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tswelectronics
United Kingdom
88 Posts |
 Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 10:40:28
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Hi all.
I have ordered the upgrade of EasyPC. I am thinking about trying to freshen up my libraries. I have always muddled through in the past but thought it would be really nice to finally get a structure to them. Do people use the standard libraries much? Are they any good for surface mount?
What about the Pro library? Is this worth the investment or do you still end up having to create new parts? It would be nice to just get on with things rather than having to create new parts each time. Also the libraries would be in a good structure as well wouldnt they?
If not using the Pro Lib how do people structure their libraries? By manufacturer such as Microchip? By part such as opamp?
Thanks
Trevor White
TSW Electronics Ltd
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Iain Wilkie
United Kingdom
1015 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 10:56:41
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Mine are a total mess .... driven by the need to make money, I tend to bundle customers components in a single library, so if you are looking for a particular part you "think" you may have used before, it its very difficult to find it. I have the pro lib and perhaps have only used it on very few ocassions. The IPCSM footprint library gets used all the time for generating components, its probably the most used.
I agree it would be good to have some structure, but I am not sure the best or where to start.
Iain
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tswelectronics
United Kingdom
88 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 11:32:26
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Hi Iain
In the past I have done like you and put customer parts in a customer library.
It's a shame EasyPC hasnt got the library support that Eagle seems to have. There are a shed load of parts on the net for them. I know you can convert them and I have done in the past but I ended up with several versions of SOT23 for example and the library seemed to get a little confused. Started saying it would use the first vesion of the part it comes across when creating new parts based on the SOT23.
Trev
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Iain Wilkie
United Kingdom
1015 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 11:51:55
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Hi Trev,
In response to the "library problem" EasyPC have hidden a possible fix for this in V15 ... its called Bounded Libraries, you need to edit the registry to get it it appear ... (don't really understand why), but if you contact them they will tell you how to do it. It kinda addresses my initial want that once you created a component, it then existed as a part in its own right (i.e. it contained all the schematic and footprint info) so that this problem (like the SOT23 you speak of) did not create wrongly pinned components, as they would not need to be re-created via the libraries one constructed.
They have not done this, but the bounded libs kinda does it (although I am not convinced it is going to work well enough) ... basically it ensures that if you ask for a component from a bounded library it will extract the schematic and footprint info from bounded libs of the same name.
However, you are correct, the librarys need a bit of thought and given the enourmous thread that was generated proir to V15, I am dismayed that it all generally fell by the wayside.
Iain |
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tswelectronics
United Kingdom
88 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 12:17:17
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Iain, thanks for the heads up on this registry fix. That is useful to know. Why havent they done a sticky note on it?
It almost feels like they need a standalone library management programme to sort this out. EasyPC might be just too far down the road to be able to change the library structures. But maybe a library manager app that can do everything and provide the libraries in a structure EasyPC can understand might be something. Just a thought, didnt think too long about it.
Trev |
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Iain Wilkie
United Kingdom
1015 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 12:27:36
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Hi Trev,
I don't know why they are "hiding" it .... they probably don't want folk to stray away from their "normal library structure".
However I do agree, a seperate application that would allow manipulation and create a structured library system sounds like a great idea.
I would prefer it if they would concentrate their update efforts on important things like the library, rather than things like "panelisation" .... something the PCB manufacturer does for you by default.
Iain
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tswelectronics
United Kingdom
88 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 12:33:43
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With regard to updates, I suppose they only have certain resources and they have to ensure they can produce some updates. I think the library changes are so great they cant get it done in one update so its a problem for them financially and practically. Maybe the serperate app would enable this to take place and possibly create a bolton professional lib manager upgrade?
I am still trying to get over the fact they allow you to import bitmap images but dont allow them to be exported in gerber files. That really impressed me! I havent tried your ttf approach yet. Does it scale images well?
Trev
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Iain Wilkie
United Kingdom
1015 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2011 : 13:30:08
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Trev,
Yes ant TTF is scaleable ..... just like TTF for text on the silk screen etc.
All we do is take the customers logo and make it a TTF charactor (could be anything ... a, b, c ...) Then select the TTF in the windows directory and type the charactor, and hey presto a logo that you can scale up/down without losing resolution.
Iain
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Benno
Netherlands
79 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2011 : 19:00:28
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I hope once they start on the Library structure, they also make scripting possible or some kind of plugin system.
That way we could connect to our own engineering database as an example. It would simply return what footprint to use (lib name + path + part), schema symbol and component definition.
To get back to Trevor's question, I create libraries with a company prefix for components that I don't have yet. I try to group them on the type of component, often including the Mfg name.That way I can use them for all projects were I need them and the Lib grows slowly. |
Edited by - Benno on 06 Aug 2011 19:01:30 |
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Libraries