Electronics Forum / CAD / June 2007

I'm pondering purchasing a new laptop... my old Vaio is absolutely
ancient, heavy, and slow (800MHz).
Specifically I'm looking at the ThinkPad X61s notebook.
Anyone experienced with this product?

Isn't there a shortcut in Altium that increases/decreases the trackwidth?
It could be usefull when routing between pads on an IC

i'm using OrCAD for mid-low complexity design. I'm thinking of changing.
What alternatives there are?  what are the most used form professional
development? Some free quality software?
thanks

quick question to any "pcb" users (open source geda tools):
I have a layout completed and I tried to create a copper pour with the
"rectangle" function but realized that my default clearance of 10 mil
(traces) is wayyy too small.

Is there any way to get an Eagle design converted to Altium Designer?
Even if I will have to go via another program that will be acceptable.

I've been trying to use Fairchild's RFP30N06LE (logic level n-channel
Mosfet) Pspice model.
The datasheet with the model is here:
http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/RF/RFP30N06LE.pdf

In the context of fly-back converters, what is a 'demagnetization coil'?
I would think of it as a coil used to actively demagnetize the core.
Sometime it seem to denote a coil that is passively de-energizing the
core during the demagnetization phase in order to e.g. protect the

as someone of you knows, I'm trying to project a cascode amplifier by
myself. I finished the schematic and now I'm working on the layout
(never done before, God save me please..)
here is my schematic:

hey buddy want cool gifts from microsoft check this.
http://justpratik.blogspot.com
sure not fake.
check it

We weren't able to sort this out. The layouter said this is the usual
file that SMT assemblers use to program their pick&place machines but
the assembler said they can't use it since the scale factor or data
format for the coordinates is unknown. PADS was set to the American

Anyone know of a cheap (or free) Timing Diagram tool?
I need to communicate with my digital counterparts on an IC design ;-)
                                       ...Jim Thompson