Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc! From: lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Board Master, anyone? Message-ID: <1775@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> Date: 14 Jul 90 14:16:18 GMT Lines: 78 Return-Path: To: van-bc!rnews In <31730@cup.portal.com>, thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: >arc@desire.wright.edu in <826.269edadd@desire.wright.edu> writes regarding >"Board Master": > > I have used that once before. I think it does support plotters... > AND OF COURSE printers, AREXX, and has darn good PCB layering. Pretty > professional. I think you need about 1.5 meg. to run it. I ran it on > a 3 meg machine, wouldn't run in my 1 meg (FATTER AGNUS!) 500... Oh > well! I think it's worth it. I would buy it if I needed to do PCB > work... > >Well, just don't expect to lay down footprints for items such as DB-25 RS-232 >connectors and anything else whose pin spacing is not a multiple of .025". > >For reference, pin spacing on DB-25 connectors is .108" to .109" (depending >whose spec sheets you read). > >"Board Master" is the successor to "PCLO", and has the same author who, back >then, was named C. "Ben" Blish and lived in Florida. PCLO used to cost $1,000. >One of my companies was "burned" buying PCLO; it's not a useable product for >any "real" PC board layout (and I had every version from the first beta test >to the final production distribution). Sometime over the past several years >(since 1986) Blish changed his name, his company's name (used to be named >SoftCircuits, Inc.; it's now Black Belt Systems) and moved to, I believe, the >Dakotas where Black Belt Systems is presently located. A lawyer checked this >out on behalf of the company (and, no, it was determined not to pursue any >legal action). He is currently living in Glasgow, Montana. The company name was not changed. SoftCircuits is no more. It does not exist. Softcircuits was put out of business when it was screwed over by Southern Tech and C Ltd. SoftCircuits was Ben's company; Black Belt Systems is not. He changed his own name for other reasons, having to do with his interests in the book publishing field, and after marrying, and taking the maiden name of his wife, Anne Williams. I mention this to forstall any thoughts of chicanery on his part. At _NO_ time did he attempt hide any of the changes, and in fact talks about it quite openly on Compuserve, where he maintains a subsection of the AmigaVendor forum, originally as SoftCircuits and now as Black Belt Systems. While I too asked for certain features to be added to PCLO, he quite clearly stated that it would not happen. At no time did I consider any of his actions to be in any way dishonest. >What really galled me was that Blish said both of "bend the pins of your >connectors to fit the board's holes" (sheesh) and "use layout tape to route >where the program cannot." (double sheesh, why use a computer at all?) BTW, >neither PCLO nor "Board Master" does any semblance of "auto routing." And, >BTW, I have tape recordings of my telephone conversations with him, so he's >not gonna weasel out of THIS. > >Check it out BEFORE you buy. If all you're doing are simple "home-type" layouts >it may satisfy your needs. But don't expect to lay out a motherboard for >something like a small computer. I have designed several boards with PCLO, despite the limitations. As you say, it is not up to the standards of some of the professional (and professionally priced) products for the IBM and clones, but bears looking at, limitations and all. >If you want to do "more or less" professional layouts, get the PRO-NET and >PRO-BOARD products for the Amiga. PRO-NET does schematic capture, etc. and >PRO-BOARD does the layouts. PRO-NET/-BOARD is a useable product, but still >not as sophisticated as some of the products I've seen on "IBM-PC" machines. I have the demos, but never bought. Has the price come down at all? -larry -- The raytracer of justice recurses slowly, but it renders exceedingly fine. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+