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 Farnell's DesignLink
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tswelectronics

United Kingdom
88 Posts

Posted - 05 Nov 2009 :  16:04:45  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Are there any intentions to work with Farnell to support their DesignLink system?

Here is a link to the video. It looks pretty cool.

http://uk.farnell.com/multimedia/designLink/EDETools2.wmv

Trev

Benno

Netherlands
79 Posts

Posted - 06 Nov 2009 :  13:42:46  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I vote for that, looks great.
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shadders

United Kingdom
223 Posts

Posted - 08 Nov 2009 :  22:15:00  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
OK, this is a bit off topic, does anyone know the music to the video at the link above ?. Thanks.

Regards,

Richard.
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remi

United Kingdom
101 Posts

Posted - 09 Nov 2009 :  09:44:40  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
those are features for Altium and Orchad, software that do not cost the same amount as Easy PC ;)
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olga

United Kingdom
107 Posts

Posted - 09 Nov 2009 :  14:09:06  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
To be honest, I didn't think it showcased itself very well. It wasn't made clear exactly what it was doing, and I think it could have used a little more explanation of that; albeit not in the strange, shadowed, difficult-to-read font they chose! To me it seemed to be largely a pointer waving fairly aimlessly over the screen! (I must be in a picky mood today )

Where did you find the link? I can't seem to find any reference to designLink on Farnell's website... and I'd be interested to see if they have anything any more useful there.

TIA.
Best wishes,
Olga.

Edited by - olga on 09 Nov 2009 16:21:19
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Iain Wilkie

United Kingdom
1011 Posts

Posted - 09 Nov 2009 :  17:27:18  Show Profile  Visit Iain Wilkie's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I have to agree with Olga ... that demo was pathetic, it left me sitting saying to myself "Just exactly what was that all about ?"

Not impressed although I do get the jist

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olga

United Kingdom
107 Posts

Posted - 13 Nov 2009 :  15:14:44  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'm reading the latest junkmail^W informative brochure from Farnell (well... it is Friday afternoon!) which clarified in one sentence what the demo failed to show clearly in four and a half minutes:

"DesignLink - Premier Farnell's tool allows designers to immediately search and find parts from within their CAD design environment without ever having to leave the program."

There's now a link on Farnell's website...

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/support/support.jsp?ICID=i-f4bf-00003024&formpage=farnell/en_UK/design-link/index.jsp

...although it does just look like it only supports Altium & OrCad, which are, as Remi says, rather more expensive than EasyPC. However, Farnell have just bought CadSoft who make EAGLE CAD, & they have a 'light' version which is Freeware, so they might support that eventually too.

Nevertheless, I'm sticking with EasyPC!
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Iain Wilkie

United Kingdom
1011 Posts

Posted - 15 Nov 2009 :  19:32:14  Show Profile  Visit Iain Wilkie's Homepage  Reply with Quote
If you have the Easy PC package I am using, the full version layout AND the full version pro router plus a few libraries and optional extras, the cost is £2000+ .... not far away from Altium. Easy PC in my eyes is a fully professional package and should be recognised as such. Indeed its big brother Pulsonix is probably the same price or dearer that Altium, and the only difference I have seen between them (easyPC and Pulsoniix) is the import facilities. I think EasyPC is an excellent professional package and perhaps NumberOne may consider this type on external component import in conjunction with Farnell at a later date. Actually, I seem to remember that Farnell used to sell EasyPC..

Iain
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olga

United Kingdom
107 Posts

Posted - 16 Nov 2009 :  10:23:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I certainly agree that EasyPC is a professional package, and yes, Farnell did sell it once upon a time :)

One major advantage of EPC over (say) OrCAD, which I used to use, is that although the upgrades have to be paid for (although at a very reasonable cost) the support is free. OrCAD used to cost about 300ukp a year for a support contract (basically it meant you got the upgrades 'free'), and the support itself was nowhere near as good!

Number One is much more 'user friendly' - we can ask for features, suggest ideas etc. and we are likely to see them! I recall emailing Orcad about something like that & I don't even think I got a reply!

Best wishes,
Olga.
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DavidM

United Kingdom
458 Posts

Posted - 16 Nov 2009 :  12:14:58  Show Profile  Visit DavidM's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Glad to hear your positive comments about Easy-PC - not that its 'perfect' of course, but we like to think we're heading in the right direction!

DesignLink seems to offer direct links to lots of component data, so you can do parameterised searches through tables of datasheets etc, but it isn't going to make your components and symbols for you. It might help you decide which part you should actually use, but you'll still have to build the library items yourself.

Of course when you finish your design there will probably be a button where you can just order all the bits from Farnell to build the board! That's really where we see the benefits - benefits for Farnell though, not necessarily for the designer!

Still, we are tracking what they are doing with it, and like most things if there is sufficient demand from our users for it to be incorporated into Easy-PC then we will always consider it when we look at the features to add for our annual update.
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