now OT: Re:PCB tools for Linux (was Whenceforth the Ubuntu fanboyz now?)

[tleslie]

Speaking of PCB,
what is the finest pin pitch (or one can list pacakge)
that one has been able to sucessfully place and solder on a PCB
without resorting to a automated expensive sol'n but rather
a tech that is hobbyist  based, i.e. soldering iron, oven, etc?

just interested in anyone experiences, as I would like to 
build a PCB using a  Xilinx coolrunner CPLD   and maybe a FPGA
and they have PLCC versions but they are WAY big,
then they have ball versions and quad packs. with ultra fine pin
pitches, and I would like to go really fine, but this seem like
it would be trying to thread a needle with welding gloves on and
looking through a stain-glass window whilst doing it, unless
they make one hell of a fine soldering iron and a soldering application
method for this fine work? I read somewhere about tin'ing plating and
and a oven, not sure if that's a tale or not.

I know one can ship this stuff out pretty economically but I am
intetrested in a lot of home tooling around with many pcb's,
so i am thinking of getting a home milling machine (modified roland)
that can do .01" traces and spaces, and assuming it does a good job,
then placement and soldering is my only worry.

Any real life experiences? mail me off list if like, I am interested in
anyone experiences.

-tl

On Mon, 2007-02-12 at 14:17 -0500, Kevin Cozens wrote:
> phiscock-g851W1bGYuGnS0EtXVNi6w at public.gmane.org wrote:
> > The only thing we cannot do under Linux these days are PCB layout and
> > routing. As a matter of habit, I use Electronic Workbench under Windows
> > for circuit simulation, but I believe there is a linux-based alternative
> > now.
> >   
> Have you looked at the gEDA suite (http://www.geda.seul.org)?
> 
> As previously mentioned, there is EagleCAD (http://www.cadsoft.de) for 
> schematic capture and PCB layout. The gEDA suite has gschem for 
> schematic capture. Associated with the gEDA suite is PCB 
> (http://pcb.sourceforge.net) for PCB layout.
> 
> I haven't spent much time with any of the above. They may be nice 
> programs but I didn't find them that intuitive or conducive to just 
> starting them up and being able to use them out of the box. It may be 
> just a case of spending a bit more time using them first.
> 
> The program I currently use for schematic capture and board layout is 
> WinQCad (http://www.winqcad.com). Yes, it is a Windows program but the 
> web site states right up front that you can run the program using Wine 
> (which I have done).
> 
> I have found WinQCad to be the easiest program of its type to use. I was 
> able to start making useful schematics with it very quickly. The free 
> version has a 499 pin limit only. It dosen't limit the size of board or 
> number of layers you can have. The pin limit doesn't affect the 
> schematic editor. It only seems to come in to play when you try to 
> generate a netlist. (I'm not sure what impact it has for the board layout.)
> 
> Its part and PCB outline libraries seem a bit limited but it is easy to 
> edit and/or create the part and outline libraries. It can also import 
> parts from other software packages. It seems to have a fairly decent 
> autorouter. I've mainly used the schematic editing features so I can't 
> say too much about the board layout aspects.
> 
> So far, I have used it to create (or update from a very old OrCAD files) 
> created 5 schematics ranging in size from a single A sized sheet to one 
> consisting of 8 B sized sheets.
> 
> BTW, does Octave handle equation solving along the lines of TK! Solver? 
> I'm talking about a program where you can enter a formula, give it some 
> known values for the variables and have it solve for the unknowns 
> without have to re-arrange the formula.
> 
> ie. Enter the formula for resonant frequency (Fr), provide values for Fr 
> and C and have the program solve for L.
> 

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