an artificial ceiling as to the new features Number One introduce into the next Version of EasyPC. |
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Iain Wilkie
United Kingdom
1015 Posts |
Posted - 28 May 2021 : 09:10:15
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Ed,
I saw that ! ...... And I have always maintained that high speed layout is now common place in PCB design and this is where EPC are hitting a barrier.
It could be as you say they need to re-think the Pulsonix blocking strategy or EPC may become a bit of a dinosaur.
The only real thing still in its favour currently is the customer support, but at the end of the day the tool needs to perform to todays requirements and the high speed limitations compared to these other similar tools is becoming more and more apparent.
Whether Numberone act on this is another matter !
Iain |
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shuttlem
United Kingdom
13 Posts |
Posted - 28 May 2021 : 09:28:32
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On past form, I'm not expecting anything seismic this time around, indeed, I suspect this will be the first time in however many years I've had a licence that I don't bother upgrading. I live in hope of being surprised, but I also live in hope of winning the lottery, I'm not really expecting either.
In fact, I've saved my pennies and bought myself a CircuitStudio licence. I get to use full-blown Alitum at work occassionally, so I have de-bugged libraries which CircuitStudio can share, plus it does diff routing and STEP model import. I was a bit worried that it was a dead duck but Altium have announced a big update coming to it (to CircuitMaker Pro) and after a few months of trepidation, it's looking like the realease of that is imminent (online licence information has changed from 'CircuitStudio' to 'CircuitMakerPro') so I think that is where my PCB future lies.
It's a shame. I love EasyPC, I've used it since my first job back in 1991, but it's a tool and I feel like this one has gone blunt. |
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636steve
United Kingdom
14 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2021 : 19:39:12
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Last couple of projects I have done, I have had to produce 3d cad files for so I have done them in Kicad. Any issues I had were sorted out within a short space of time by the developers on the forum and the overall experience was very good.
Unfortunately over the past couple of years EasyPC has slipped behind in terms of features. I am not sure I will upgrade this year, but keep the current version as a way of editing legacy products.
Not sure whether I would switch to Kicad full time or another package but will definitely be looking. |
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toni9999
United Kingdom
39 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jun 2021 : 13:13:49
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| Lack of step has made us move away from EasyPC |
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shadders
United Kingdom
224 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2021 : 16:30:31
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Iain,
You're a bit slow - V25 is available.... |
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edrees
United Kingdom
779 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2021 : 17:39:12
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| V25 now available hot off the press, - with Diff routing feature! |
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jlawton
United Kingdom
108 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2021 : 18:04:36
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Yes, but new DRC checks, so more ways for your layout to fail :)
John |
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edrees
United Kingdom
779 Posts |
Posted - 04 Aug 2021 : 09:57:10
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Wow! .....and "Access to the online Gerber file viewer facility" is still included. Do they mean the free-for-all Ucamco Gerber viewer available at https://gerber.ucamco.com/
Its worth the upgrade cost just for diff pair feature in my opinion, (not forgetting the excellent Tech Support Number One provides!). Shame STEP export wasn't included this year.
So Pulseonix no longer appears to be the elephant in the room when Orcad design suite is available for £425! So STEP export next year please?
You can always switch the other new exciting features in V25 off!
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Iain Wilkie
United Kingdom
1015 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2021 : 09:14:28
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Well I for one must not complain too much ..... we now have differential pairs and I've harped on about that for years.
So a thumbs up on that one. It does seem to be pretty comprehensive and makes it a lot easier now to balance the line length skews etc.
Unfortunately if you have to serpentine you still need to do that manually .... boo!
As for the rest, well just the usual fairly useless features that I honestly say to myself "why?".
I totally agree with Edrees, the upgrade keeps us up to date, and for the cost, the differential stuff is worth it alone and of course the customer service is still beyond a doubt one of the best.
Iain
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V25 ????