RE: {Definitely Spam?} RE: PCB Design Software?

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On that one Eagle comes out very well - it's autorouter does a
pretty
> reasonable job, and lets you take a few attempts at a circuit, so you
can
> rip up any tracks you dislike, route them manually, then re-run
> the router..
>
> I have managed a couple of *insane* boards - packed a PIC, glue
components
> and a CAT5 socket into a doorbell housing: the autorouter did a
sterling
> job.
>

I had another play with Autorouter and Autoplacer last night having found
out you can "group" components that you want near each other but
although it
could successfully place and route the board I wasnt pleased with the
results.

It could be because I have fairly stringent requirements that I have to
meet
for my PCBs which are all intended for AV work.

1. Balanced circuits MUST have the two tracks routed as close together as
possible and then a grounded track between that pair and another pair.

2. Running multiple Audio or Video circuits along the same route means that
you need a grounded track between them to provide shielding.

3. I like my PCB's to look nice as well. They usually contain several
identical blocks of circuitry and it makes construction and maintenance
much
easier if each block is laid out identically.

For the less layout critical circuits then I probably will use the some
auto
routing.

Regards

Keith