How to import an Orcad netlist into DXP2004 ?

[dspcode]

boardstation and allegro

To ALL:

How does one import an Orcad netlist into DXP2004 ?? Is there a place on the menu that is hidden ?? Or is this one of those programs where the user is REQUIRED to do everything with the particular manufacturer's tools ??

dspcode

 

[House_Cat]

Re: DXP2004

You can import Orcad schematics, you can import Orcad layout files, but you can't import a raw Orcad netlist.

No EDA package will let you import an unprocessed netlist. The netlist formats are different from package-to-package, the component names won't match your library component names, etc. You can edit the netlist to put it in proper format and then it will import, but the easiest way would be to import the schematic and generate the netlist from the schematic using DXP2004.

 

[sigint]

Re: DXP2004

I don't know about DXP 2004, but Orcad can output netlists in dozens of formats, importable into almost any PCB Design package - in the "Tools - Create Netlist Others tab" - is the option to export a Protel format, as for reading it into DXP2004, I'm sure there must be a way, Protel in the past always allowed it in the past. Importing the schematic sounds attractive but be very careful, if it doesn't read your part info correctly you could have problems - P-cad had some problems with it's PDIF format.

SiGiNT

 

[House_Cat]

Re: DXP2004

sigint - You are correct about being able to EXPORT netlists in many formats from most EDA packages. The problem is what you can do with the netlist once you read it into another, different, EDA package.

The netlist contains component names, pin numbers and names, as well as net names. In order for the EDA package to understand the netlist, you must have created a library of components that match the parameters in the netlist you try to load. For example, if the component in Orcad had a pin named A1 on a component name TQFP44, then DXP would have to have the exact same component name and pin number - TQFP_44, pin 1A would not correspond. Otherwise, what you will get in DXP is an ECO list of the components and pins in the netlist next to a list of components and pins of the placed components in the PCB editor, and you will have to match them pin-by-pin.

If it is a small board with few pins, it isn't much work. But if you have a 1000-2000 pin board, you're going to spend some time matching up the netlist. That is what I meant when I said above that you need to do some processing on the netlist. NO EDA package will let you import a raw, unprocessed, netlist from another EDA package - even if the format can be matched, there is still work to be done. The smoothest solution is still to bring in the schematic and generate the netlist from the EDA program that is going to have to use that netlist.

The question was "How does one import an Orcad netlist into DXP2004". The answer is you can't directly - you have to take an indirect path that involves manual labor. The manual labor can require more effort than reworking the schematic if the circuit is large. Been there - done that - many times over the 45 years I've been in the business (sigint - before you correct me again, only 30 something years of that has been with computer software).

 

[sigint]

Re: DXP2004

house_cat,

Your answers are always dead-on, accurate, but being in the business that long you must be aware that Orcad was first developed in the 80's as a front end schematic package for other layout tools and didn't even have layout capability until the mid 90's. In the western hemisphere, where I live and work, over 50% of the design work is still done with Orcad as the schematic capture front-end and predominatly Pads as the layout tool, with P-cad, Protel, and Orcad about even as a distant second. I don't argue the point that using a single tool for both is the best solution, I personally have used both Boardstation and Allegro, as well as Pads, Tango and other software ancient enough even for your credentials, which are remarkably similar to my own, but I didn't design boards on a Commodore! Sorry for the cynical humor I couldn't resist! Anyway please keep up the good work, as your answers are valuable to us all, I just did not want to see Orcad being characterized as a useless front end tool for other software.

SiGiNT

 

[House_Cat]

Re: DXP2004

I didn't design boards on a Commodore! Sorry for the cynical humor I couldn't resist!

I didn't use a Commodore either - it was a University IBM System 360 mainframe. The software produced a large scale plot that took the place of the tape-up on mylar. The plot was then photo lithographed using a beam camera to scale to desired size. The litho was used as the exposure mask on sensitized copper.

 

[sigint]

Re: DXP2004

I was hand-taping back then - still have some Bishop-Graphics stuff somewhere, for PCB's and playing with PDP-11's on the test equipment.

SiGiNT

(Dueling Dinosaurs! LOL)