Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

[email protected] (Bob Dalesio) · Thu, 13 Feb 97 17:05:22 MST

Date: Thu, 13 Feb 97 17:01:59 MST
From: Matthew (Matthew Stettler)
To: dalesio
Subject: Re: CapFast follies
Content-Length: 1388

Since EDIF files contain the symbol definitions as well as the schematic (they
are self-contained), any system which claims to be able to import EDIF should
handle the symbols automatically. When I checked out OrCad in detail two years 
ago, it had a limit of 8 user defined properties - making it unacceptable for 
the EPICS schematics we design.

I really don't want to get involved in a big discussion over what tool is
"best", with some work, any EDIF compatable schematic editor should be usable.
All have limitations, you just need to know what is important for your project,
and choose one that meets the requirements. My personal opinion is that the
schematic editor should impose as few constraints as possible - EPICS is most
sensitive to limitations on symbol property number, and property content format
restrictions. Also, the ability to add new user-defined properties has been 
important in keeping the EPICS symbols flexible. Many vendors claim to be
EDIF compliant, but few actually have fully functional EDIF support. In
particular, EDIF contains both netlist and graphic content - but some tools
are incapable of converting the graphics (scaling ect.) properly, and others 
ignore them entirely and ony import the netlist. In short, you need to know
what you are looking for and perform a few tests on any schematic tool that is
being considered for EPICS work.

	Matt

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Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System