MS/UB11 new release issues

[dbur]

I got the design suite ver 11.0 yesterday.

This is my experience so far:

• UB 11.0 has crashed multiple times, mostly when moving parts around.  I used to have a lot of crash problems with ver 10 until I replaced the Crucial 'Ballistic' memory in my PC with their standard version memory.  It had be rock solid since then, up until this release (11.0).  It seems UB is not near as stable as with version 10 - 10.1.1
• I expected improved text handling from what was said in the release notes, but so far am dissapointed.  The net names still can only be positioned on a very coarse grid so that thaey can't always be palced in an easily readable location.  This was not a problem back in about ver7 or so.  Somewhere along the line they disabled the fine adjustment that can be done with other text and attribute items, and have never given it back.
• Text placed still moves around on the page depending on the zoom level, making it hard to know where your text will actually be when printed.
• I've been hoping for many versions for the 'place arc' feature of UB to be improved.  The numeric entry for place arc does not have enough displayed parameters for complete specification.  I have to resort to dragging it with a mouse, which sometimes is not an accurate enough placement method.
• MS 11.0 seems significantly slower than 10.1.1.  I particularly notice this when selecting and moving parts.  When selecting a text attribute and moving it with the arrow keys I get about 1 step per second max.  If I hit the key a bunch of times I then have to sit and wait for it to complete.  This is quite detrimental to the editing experience.

Please add to this thread if you have any other observations.

David B

[dbur]

Well, I turned design rule check to 'Check on action end' and 'Ask for confirmation' and I haven't had a crashes of UB since.

David B

[kittmaster]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried it out on another machine to see if these problem exist there?  I've never really notice the text thing since most people work with grid alignment for all objects.  So far 11 has been ok here.  Their auto router leaves a lot to be desired.

[dbur]

I heven't checked the UB stability issue on another computer yet.  I have it on my laptop, but would normally rather work on my big dual screen station.

I'm sure the others issues are on all installs as they have been in the past and are just the way it works.

Do you turn on all net names in your schematics?  If you do I would be surprised if you didn't have problems with them being a big mess.  Being able to fine adjust the positions like you can with refdes and other text objects would really help making the schematic presentable.

David B

[dbur]

OK, I've got a new one.

• When I place a copper area and set the area enable for thermal reliefs for pads and vias, the check boxes work backwards.  When I check it, it actually disables reliefs instead of enabling them.  It worked correctly in 10.1.1.

David B

[kittmaster]

I always leave all net names active in a schematic, and yet to see and issue.  Do you have some kind of useless circuit you could post and I'll see if it does it on my machine?  Does you machine have a real video card?  Or does it use the chipset integrated graphics?   

[dbur]

Well, I updated my video drivers (nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS, real video card) and it doesn't seem to crash anymore with the tests I made.  Drivers weren't that old.  That restores some confidence in V11.0.

I did not have any problems on my laptop (integrated video, shared mem?  not sure) either, though I did have real time checking turned off when I was working on that.

I also have now played a bit with simulations and the grapher.  The V11.0 grapher is way nicer.  I like it.

Here is also a small file with net names.  Not quite useless but close.  You should be able to see how moving the netnames around is on a coarser grid than for other objects, like ref des, labels, or plain text.  Makes for a mess with tight circuits.  I don't see why my small circuit should be any different than any other MS design file you already have, but give it a shot.

I just found out the forum does not yet recognize .ms11 files for attachment.  I renamed it to .ms10.  Rename it back to .ms11 after you save it.

David B