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Orcad PCB / Allegro version conversions? (Argh!)

N i z e

I know; I should rob a bank and get my 16.2 Orcad PCB upgraded. But I don't really want to develop criminal skills. So I've spend a few days trying to find some way to convert 16.3 (and later) libs and boards to 16.2. And came up with absolutely nothing but a nasty feeling that Cadence is doing this primarily to annoy me enough to push me into a bank robbery, a newer, cracked Orcad or other unethical/illegal ventures?!?

However, I still hope someone out there has found a solution? In my humble opinion it just do not seem right that there's no converters available - or even documentation to allow someone to develop one?

Merry Christmas to everybody!

PS: It even seems my 16.2 is only able to save to one other version (16.01) - that also seems a bit pathetic as the formats seem to change with almost every version?

  • Just to save some downloads:

    The free Orcad 16.6 Lite package can open new designs (.brd) and footprints(.dra). But footprints can't be exported. And even if a design has few enough nets to allow saving (like a footprint ;-) only 16.3 is supported. And it seems the 16.3 is not available as "Lite" or "Demo" - or at least I can't find a download....

  • The PCB Editor tools can export BRD files back two minor versions, or to the last major version, however that works out. So, 16.6 can export back to 16.5 and 16.3, 16.5 can export back to 16.3 and 16.2, 16.3 can export back to 16.2 and 16.0 and 16.2 can only export back to 16.0 since that was a major version.

    Since you are in Denmark, why not contact the NordCAD folks and see if they can help you?

  • Seems the moderator ate my last post?! Anyways, the Orcad Lite 16.6 package does not export libs and will only save back to 16.3. As there is no 16.3 Lite package available the 16.6 Lite is useless for me. Actually worse: It did effectively kill my 16.2 installation (thanks Cadence! ;-) So others with similar problems should not waste their time on the Lite stuff!

    The nice, competent people at NordCad could surely help. But I'm of course out of support - and the "fix" for both this and the compatibility issues is of course to rob that bank and buy/upgrade to a new licence... Hopefully an upgrade will be the eventual fix. But right now I'm trying to design electronics - not being criminal!

    Well, I'll better try to reinstall my 16.2 and start drawing parts... >:-(

    Merry Xmas!

  •  Have you tried contacting one of the consultants on here (such as me) for doing a conversion at a modest fee?  There are ways out of redoing the work but not for free. 

    And yes, the databases are intentionally changed so that you must upgrade licenses to be compatible.

  • Your 16.2 install is still there, your environment is now pointing to 16.3 not 16.2. Look for Cadence SPB Switch Release in the Start Menu of your computer and run it (you may need to use rmb - run as administrator) you see a list of your installed versions, double click the version you want in the top half of the gui and you should be good to go.

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