New User

[Steph23c]

Hello,

I'm a new to this forum and a new user of Expedition. I have evaluated it for a couple of weeks and I like it so far. We just pruchased it yesturday. Can anyone give me some insight as to what to expect? I look foward to using this software.TIA

[cadpro2k]

You'll like it dude. After you get the library in place, and the processes down it's a breeze. I used it sometime past, and it was good. It all centers around the library. If you set the lib up good all the processes flow. The lib drives the schematic which in turn drives the pcb layout. I liked most all of the tools within Expedition. Some things seemed cumbersone, but that was because I "read" too much into some routines. If you're new to the tool it should not be a problem for you.

Good luck, and good day.

Mitch

[Ray from NJ]

Cadpro2k is correct. Expedition is all about the central library.
If you have more than one seat of the tool, never allow seperate librarys to exist, especially with the engineers running Capture.
Difficult to move symbols and parts around and a real pain once your design database is out of sync with the library.

Be careful with the plane connections. Just because the tool says it is connected, it still may not be. Check your log file for failure to connect spokes on thermal pads. I've found that if you happen to place a via on the edge of a plane and the edge falls on the centerline of the via, planes processor will not connect it.

Routing is gridless but keep your vias on some kind of a grid. 1mil,5mil, 25mil or 1mm for ICT and rounding off numbers in the drill file. (ICT is usually 75mil CTC minimum)

Expedition is the best tool out there for a structured Engineering environment. The interactive routing is simply amazing. It's all schematic driven and you can't cheat with the tool. Analog designers using funky corners, shapes, or curves have a difficult time using this tool. If you are a garage shop full of hackers and masters of shortcuts, you won't like it either.

Good luck,
Ray