On Mar 11, 4:46 am, billcalley <billcal...@yahoo.com> wrote:





On Mar 10, 3:27 pm, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

On Mar 10, 10:27 am, Leon <leon...@btinternet.com> wrote:

On 9 Mar, 22:55, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

My software seems to have numerous checks.

1/ Clearance check.
2/ Continuity check.
3/ Integrity check which compares PCB and schematic.
4/ Unconnected pin checks.
5/ Single ended nets warnings.

If a PCBCAD package has one or more of these missing you could end up
with an expensive mess !

Your software seems to be pretty good at generating a mess, judging by
the schematic on your web site.

Leon

I have at least 2000 buyers who dont agree !
I rarely get asked for help on the helpline so it must be intuitive
and the manual holds up.
Most comments are along the line of "A huge piece of software for very
little money"

The customer is always right !- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

    Oh, common Marra -- just put some bloody screenshots up on your
web site to show people, at the very least, as to what your software
*looks* like!!!  If PCBCAD at least *looks* good, you'd sell ten times
more product (whether it functioned well is another matter entirely --
in fact, that's why most other companies have a thing called a
"demo").  For heaven's sake, you programmed an entire piece of complex
software; is it so damn hard to take some clear screenshots???  And,
as I said, people get REALLY turned off and worried if you cannot even
put up a presentable web site; these potential customers then, quite
sensibly, wonder just how your software will look, and function, if
they purchase it -- no matter how low the price.  Come on, this stuff
I'm saying is basic -- it's not marketing rocket science!!

-Bill- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have updated the website and got rid of the obsolete products.
There are a few shots now.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The standard gameplan in the U.S. then, would be to be handing out Easy-PC
to universities for free or almost free to get the students "hooked,"
making sure they're aware that the "professional" version of the software
is Pulsonix so that's what they should be purchasing when they begin
working professionally and have some capital to blow.

"Marra" <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote in message

news:4602de7b-264b-443d-8948-a9f8013c66d7@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
On Mar 11, 8:06 pm, Leon <leon...@btinternet.com> wrote:
"Some of these high flying packages are great and complete but when it
comes to a quick and dirty small PCB a cheaper package does the job
much quicker."

Certainly true... I saw a guy do full-fledged PCBs with all the digital bits
included using Ansoft Designer... he said it was quite the pain-in-the-ass..
 His deal was that he was working for some government-funded project, so
while they had gone through the (six month!) process to get $$$ Ansoft, he no
longer had (another six months!) to get a decent schematic capture/PCB layout
tool.

If your tool imprts Gerbers I'm sure he would have been quite interested in
your package, Marra.

Hmm... (looking at your web site...)  I think you get the award as the only
eCAD vendor whose web site has a link to *discos.*  Is that link to a friend's
web site?  Or you just have fond recollections of boogie nights from years
past? :-)

---Joel

On Mar 12, 8:44 am, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:





On Mar 11, 4:46 am, billcalley <billcal...@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Mar 10, 3:27 pm, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

On Mar 10, 10:27 am, Leon <leon...@btinternet.com> wrote:

On 9 Mar, 22:55, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

My software seems to have numerous checks.

1/ Clearance check.
2/ Continuity check.
3/ Integrity check which compares PCB and schematic.
4/ Unconnected pin checks.
5/ Single ended nets warnings.

If a PCBCAD package has one or more of these missing you could end up
with an expensive mess !

Your software seems to be pretty good at generating a mess, judging by
the schematic on your web site.

Leon

I have at least 2000 buyers who dont agree !
I rarely get asked for help on the helpline so it must be intuitive
and the manual holds up.
Most comments are along the line of "A huge piece of software for very
little money"

The customer is always right !- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

    Oh, common Marra -- just put some bloody screenshots up on your
web site to show people, at the very least, as to what your software
*looks* like!!!  If PCBCAD at least *looks* good, you'd sell ten times
more product (whether it functioned well is another matter entirely --
in fact, that's why most other companies have a thing called a
"demo").  For heaven's sake, you programmed an entire piece of complex
software; is it so damn hard to take some clear screenshots???  And,
as I said, people get REALLY turned off and worried if you cannot even
put up a presentable web site; these potential customers then, quite
sensibly, wonder just how your software will look, and function, if
they purchase it -- no matter how low the price.  Come on, this stuff
I'm saying is basic -- it's not marketing rocket science!!

-Bill- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have updated the website and got rid of the obsolete products.
There are a few shots now.

Well, at least that's a start.
Those resistors are horribly BIG.
Are there any real ground symbols?
Scrap the 3D viewer, what point is there in having something so
simplistic as that?
Why support so many resist layers?
I'd also suggest you get yourself a real web address.

Dave.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mar 11, 2:44 pm, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:





On Mar 11, 4:46 am, billcalley <billcal...@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Mar 10, 3:27 pm, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

On Mar 10, 10:27 am, Leon <leon...@btinternet.com> wrote:

On 9 Mar, 22:55, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

My software seems to have numerous checks.

1/ Clearance check.
2/ Continuity check.
3/ Integrity check which compares PCB and schematic.
4/ Unconnected pin checks.
5/ Single ended nets warnings.

If a PCBCAD package has one or more of these missing you could end up
with an expensive mess !

Your software seems to be pretty good at generating a mess, judging by
the schematic on your web site.

Leon

I have at least 2000 buyers who dont agree !
I rarely get asked for help on the helpline so it must be intuitive
and the manual holds up.
Most comments are along the line of "A huge piece of software for very
little money"

The customer is always right !- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

    Oh, common Marra -- just put some bloody screenshots up on your
web site to show people, at the very least, as to what your software
*looks* like!!!  If PCBCAD at least *looks* good, you'd sell ten times
more product (whether it functioned well is another matter entirely --
in fact, that's why most other companies have a thing called a
"demo").  For heaven's sake, you programmed an entire piece of complex
software; is it so damn hard to take some clear screenshots???  And,
as I said, people get REALLY turned off and worried if you cannot even
put up a presentable web site; these potential customers then, quite
sensibly, wonder just how your software will look, and function, if
they purchase it -- no matter how low the price.  Come on, this stuff
I'm saying is basic -- it's not marketing rocket science!!

-Bill- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have updated the website and got rid of the obsolete products.
There are a few shots now.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

   Much better Marra.  Now a person would have a definite idea as to
what he is getting.  But as David J. said though, you may want to just
drop the 3D viewer -- it just doesn't work out.  And if you ever
wanted to add a copper pour, along with the ability to drop vias
anywhere along that pour, your software could be a real contender
against the other lower-end schematic and layout packages.  Good
stuff.

-Bill- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

.
.
Ya know, I teach PCB layout to first year engineering students. I would
dearly LOVE to find a low end or "freebie" PCB package that they could
upgrade when they graduated and went pro. As it is, I struggle along with a
demo package out of an obsolete layout program that originated from a long
since defunct company (actually absorbed into a bloatware company) called
MicroCode Engineering.

If anybody ANYWHERE can point me to an easy to learn student oriented CHEAP
package that they can go pro with in a few years, I'd dearly love to hear
about it.

Jim

(And if anybody knows where Art Hatfield and company have relocated, I'd
like to hear about that too. That man was a genius in PCB program design.)

The standard gameplan in the U.S. then, would be to be handing out Easy-PC
to universities for free or almost free to get the students "hooked,"
making sure they're aware that the "professional" version of the software
is Pulsonix so that's what they should be purchasing when they begin
working professionally and have some capital to blow. :-)

On Mar 12, 12:23 am, "David L. Jones" <altz...@gmail.com> wrote:



On Mar 12, 8:44 am, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

On Mar 11, 4:46 am, billcalley <billcal...@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Mar 10, 3:27 pm, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

On Mar 10, 10:27 am, Leon <leon...@btinternet.com> wrote:

On 9 Mar, 22:55, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

My software seems to have numerous checks.

1/ Clearance check.
2/ Continuity check.
3/ Integrity check which compares PCB and schematic.
4/ Unconnected pin checks.
5/ Single ended nets warnings.

If a PCBCAD package has one or more of these missing you could end up
with an expensive mess !

Your software seems to be pretty good at generating a mess, judging by
the schematic on your web site.

Leon

I have at least 2000 buyers who dont agree !
I rarely get asked for help on the helpline so it must be intuitive
and the manual holds up.
Most comments are along the line of "A huge piece of software for very
little money"

The customer is always right !- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Oh, common Marra -- just put some bloody screenshots up on your
web site to show people, at the very least, as to what your software
*looks* like!!! If PCBCAD at least *looks* good, you'd sell ten times
more product (whether it functioned well is another matter entirely --
in fact, that's why most other companies have a thing called a
"demo"). For heaven's sake, you programmed an entire piece of complex
software; is it so damn hard to take some clear screenshots??? And,
as I said, people get REALLY turned off and worried if you cannot even
put up a presentable web site; these potential customers then, quite
sensibly, wonder just how your software will look, and function, if
they purchase it -- no matter how low the price. Come on, this stuff
I'm saying is basic -- it's not marketing rocket science!!

-Bill- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have updated the website and got rid of the obsolete products.
There are a few shots now.

Well, at least that's a start.
Those resistors are horribly BIG.
Are there any real ground symbols?
Scrap the 3D viewer, what point is there in having something so
simplistic as that?
Why support so many resist layers?
I'd also suggest you get yourself a real web address.

Dave.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The resistors are big to include wattage and tolerance in the value
field.

"Marra" <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote in message

news:bb5587c8-5e8b-4a23-bcee-39a5a50f6d89@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
"The 3D viewer is quite useful for viewing the final board."

What people are trying to tell you, Marra, is that your version isn't really
in the same league as other commercial PCB packages that advertise a "3D
viewer." (See, e.g.,www.pcb-sw.com/uploaded/files/Pulsonix%20V4.5%20Update.pdf for what
Pulsonix's looks like): People are used to be able to "spin" a 3D view with
their mouse, "flying" in and out of it... and also have the DRC tied into the
3D (height) attributes of each part, so they can make sure nothing hits the
top of their chassis (or whatever).

IMO though I think your 3D viewer is fine given the price of your software...
but you might find some customers thinking they're getting something rather
fancier than what you have at present.

---Joel

On Mar 13, 10:18 am, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:





On Mar 12, 12:23 am, "David L. Jones" <altz...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mar 12, 8:44 am, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

On Mar 11, 4:46 am, billcalley <billcal...@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Mar 10, 3:27 pm, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

On Mar 10, 10:27 am, Leon <leon...@btinternet.com> wrote:

On 9 Mar, 22:55, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

My software seems to have numerous checks.

1/ Clearance check.
2/ Continuity check.
3/ Integrity check which compares PCB and schematic.
4/ Unconnected pin checks.
5/ Single ended nets warnings.

If a PCBCAD package has one or more of these missing you could end up
with an expensive mess !

Your software seems to be pretty good at generating a mess, judging by
the schematic on your web site.

Leon

I have at least 2000 buyers who dont agree !
I rarely get asked for help on the helpline so it must be intuitive
and the manual holds up.
Most comments are along the line of "A huge piece of software for very
little money"

The customer is always right !- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

    Oh, common Marra -- just put some bloody screenshots up on your
web site to show people, at the very least, as to what your software
*looks* like!!!  If PCBCAD at least *looks* good, you'd sell ten times
more product (whether it functioned well is another matter entirely --
in fact, that's why most other companies have a thing called a
"demo").  For heaven's sake, you programmed an entire piece of complex
software; is it so damn hard to take some clear screenshots???  And,
as I said, people get REALLY turned off and worried if you cannot even
put up a presentable web site; these potential customers then, quite
sensibly, wonder just how your software will look, and function, if
they purchase it -- no matter how low the price.  Come on, this stuff
I'm saying is basic -- it's not marketing rocket science!!

-Bill- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have updated the website and got rid of the obsolete products.
There are a few shots now.

Well, at least that's a start.
Those resistors are horribly BIG.
Are there any real ground symbols?
Scrap the 3D viewer, what point is there in having something so
simplistic as that?
Why support so many resist layers?
I'd also suggest you get yourself a real web address.

Dave.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The resistors are big to include wattage and tolerance in the value
field.

That's why other programs don't try and put the text inside the
resistor, it goes outside by default, above and below.
It looks silly the way it is, really.
And what if someone wants a ---/\/\/--- resistor symbol?

Seriously, work on the aesthetics in all aspects of your software and
it will do wonders. Ditch work on the auto router, auto placement, 3D
modeling and other non-essential stuff, they are not needed for a low
end package.

And put a demo version up.

Dave.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mar 13, 11:01 am, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...@yahoo.com
wrote:





"Marra" <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote in message

news:bb5587c8-5e8b-4a23-bcee-39a5a50f6d89@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
"The 3D viewer is quite useful for viewing the final board."

What people are trying to tell you, Marra, is that your version isn't really
in the same league as other commercial PCB packages that advertise a "3D
viewer."  (See, e.g.,www.pcb-sw.com/uploaded/files/Pulsonix%20V4.5%20Update.pdffor what
Pulsonix's looks like): People are used to be able to "spin" a 3D view with
their mouse, "flying" in and out of it... and also have the DRC tied into the
3D (height) attributes of each part, so they can make sure nothing hits the
top of their chassis (or whatever).

IMO though I think your 3D viewer is fine given the price of your software...
but you might find some customers thinking they're getting something rather
fancier than what you have at present.

---Joel

I agree. But I'd go further and say simply remove the 3D viewer
completely, I would not spend another second of your development time
on it. It is detrimental to the look of your overall package.

Stick with the basics - layout, schematic, footprints, library
managment/editing, gerber generation, usability, WYSIWYG etc. Ditch
the rest and  concentrate development on the basics. People would
rather have an *excellent* basic package than an average package that
tries to do everything.

Just trying to provide some constructive criticism, hope it helps.

Dave.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"Marra" <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote in message

news:9d8c7c36-02a6-4aaf-8c11-47e0bdf292e3@s37g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
"I run a disco as well as writing software."

What's the monster heatsink/toroid transformer/control circuitry  in the PC
case on your disco page
(http://www.ckp-railways.talktalk.net/rockingdjdisco.htm)? Some sort of
lighting controller?

"Marra" <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote in message

news:bb5587c8-5e8b-4a23-bcee-39a5a50f6d89@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
"The 3D viewer is quite useful for viewing the final board."

What people are trying to tell you, Marra, is that your version isn't really
in the same league as other commercial PCB packages that advertise a "3D
viewer."  (See, e.g.,www.pcb-sw.com/uploaded/files/Pulsonix%20V4.5%20Update.pdf for what
Pulsonix's looks like): People are used to be able to "spin" a 3D view with
their mouse, "flying" in and out of it... and also have the DRC tied into the
3D (height) attributes of each part, so they can make sure nothing hits the
top of their chassis (or whatever).

IMO though I think your 3D viewer is fine given the price of your software....
but you might find some customers thinking they're getting something rather
fancier than what you have at present.

---Joel

On 9 Mar, 22:55, Marra <cresswellave...@talktalk.net> wrote:

My software seems to have numerous checks.

1/ Clearance check.
2/ Continuity check.
3/ Integrity check which compares PCB and schematic.
4/ Unconnected pin checks.
5/ Single ended nets warnings.

If a PCBCAD package has one or more of these missing you could end up
with an expensive mess !

Your software seems to be pretty good at generating a mess, judging by
the schematic on your web site.

Leon