Gary I have used all three tools and have found the following to be true. Protel is cheap like pads and just as good. Mentor Expedition, solid tool, but way too much project interface. If you don't have a full time librarian you could spend most of your time doing project maintenance. Cadence Allegro, strong tool with a lot of horse power. However it is very pricy for the top of the line model. Hope this info has helped. I would rate Cadence Mentor Protel Gary -----Original Message----- From: si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Drew Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 8:59 PM To: si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [SI-LIST] Re: Difference between Protel, Mentor Graphics and Cadence Gary, There are many differences between Protel and Cadence. Keep in mind that I am first and foremost a Cadence Allegro user, therefore biased. Accel also has P-CAD. I think it is a better choice than Protel considering your other two candidates. I have not used Mentor Graphics so I will not hazard a guess as to its difference from the others. One difference between your choices is price. Another difference is how things are done. Still another is that not any one of them do everything. "You get what you pay for" is rarely so true than with PCB layout and/or simulation packages. I suggest subscribing to all of the user forums for the packages that you are interested in and watching the traffic while paying attention to the topics. Actually reading the messages in some of the forums will prove to consume most of your research time. There is much more I could tell you. Most of it is opinion. This is not the place to do it. Cheers! Drew Andrew W. Riley III PCB Design Consultant - looking to get back in the industry. drew3rdof3@xxxxxxxxxxxx ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Tay" <ttecksoo@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 6:00 PM Subject: [SI-LIST] Difference between Protel, Mentor Graphics and Cadence > Hi Guru, > I'm currently evaluating PCB tools package between Protel, Mentor Graphics and Cadence. > > Could anybody let me know the difference between Protel, Mentor Graphics and Cadence since there is a price difference among them. > > Thanks and Regards > Gary Tay > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To unsubscribe from si-list: > si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field > > or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: > //www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list > > For help: > si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field > > List FAQ wiki page is located at: > http://si-list.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Si-List_FAQ > > List technical documents are available at: > http://www.si-list.org > > List archives are viewable at: > //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list > or at our remote archives: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages > Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: > http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from si-list: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: //www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list For help: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field List FAQ wiki page is located at: http://si-list.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Si-List_FAQ List technical documents are available at: http://www.si-list.org List archives are viewable at: //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list or at our remote archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu ------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from si-list: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: //www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list For help: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field List FAQ wiki page is located at: http://si-list.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Si-List_FAQ List technical documents are available at: http://www.si-list.org List archives are viewable at: //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list or at our remote archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu