Autodesk released EAGLE 9. This new version continues the improvement that Autodesk has been providing since acquiring the infamous ECAD tool. There are three areas I look at in this AddOhms Livestream.

How I looked at EAGLE 9

In the beginning, I use an old training class I wrote about five years ago when I was using EAGLE daily. It shows how to design a 555 flashing circuit from schematic to PCB. A follow-on class taught how to mill the PCB on a Shopbot. I might update the course and release it if I have time. The exercise class helps me find some surprises with EAGLE’s incremental improvements.

After that, I check out three new features. I also looked at the “Design Blocks” stuff which is a way to incorporate completed schematics like the Adafruit PowerBoost circuit. I need to come back and look at that function again later. Also, I am not positive, but I think that feature was introduced before 9.

1. Quick Routing

The quick routing reminds of the old “follow me” option. You can select individual airwires, entire nets, or multiple signals to route interactively. Unlike the Autorouter, which routes the board as the whole. In the video, I build a simple 555-based PCB. I couldn’t try out routing multiple signals, like address and data for DDR memory. The value I see most from this feature is selectively routing your critical signals and then quick routing the remaining non-critical nets.

2. Device Manager

This informational window provides a clean break-down of many pieces of data. Need to know what layers a footprint use? How about the length of an entire net? In the video, I show that you can use this feature to verify all of your passive components have the same package style. The information is all there, Device Manager brings it to your attention.

3. Breakout

Spoiler Alert: I really like the Breakout Feature. (For those that say I don’t smile in videos, I did this time.) Long story short, this is a shortcut to expand all of the pins for an IC. A great example is in the AddOhms Pyramiduino DIY PCB episode. In the beginning, you can see my time lapse as I break out each of the GPIO pins. That can happen in EAGLE now with a single click.

Check it out

Have you had a chance to check out EAGLE 9 yet? If so, what are your thoughts?