Electronics Forum / CAD / February 2006

I'm seeking out a new PCB design package, and have been pointed to look
at Altium Designer from someone in the group.
On (digital!) paper, it looks excellent, ideal in fact.
But I would like to hear from real users, as our current system

My group and I are currently working on a school project and are having
some troubles.  We can't currently find any models for the parts of a
project that we are working on and were curious if it was possible to
create the models based off of the datasheets?  These are the parts

I am a part time contract PCB designer. Not some giant corporation,
just one guy doing boards when he can :-) Been at it for a long time,
but I  am not learning new skills, and so I am falling behind on
multilayer design, as in 8+ layers with numerous split planes, as well

Hi, I was wondering if anyone can help me figure out where the "effort"
in a given Spice implementation lies, specifically 3fg.  For example,
I'm wondering how much total % effort (starting from knowing KCL and
KVL) over the past 25 years was due to:

is there any tool that allows - for example PIC Hex file - converting
to a graphical program flow
diagram ?
Long time ago, I have lost my assembler code and it is very hard to

  Will Orcad SDT 3.22 or SDT 386 + run on a K5 computer if I can get a 5.25
floppy drive to function so that I could load the SDT3.21? Will I have to
install some version of DOS to do this?  I have versions of DOS that start
at 3.3. or maybe earlier

Hope this is the right place for this questions:
1. When making drawings that use symbology such as
electrical schematics for PLC and control circuits.....
what SIZE should thee symbols be drawn at

In the past I have been using the toner transfer iron on technique.
The best I have gotten is 75-80% of the board done ... the remaining
20 - 30% is rework for missing/broken traces etc.
I am just wondering what is the best hobby do-it-yourself method?

Alreayd searched the net, without any result.
Looking for Spice models of voltage regulators:
LM317, LM329 and LM337.
Any help is appreciated.

Arrrggghhh....I'm at a loss as to the source of these errors.  I get
them with the most basic circuit.
My tools: gEDA suite version from Jan 2006: gschem -> gnetlist ->
ngspice.

I purchased a low end simulation program from www.Tina.com (DesignSoft), and
it seems to work pretty well, especially for a $30 package.
I have been doing my major electrical and electronic designs with PADS-PCB
and PADS-Logic, from Mentor Graphics, but they do not offer simulation

With another schematics design program, when one chooses something like
a CD4049 timer or its equivalent the program will lay down all parts.
However, Protel DXP seems to klutz  when it comes to this or am I doing
something wrong? Also, the subparts of the libraries for such a

When I export the Gerbers using the post-processer, I find that some
layers are exported with incorrect information.
After a little digging I realized that the contents of the layers
listed in the post process settings spreadsheet do not correspond to

Cold Heat Soldering Iron
$19.99 plus s&H
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Hi, I'm having that famous problem.  Is there any way to cirumvent it
(computing time, I have).  Can anyone explain the reason for the error
?  Can I go lower than the "minimum allowable step size" and what
determines the "minimum allowable step size" anyway?