Quick bug fix!

[Leon]

A serious bug manifested itself earlier in the Pulsonix PCB software I
use - I'd updated a complex part (FPGA) with additional net names
assigned to pins and the software crashed whenever I performed an
electrical rules check. I emailed the design to Pulsonix support and
they sent me an updated DLL within two hours which fixed the bug!

Leon

 

[Walter Harley]

A serious bug manifested itself earlier in the Pulsonix PCB software I
use - I'd updated a complex part (FPGA) with additional net names
assigned to pins and the software crashed whenever I performed an
electrical rules check. I emailed the design to Pulsonix support and
they sent me an updated DLL within two hours which fixed the bug!

In other words, either they already had the fix and hadn't notified their
customers, or else they sent you an untested patch.

Sorry, I'm just a cynical software guy Still, it's nice they sent you
anything at all.

 

[Paul Burke]

In other words, either they already had the fix and hadn't notified their
customers, or else they sent you an untested patch.

Sorry, I'm just a cynical software guy Still, it's nice they sent you
anything at all.

Actually, they are very good at fixes, even for the junior version Easy
PC. A lot of effort is put into a product costing a few hundred pounds.
Unlike some expensive compiler vendors I could name.

Paul Burke

 

[Joel Kolstad]

In other words, either they already had the fix and hadn't notified their
customers, or else they sent you an untested patch.

No, they really do fix bugs you find. I found one as well (one of those minor
"if you do this, which you might do accidentally but it's actually pretty
unlikely you'd ever _intentionally_ do it, the software crashes" kind of bugs)
and they fixed it within a few days.

I would say that some of the reason they have to be so responsive to bugs is
that, being somewhat newer, I think they have a few more than some of the more
established pieces of software; I also suspect that -- due to their
considerably smaller user base -- there isn't exactly much of a "beta tester"
program yet so more bugs make it out into the wild before being caught. But
still, some of those "established" pieces of software such as Protel and ORCAD
still have bugs that are now at the point where they'll probably never be
fixed (i.e., they've been around through multiple major revisions), so
Pulsonix's attitude is quite refreshing in this day and age.

I think Pulsonix stands a decent shot at gaining significant converts from the
demographics that's willing to pay some amount of money for their software
(there's many people who'll be using, e.g., ExpressPCB or GNU EDA or any
random piece of pirated software because they're 100% unwilling or unable to
pay _anything_ for their software), especially since Protel removed itself for
the lower end of the market (and then purchased Accel's PCAD for their "higher
end" offering), ORCAD has kinda stagnated, and PADS has firmly cemeted its
position in the stratopshere, all within the past handful of years now.

For the really inexpensive market, Pulsonix has EasyPC, which I think compares
favorably with Eagle (although Eagle does have scripting and a certain degree
of cross-platform compatibility, which neither EasyPC nor Pulsonix do).
Another newcomer to that market segment is Rimu PCB
(http://www.hutson.co.nz/rimupcb.htm), which looks incredibly good for the
near-"giveaway" price the guy is charging for it.

---Joel Kolstad

 

[Paul Urbanus]

Another newcomer to that market segment is Rimu PCB
(http://www.hutson.co.nz/rimupcb.htm), which looks incredibly good for the
near-"giveaway" price the guy is charging for it.

I purchased RimuPCB back in mid-2003 and used it to do my first
non-ExpressPCB layout. It was a 4-layer with inner layers for power and
ground. I finished the layout, generated the gerbers, and sent them to a
local fab shop. I received a call later in the day, and was told that
that THERE WERE NO PADS ON THE INNER (PLANE) LAYERS!

I emailed Julan Hutson, then spoke with him by phone that evening. By
the time I got home, he had sent me a new version (or DLL, I don't
recall exactly) which fixed the problem.

As someone who has kicked the tires on quite a few PCB layout programs,
I can honestly say that RimuPCB was one of the most intuitive programs I
have tried - similiar in 'high intution' ranking to ExpressPCB.

There is one aspect of RimuPCB's design rule checking (DRC) which could
cause a serious problem if one is not careful. If nets are connected
through a power plane polygon (poured copper), these nets are not
flagged as 'connected' in a DRC run. The following is an excerpt from my
original inquiry to the author about this issue.

"If I run an electrical DRC after I have updated both power plane
polygons, it still shows that I have lots of 'incomplete nets', even
though they are connected together through the power plane thermal reliefs."

The author replied to me on 17 January that "I will think about that
before the new version comes out."

Until this issue is fixed, the DRC is incomplete. But, if one verifies
that all power is connected after copper pours, this is one tool that is
well worth the money.

I have no affiliation with or stake in RimuPCB. I just like to recommend
things that are elegant and work in an intuitive manner.

YMMV

Urb

 

[Frithiof Andreas Jensen]

In other words, either they already had the fix and hadn't notified their
customers, or else they sent you an untested patch.

Like when my Electrolux hoover shredded a plastic bit: The lady in the
service department knew EXACTLY which part no. is was straight off the
trigger word "hoover"...

 

[Leon]

No, they really do fix bugs you find. I found one as well (one of those minor
"if you do this, which you might do accidentally but it's actually pretty
unlikely you'd ever _intentionally_ do it, the software crashes" kind of bugs)
and they fixed it within a few days.

I would say that some of the reason they have to be so responsive to bugs is
that, being somewhat newer, I think they have a few more than some of the more
established pieces of software; I also suspect that -- due to their
considerably smaller user base -- there isn't exactly much of a "beta tester"
program yet so more bugs make it out into the wild before being caught. But
still, some of those "established" pieces of software such as Protel and ORCAD
still have bugs that are now at the point where they'll probably never be
fixed (i.e., they've been around through multiple major revisions), so
Pulsonix's attitude is quite refreshing in this day and age.

They have a very thorough beta-testing programme on every new release,
I'm one of the testers! The beta-testing phase typically takes six
months.

Leon