DipTrace 3.0 beta

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novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
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DipTrace 3.0 beta

#1 Post by novarm44 » 17 Feb 2016, 04:06

Hi All,

We have published version 3.0 beta today. You can download it here:
http://diptrace.com/downloads/diptrace_beta.exe

This version is 30-day trial and registration keys of 2.0-2.9 will not work here.
We will publish release of 3.0 within these 30 days and new upgrade/order link will be available as well.
If you ordered DipTrace or upgrade to 2.X after May 1, 2015, upgrade is free for you and you can request a new registration key right now.
You can also request ordering of upgrade to 3.0 earlier if you are not eligible for a free upgrade.

The features and libraries of this beta are 100% equal to upcoming 3.0, the difference is only bugs and polishing. More info here:
http://diptrace.com/diptrace-software/whats-new/
Help and tutorial have been updated too.

New STEP 3D models are available at http://diptrace.com/downloads/models3d_beta.exe - 2.2 Gb (14 Gb when installed). We will additionaly separate them by package type downloads at the nearest time.

New features if compare to 2.9 beta:
- single trace routing/editing for diff pairs (unpaired segments)
- independent lines are allowed in diffpair nets
- manual defining of paired pads option
- supporting differential pairs for external auto-routers, recognition of paired traces
- phase tune tool with real-time control
- speed and memory optimization of DRC/connectivity check/copper pours (we had very large design which caused memory overflow for old DRC, so decided to improve these algorithms) - on typical designs they are 3x-5x faster, on large/high-density layouts - the win is larger and memory usage is significantly reduced.
- tree view of 3D models, in new 3D model installer they are sorted by type
- bug-fixes and improvements of ODB++ export
- 8143 new components
- 5694 STEP 3D models

If compare to 2.4 listed here: http://diptrace.com/diptrace-software/whats-new/

p.s. Length match tool and meander as an object was also in our plans for 3.0, but we decided to keep it for the next minor upgrade of 3.x to speed-up release of 3.0. Coding and testing differential pairs is quite time-consuming task.

Regards,
Stanislav Ruev
DipTrace Team

swunder
Posts: 51
Joined: 21 May 2012, 09:05

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#2 Post by swunder » 17 Feb 2016, 21:44

Hello,

great to see that new version!
Do you know when will be the pin swapping function available? That is the only missing function which is keeping us away from using Diptrace.

Stefan

nquantum
Posts: 3
Joined: 11 Feb 2014, 16:53

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#3 Post by nquantum » 19 Feb 2016, 02:36

Finally! Wow that is what I looking for! The more in high speed design! :D
So happy. Hope to see length math so soon. Now so good to design uC with high speed capability!
And hope these high speed will armed with interactive route (push & shove) that would be fantastic!

vetsen
Posts: 31
Joined: 03 Feb 2011, 16:44

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#4 Post by vetsen » 19 Feb 2016, 07:55

I am using Windows 8 and I have installed 2.4 and the new 3.0 beta. When compared to 2.4, the new beta takes forever to load. Sometimes PCB hangs on the splash screen.

2.4 is very fast to load. Even on the same machine.

-Vetsen

novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
Contact:

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#5 Post by novarm44 » 19 Feb 2016, 10:29

vetsen wrote:I am using Windows 8 and I have installed 2.4 and the new 3.0 beta. When compared to 2.4, the new beta takes forever to load. Sometimes PCB hangs on the splash screen.

2.4 is very fast to load. Even on the same machine.

-Vetsen
The reason is new protection system and RISC virtual machine which is used to virtualize some parts of code. I have tried it on the slowest PC I have (Pentium 3558U) - it looks not critical (other CAD and development application takes much more time to load), however running 2.4 is faster and more comfortable - it's true. We will try to use less sophisticated virtual machine and see how it works.

Martin Johnson
Posts: 22
Joined: 11 Sep 2015, 22:20

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#6 Post by Martin Johnson » 19 Feb 2016, 23:45

Well done for the version 3.0 beta, its certainly a good improvement over 2.9 :)

I had a quick look, unfortunately this is still too lacking in a number of areas to be used for any basic high speed design.
However it does now seem possible to finish of pairs properly using the manual edit and phase tuning :-)

Here are the main points that I think you need to concentrate on before this can be considered:

1. To be useful this needs a way to view / compare trace lengths of one diff pair to another in a list I think that the list needs to be updated as you edit.
2. One very important point that can break some designs if not taken into account: Trace lengths (both diff pair and single ended) need to take into account the layer stack-up / routed via length so that placing via anywhere in the trace the distance of that is included in the length, I can not see looking at the beta that you are currently doing this.
3. There also needs to be a way to view / compare trace lengths of single ended traces.
4. Meander tools are useful and should really be added soon although if they are not present its not so much of a big problem provided its simple to add meanders manually and compare the lengths in real-time while editing.

Phase tuning tool was slightly confusing at first, although at least seems to work well when specifying the amount of length to add to a P or N trace, and gives useful information on the phase for each segment in what looks like both signal directions, I could not make it work well enough for small changes using the design rules, it always seemed to add quite a big distance increase in one jump.

At the moment, apologies for this but I wont consider upgrading from 2.4 until a complete set of usable features are reached, I think a number of users have waited a very long time for the 3.0 release version, I do feel a little disappointed that its not finished off properly in 3.0.

Hopefully the remaining things will be added relatively soon after the 3.0 release?

Kind Regards,

Martin Johnson.

kaz911
Posts: 7
Joined: 01 Feb 2012, 18:27

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#7 Post by kaz911 » 20 Feb 2016, 22:17

Downloading beta as I write :)

my I humbly suggest :) that when you send out upgrade offers - that you allow for good pricing to upgrade to a higher tier? I would probably do it just to support your company and not because I really really need it. But it does probably make sense from a business revenue perspective.

/k

novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
Contact:

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#8 Post by novarm44 » 21 Feb 2016, 03:04

Martin Johnson wrote: 1. To be useful this needs a way to view / compare trace lengths of one diff pair to another in a list I think that the list needs to be updated as you edit.
2. One very important point that can break some designs if not taken into account: Trace lengths (both diff pair and single ended) need to take into account the layer stack-up / routed via length so that placing via anywhere in the trace the distance of that is included in the length, I can not see looking at the beta that you are currently doing this.
3. There also needs to be a way to view / compare trace lengths of single ended traces.
4. Meander tools are useful and should really be added soon although if they are not present its not so much of a big problem provided its simple to add meanders manually and compare the lengths in real-time while editing.
As a quick solution you can enable show length property for nets and see their length while editing. That will work for both differential pairs and usual nets

Lenth comparison as dialog with options, configurable meanders as objects, length match tool which will control and report length errors itself and layer stack feature (with counting in length/phase, report to manufacturer, etc) will be added in the nearest minor updates.

uschott
Expert
Posts: 96
Joined: 08 May 2011, 23:49

Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#9 Post by uschott » 21 Feb 2016, 14:07

Any news on this here?

"Shortcut to quick toggle the Units [inch, mil, mm]"

http://www.diptrace.com/forum/viewtopic ... 443#p18443

us

Techno Tronix
Posts: 188
Joined: 09 Jan 2015, 19:00
Location: Anaheim, CA 92806
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Re: DipTrace 3.0 beta

#10 Post by Techno Tronix » 22 Feb 2016, 03:13

Great to see the new version of DipTrace 3.0 beta.

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