Dual Monitor Support

We've recognised the advantages that a second monitor brings to your design environment so we've added dual screen support to Easy-PC 13. With a second screen you can run independent Easy-PC Schematics from one and Easy-PC PCB on the other with full communications between the two. This includes full Schematic to PCB, Forward Design Changes, Cross Probing both ways and Back Annotation to the Schematic. All application related dialogs, menus and toolbars are fully co-operative and will be displayed on the screen in which they were used.

Design Rulers

Design Rulers add horizontal and vertical rulers with graduations to the design window. Your cursor position is constantly displayed in both ruler axes giving you a visible reference in-sync with the coordinates of the status bar. You can also add Ruler Stops to the ruler (like Tabs in Microsoft ® Word). User defined Ruler Stops provide you with visible on-screen 'guide' lines to which you can snap and reference design items.

Component Editor Interface to your Spreadsheet

Processing of complicated devices has been significantly improved with the ability to import pin data directly into the Component Editor grid. This allows you to create/sort/modify pin data in Excel ® for example, then Copying and Pasting the information directly into Easy-PC. In addition, you can now also import .CSV format files into the Component Editor. For large devices with 144 pins or more and alphanumeric pin names/numbers, this is a huge time-saving feature.

Component Checks

As a continual advancement in Easy-PC's technology capabilities, you can now define Component to Component spacing rules within your PCB design. Shapes can also be used as component placement areas with Component to Component checking carried out in the DRC dialog. This features helps you save space and also ensures no components overlap unnecessarily.

Sign-off Checks

Define all your essential pre-manufacturing checks into an easy-to-use set of rules and run them from within the Design Rules Check (DRC) or Plotting dialog before you actually send the design off for manufacturing. Once you've created a group of rules, these can be saved as an 'acceptance' rule set to be recalled at any time during the design process. This feature alone is critical if you only design occasionally.

Net Class Matched lengths

When net lengths are to be matched, length values and tolerances must be applied. Another technology advancement in Easy-PC 13 is the ability to define these values and tolerances. Once applied to Net Classes, any net using this class can be checked and any differences reported. You can also interactively analyse and report Track Lengths for each Net Class in the design showing their min and max lengths and net class tolerance. These new feature aids the overall design integrity to ensure your designs are always created and checked the way you want them to be.

Composite Power-plane plots to one file

Traditionally, a power plane plot which must include embedded design items such as tracks would need to be created as a two-plot process and then a composite made at a later stage. The new composite plane feature enables you to create a single plot of the full plane directly from Easy-PC. This single plot output is ready to use with no other processes required from your plot house or manufacturer.

Barcode Text

Barcodes can be defined and added to your designs. By using a special 'system' text font, all parameters to create the barcode can be entered. Parameters such as the inter-line spacing and thickness can be defined, thus ensuring the barcode is the correct size and readable by the barcode reader.

Show Nearest Node on Net during Routing

When manually routing a track in the design, from the end of the track you will now see two possible 'lines'; one shows the actual electrical node in the netlist and the other will be a dynamic connection to the nearest node on the same net. This displays the nearest legal landing site possibility for that track. As you edit the track, the dynamic connection changes to always give you the shortest length.

• Dual screen support
• Design Rulers
• Copy/Paste between Easy-PC & spreadsheet
• Import CSV pin data to component editor
• Component area definition and checks
• Sign-off manufacturing checks
• Net Class matched lengths and rules
• Composite Gerber planes to one file
• Barcode text
• Show nearest node on net during routing
• Pan and Zoom improvements
• New pad shapes
• Named areas, for use in Arrange Components and Autoplace
• Additional Automatic placement features
• New Arrange Component placement feature
• NEW GenCAD PCB export cost option
• NEW Connector Library cost option
• UPDATED Pro Library 2 cost option
• UPDATED MicroController 2 Library cost option

• Support for LT Spice with a netlist output
• DXF output improvements
• Easy swap between RS-274D and X Gerber formats
• Extended 'Find' using up to four attributes in Libraries dialog and Add Component
• Print PDF from Project file
• Bitmap Import support JPEG and TIFF
• Ability to standardise report extensions
• Ability to optionally draw grids as lines
• Show Shape area size in Properties
• Access to all online manuals from Help menu
• New advanced DRC checks
• Shortcut key for cycling through available layers during routing
• Sign-off of error markers for acceptance
• Write DSN file from Specctra dialog (existing cost option)