When
the history of software comes to be written we will
all have a bundle of nominations for the Chamber
of Horrors. Most software is OK if you persevere
in the fight to get on top of it. Just occasionally
a program turns up which is head and shoulders above
the mob. You still have to learn to use it but that's
no hardship because you feel the writer has got it
right, even designed it just for you. For me, at
any rate, PCB Wizard is in this class.
During
the Summer, Nuffield Design & Technology ran
a series of electronics INSET courses for teachers.
I took the opportunity in these courses to talk a
little about computer aided PCB design and gave teachers
rather less than an hour to get to grips with PCB
Wizard and undertake some simple design. Noting that
the majority of these teachers did not describe themselves
as experts in electronics, it is a credit both to
them and the software that they not only succeeded
in this task but also enjoyed it.
Control
Studio combined with PCB Wizard is truly outstanding.
It may not be for the purists, however if you are
a teacher and you want quick results with minimal
fuss then this is what you need.
Both
programs [Livewire and PCB Wizard] seem excellent
and were exactly what I needed (as a Professor of
Pharmaceutics I need to stay ahead of the students
and electronics was, in the past, usually just a
matter of fixing the car!).
When
the history of software comes to be written we will
all have a bundle of nominations for the Chamber
of Horrors. Most software is OK if you persevere
in the fight to get on top of it. Just occasionally
a program turns up which is head and shoulders above
the mob. You still have to learn to use it but that's
no hardship because you feel the writer has got it
right, even designed it just for you. For me, at
any rate, PCB Wizard is in this class. 