Allegro and PowerPCB?

[Ryan Marston]

I posted this on the Pads listserver, but I know some of you may not use that and use this. This is for any users familiar with capture and/or allegro.

The company I work for has been using PowerLogic and PowerPCB for at least 4 years and is now thinking of changing software again (they used protel before PADS). They definately want to go to capture instead of PowerLogic, but thay are thinking of using Allegro instead of PowerPCB?

I would like to ask you what your thoughts of Capture vs. PowerLogic and Allegro vs. PowerPCB are? Are there any benefits for me to switch or am I going to hate it? I would really like to stay with PLogic and PPCB so I'm looking for information on this.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ryan Marston

[Tom]

Ryan,

This is a tough decision. We use OrCAD only because we have for the past 15 years. All our engineers know it inside and out and they have all the libraries built and all the "reference designs" in OrCAD so they can copy/paste and create new products. You really have to think hard about switching systems because of the amount of time it takes to build your personal environment. Switching normally means you have to start from scratch.

But you also have to take a good look at the reason for switching and that should only be if your current tools are not providing the features that you need to do your job.

That brings me to the PowerPCB VS Allegro question. Is PowerPCB meeting all your design rule requirements? You are aware that V5.0 has "High Speed Rules" for BlazeRoute with High Speed Design Verification. Switching here means that you have to build a new environment also. New libraries and start files plus a long learning curve. I know of many companies that are looking at switching from Allegro to Mentor. And I know a lot of companies that have purchased Mentor and the only good thing they can say is "It has the best router, but everything else sucks".

Ask yourself "What can the other tools provide that I cannot currently do?" Make a list of Pro's & Con's for both sides. Is it a vendor issue? Is it a Corporate issue? Is it a personal issue?

I would like to know more about why you want/need to switch. What instigated this post?

[Carl Schattke]

Switch from PADS to Allegro?
I am very familar with PADS and have been using it for 10 years now. Been using Protel for close to 17 years now. I am learning to use Cadence Allegro now, due to company standards.
You will miss the Pads user interface and it's realative simplicity.
You will find you get a few more design rules to work with in Allegro. But in my opinion there is little benefit to switching.
This will KILL your productivity for at least a few months.
Hopefully you have an expert Allegro designer to coach you along.
If you do not GOOD LUCK! You will need it.
I went through the Cadence classes for Allegro, SpectraQuest, Library manager, and Concept. They go over the features that you can use, but it is not an in depth immersion into the tool.
The online Cadence tools for learning are not HTML linked or organized well.

[sayed.afsar]

please give me the link