(For those new to the column, Forward Migration is our term for companies moving from Wintel machines to Macs — or at least adding or increasing the number of Macs they use. A Forward Migration Kit is an overview of Mac OS products for a particular occupation, such as photography, optometry, etc.)
This week we’re looking at Mac software/hardware that’s available for use in the engraving/routing (both 2D and 3D) business. We only got three recommendations, two of them from Douglas Electronics, a company with a 40 year history of providing solutions to prototype engineers.
The company makes Douglas CAD/CAM Professional, a suite of design tools for the professional PCB design engineer for the design and manufacture of printed circuit boards. According to the folks at Douglas Electronics, it takes you from concept to finished hardware.
The US$695 Professional System supports multilayer and SMT design capabilities. The components include: Professional Layout (with libraries), AutoRouter, Print, DRC (Design Rule Check) Utility, Gerber-In, and Gerber Viewer. Douglas Electronics also offers CAD/CAM Professional-Plus, which includes Gerber File and Drill File Creator programs. There’s also a “lite” version for $25.
Also from Douglas Electronics is DesignWorks, which is designed to give you workstation performance schematic capture on your desktop. It does more than just create a clean schematic drawing of your circuit design, according to the folks at Douglas Electronics. Beneath every wire and every device symbol lies a comprehensive database that is built invisibly and automatically while you just point, click, and draw, they said.
The program is modular, hierarchical, supports multiple pages, and comes with a comprehensive library of devices, each device having database attributes for things such as the manufacturer’s part numbers, packaging information, PCB footprint code, and more, all pre-defined.
A Browser tool gives you access to this database in a spreadsheet-like environment. A template driven Report tool allows the database information to be selectively extracted, sorted and output into a text file in just any format. Templates for over a dozen popular CAD systems are included, or you can write your own for any custom purpose.
The optional 13-state gate-level logic simulator responds instantly to all changes in the circuit, and results can be displayed both in simulated display devices on the drawing, and in a logic analyzer style timing window. The state of any signal can be probed at any level of the hierarchy (in Physical Mode).
An integrated device editor lets you create your own custom parts by starting with one that’s familiar and making minor changes. Or you can build one from scratch if you wish. An error checking tool is standard, as are library maintenance utilities. Design Works is $495 or $990 with a digital simulator.
Another application worth investigating is LogicWorks, an interactive circuit design tool intended for teaching and learning digital logic.
It includes a full schematic editor with bussing, multi-level undo/redo, interactive connection tracing, and other features. All this is coupled with an interactive digital simulator. Changes made to signal connections or device parameters on the screen are immediately reflected in the timing waveforms and probes placed on the diagram.
LogicWorks is upwardly compatible with DesignWorks. The cost is $80.
(Thanks to Douglas Godfrey for the heads-up on these products.)
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