Frustration in getting bugs fixed

If it's Orcad or Allegro, just open a support ticket with Cadence.  The Cadence promo (free Orcad Standard for one year maintenance) probably isn't making their lives any easier.

Curious if the bug is with one of EMA's products or if it's with 16.6 or 17.2?

CIP got knocked down after Digikey and Mouser both changed their server API before anyone was prepared for it.

I do not think you read the thread. I have opened tickets(CCR's) with Cadence. The bugs are in 17.2 .

Item 1 - While it may be a minor bug to you , since you do not use it . Its a major bug for me since it worked before and I do use it.

Item 2 - I did not like the mouse method in Pads and Do not like it in Allegro. My preference. I am left handed and using the page-up page-Page down works fine for me. The real problem is those keys sometimes work and sometimes do not. The problem is when you go to another screen and back to the canvas the software does not always switch. This was fine in 16.6. I was the one that issued that CCR and then fixed a number of items but not all of them. The other problem is when you are routing and go to switch layers in the options screen with the scroll button, when you go back to the canvas the scroll button still works in the option screen.

Item 3 - A typical example is when  drill to trace errors are not displayed until after the route is completed. This makes it very time consuming to correct the trace distance without the trace changing  color when the error is corrected. I have submitted a number of examples of areas where during routing a trace or via changes color, indicating an error and yet when you finish the operation there is no error.

Item 4 - You need to be in a screen that shows the trace length and while routing a trace , if you hit the undo key  constraint manager closes.

Item 5. - Its difficult to makes sure you save a file at intervals that benefit it the program crashes that is why I use the backup function. Unfortunately 10 minutes is a lot of routing time so I suggested changing it to 1 minute minimum.  

I am only using windows 8.1 since 10 has so much bloatware I do not want to switch.

I fully understand the complexities of trying to write software for different video drivers and operating systems. All of these bugs are not related to video problems.

My original reason for this post was  once the CCR is issued it is very difficult to get information on when or if the bug will be fixed.

"You need 

Lennie said:

Item 4 - You need to be in a screen that shows the trace length and while routing a trace , if you hit the undo key  constraint manager closes.

Isn't there an indicator in the lower right part of the screen that shows relative length compared to the net group?

I'm pretty sure matched length for DDR interfaces doesn't require the constraint manager to be open all the time.

Wish I could help but I traded Orcad Pro for Allegro Designer.  I know there are four different ways they handle matched length based on your license options.

Lennie said:

My original reason for this post was  once the CCR is issued it is very difficult to get information on when or if the bug will be fixed.

My issue is I'm not sure what EMA could do about this as they have little influence over the priority of issues in the Cadence CCR database.

While I have compassion for anyone who is left handed, I cringe when I see people blame the application for graphics issues. 

A display driver update has been life altering for me on several applications. 

While I try to do as much of my design in Allegro as possible, most boards get translated to and released from P*DS, where a painfully small number of databases can generate ODB without having to read the ASCII files to figure out what library part is corrupted this time.

Of all the bugs in the world, I'm not sure what you hope to gain by criticizing EMA.  You aren't blocked from releasing your design. 

Lennie

Item 4 on your list makes no sense to me. Depending on your Allegro level you don't need to have the CM open to monitor trace length. If you want to see etch length as you route try this macro. There is also a user preference to turn it on or you can enter a command, see etch length

funckey W "add connect; etch length"

In the pro version of Orcad / Allegro there is a CM analysis mode called "Total Etch Length" While it is beyond belief that this is not included in Orcad Std I believe it will pop up a Heads up display to indicate the constraint. What version of the tool are you using ?.

On item 3, Was there a particular reason you were doing hole to trace DRC ?. Typically I have this turned off. Reason is that my drills for padstacks and vias have all been checked aka designed in at the padstack level, so there is no need to check. Maybe I'm missing something on the hole check ?

I actively use the Full Screen Cursor and it does blank out in 17.2 while doing a drag operation of a footprint. In 16x it did not do this. if you select Move then click the footprint the full screen cursor does not blank out in 17.2

On the CCR I don't think any SW vendor is going to give you an ETA for a fix. I do think Cadence does a very good job of including a CCR list of fixes with each incremental release.

BTW are you using a dual monitor setup ?

Yes I have dual monitor.

When you are routing a group of nets that are matched length with a specific tolerance its much easier to see the lengths of the entire group in constraint manager for me  . The little screen only shows the length or if electrical rules are set the tolerance. Regardless I see no reason constraint manager to close when you are routing a trace and hit undo. When routing lots of matched length nets or diff pairs with matched lengths you need constraint manager open. Mentor pads router has a much better method of providing this information. It has a spreadsheet with the groups of traces that need to be matched length and it displays the trace lengths of all traces and updates them on the fly while you are routing. For me this makes making matched length routing much easier. The closing of constraint manager while you are trying to route and match the lengths of a group to me wastes a lot of time.

I am using hole to trace a very tight laser via design . With unused pads you need to set the drill the anything and drill to drill to keep copper a certain distance from the drill. When doing laser vias boards you also need to make sure the copper is 6 mils from any laser drill  and 8 mils from any thru hole drill. Again while you may not need to use the feature but the software should still flag it as an error while routing . I agree on larger boards this is not a problem but on tight laser boards it is.

its has been 6 months since I sent in the CCR where they fixed a number of items regarding moving footprints and ghosting, disappearing and full cursor problem. They fixed everything except the full cursor problem. I have asked a number of times and tech supports states I will ask engineering and then I never hear anything. The CCR states nothing about this still being a bug and I wonder if they are even aware the problem still exists. I even get responses like its fixed in the latest version and then ask exactly what did they fix as the CCR is not listed and no response.

While I agree a SW vendor may not be able to give you an ETA when a bug may be fixed an idea that they understand the bug and if its in the que to be fixed would be nice. We have neither.

The full cursor problem has nothing to do with a video driver problem or windows 10. If the software can display full cursor correctly when you select a component and RMB move then it should be able to do that when you just drag the component.

Yes I have dual monitor.

When you are routing a group of nets that are matched length with a specific tolerance its much easier to see the lengths of the entire group in constraint manager for me  . The little screen only shows the length or if electrical rules are set the tolerance. Regardless I see no reason constraint manager to close when you are routing a trace and hit undo. When routing lots of matched length nets or diff pairs with matched lengths you need constraint manager open. Mentor pads router has a much better method of providing this information. It has a spreadsheet with the groups of traces that need to be matched length and it displays the trace lengths of all traces and updates them on the fly while you are routing. For me this makes making matched length routing much easier. The closing of constraint manager while you are trying to route and match the lengths of a group to me wastes a lot of time.

I am using hole to trace a very tight laser via design . With unused pads you need to set the drill the anything and drill to drill to keep copper a certain distance from the drill. When doing laser vias boards you also need to make sure the copper is 6 mils from any laser drill  and 8 mils from any thru hole drill. Again while you may not need to use the feature but the software should still flag it as an error while routing . I agree on larger boards this is not a problem but on tight laser boards it is.

its has been 6 months since I sent in the CCR where they fixed a number of items regarding moving footprints and ghosting, disappearing and full cursor problem. They fixed everything except the full cursor problem. I have asked a number of times and tech supports states I will ask engineering and then I never hear anything. The CCR states nothing about this still being a bug and I wonder if they are even aware the problem still exists. I even get responses like its fixed in the latest version and then ask exactly what did they fix as the CCR is not listed and no response.

While I agree a SW vendor may not be able to give you an ETA when a bug may be fixed an idea that they understand the bug and if its in the que to be fixed would be nice. We have neither.

The full cursor problem has nothing to do with a video driver problem or windows 10. If the software can display full cursor correctly when you select a component and RMB move then it should be able to do that when you just drag the component.

Lennie said:

The full cursor problem has nothing to do with a video driver problem or windows 10. If the software can display full cursor correctly when you select a component and RMB move then it should be able to do that when you just drag the component.

During this drag just hit the 'esc' key and the cursor appears again.

And I agree with you about bugs, for example version 17.2 compared with the latest 16.6 release is imho a step back in GUI and speed. Tested on both W7 and W10 machines with dedicated graphics cards etc, so no system related issues.

Lennie,  to address only the match group routing topic of your most recent post.

I would suggest you close Constraint Manager and use Timing Vision while matching your nets that are constrained with length and tolerance values. It also works nicely for Phase tolerance constrained signals.

You mentioned you had dual monitors, another useful tool while dynamically routing etch is the View->Split View->Float command which creates a second graphic window which helps when you want to see the other end of the net(s) you are routing to.

While Using Timing Vision, the constrained Information, such as Target Net, length, tolerance are all displayed as a data Tip, right there on the graphic screen, at your cursor!  Colors are used to determine where you are in the length matching process. Mentor may be ok, but if you are using PCB Editor, this is an excellent solution.

There is much in Help and also YouTube video's on how to use the tool successfully. Enjoy!

Bill

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I do not have the timing vision package so I was using constraint manager for matched lengths.

Thanks . So you would think it would be easy to fix. ????