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EAGLE

Version 6

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EAGLE Version 6 -- Introduction of the Control Panel
CadSoft Computer introduced a new major release of their Layout Software EAGLE in December 2011. The new version 6
starts with all the functionality an Electronic Design Engineer needs for drawing schematics and creating a printed circuit
board. New is that EAGLEs internal data structure is in XML format, which currently is unique in the professional ECAD soft-
ware world.

The first article of this series will explain the basics of the EAGLE Control Panel which is the EAGLE starting window . The user
can get an overview about the Libraries and the User Language Programs EAGLE comes with and thats the place where you
manage existing and new projects. Its also the place where you can decide about a number of programm settings.

Control Panel -- Tree view

On the left hand side of the Control Panel you find the so-called tree view. Opening one of the branches, for example Libra-
ries, shows all the library files that come with EAGLE. Expand one of the entries and you will see the Devices and Packages
that are contained in the library file. Click onto one of the entries and the preview of the component will be shown.

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Library preview

The same can be done for User Language Programs or, for example, for the Projects branch. By the way: User Langu-
age Programs (ULPs) are more or less simple, C-like programs that can be used for a variety of tasks. It is possible to export
data from your schematic or layout into any format. There is for example dxf.ulp which creates DXF data or bom.ulp for
creating a bill of materials.

Importing data is possible as well. Provided you have a good description of the data format you could write such a program
by yourself in order to import data into EAGLE. The whole User Language is described in the EAGLE help file. ULPs can be
used to modify your project and automize certain tasks. All in all thats a very flexible tool with countless options. Look into
the ULPs that come with EAGLE or check for additional files in the Download area of CadSofts web site: www.cadsoft.de
On top of the Control Panel there is located the menu bar. The Options entry leads you to some interesting configuration
possibilities. Click onto the first entry Directories. Here you can decide about where EAGLE has to look for its files. Libraries,
User Language Programs, the Projects, Design Rule files and CAM jobs can be located in any folder, either on your local com-
puter or on a network server. You are allowed to specify several folders, if you like to. Lets say you prefer to have the default
libraries available on a server, and your personal ones are located in your private folders.

Directories dialog

The second entry in the Options menu is about Backup. EAGLE crea-
tes a number of backup files each time you save your project. There is a
maximum of 9 possible backups. They are named with the file extension
.b#1 to .b#9 for the board file (*.brd). The same for schematics (*.sch)
and library files (*.lbr).
They get the extensions .s#1 to s#9 and .l#1 to .l#9 accordingly. The au-
tomatic backup which is created automtically in the given interval has the
extension.b/s/l##. If you have to recover one of the backups you rename
it to a valid EAGLE extension.

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Backup dialog

The Options/User Interface menu allows you to change the background colors of the Editor
windows or the appearance of the mouse cursor. You can also decide about the toolbars to be
displayed or hidden.

User interface

One further interesting setting can be found in the Help/


Check for Update menu. Here you can control whether
EAGLE is allowed to check for newer versions available
on the CadSoft webserver. As soon as a new release is
available EAGLE will tell you. You can EAGLE let check for
beta versions as well. So you can be sure to be always up
to date.

Check for update

As stated in the beginning, all the basic settings can be


made in the EAGLE Control Panel. EAGLE will save all
these in your home folder in a user-specific configura-
tion file which is named .eaglerc for Linux and Mac OS-X
and eaglerc.usr for Windows.
There are some more options in the menus. Look into
them and find out what you can do with the Control Panel.
By the way: The EAGLE manual which comes with EAGLE
as a PDF file, contains an extra chapter about the Control
Panel.

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EAGLE 6 Create a project and start drawing the schematic

In this issue of our EAGLE series we want to create our first project and start drawing a schematic. Expand the Projects
branch of the tree view in the EAGLE Control Panel. Some example projects are available there. The yellow icons represent

simple directories, the red colored icons are so-called project folders.

Click onto the Projects entry with the right mouse button now. The context menu opens and shows the entry New Project.
Type in a project name of your own and confirm with the Enter key.

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Now EAGLE creates a new folder with the project's name. It already contains a file named eagle.epf which will store all the
settings you will make while working with the project. Right of the project folder's name there you will notice a green mar-
ker that indicates the project as active. You may want to add a description for the project. Therefore do a right-click onto the
project folder entry and select Edit Description.
Enter your descriptive text in the bottom part of the window. The part above shows a preview of it. It is allowed to use HTML
tags for formatting the text. It is also possible to add links to images or web locations, as shown in the image. The supported
HTML tags are described in the EAGLE help function (Help menu, General help, Search for: HTML).

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Next step is to create a new schematic. Therefore do a right mouse click onto the project entry in the treeview and select
New.../Schematic. The Schematic Editor window appears. Our first action will be to place a drawing frame, which can be
found in Frames.lbr. Use the ADD icon in order to place components or frames in the schematic. The ADD icon can be found
on the left side in the icon toolbar.

Click onto the icon and a window with all the libraries available opens. Scroll down the list and look for frames. Expand the
frames entry and choose one of the frames. After OK the frame can be placed in the schematic. Fix it with a mouse click at
the coordinates origin. Now go on and try adding further parts. Rcl.lbr, for example, contains resistors, capacitors and induc-
tors. Try out the search function as well. Next time I will tell you more about drawing the schematic.

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Drawing a schematic with EAGLE

Last time we started with the schematic. The ADD command places components. At the bottom of the ADD dialog you will
find the Search line. There you can enter the name of the part, for example: LM555. If you want to make the search more
flexible use placeholders like * and ?. For example: *555*. This gives more results.

I would like to mention two important things you should keep in mind before you start:

1. The default grid setting in schematics is 0.1 inch!

Please keep this setting. All


EAGLE schematic symbols in all
libraries are based on this grid.
Of course, you are allowed to
set it to millimetre (2.54mm),
but you should not change the
grid size.

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2. Click the DISPLAY icon and
switch on layer 93, Pins. So you
can see exactly where the pins
of a symbol have to be connec-
ted with a net.

Located on the left hand side


of the schematic editor there
is the icon toolbar. Hovering
over one of the icons with the
mouse shows its name and
functionality in the status bar.
Simply explore the icons. If you
are not sure what you can do
with a certain command, look
into the help function. Press F1
and there you are.

An interesting command is
SMASH. It releases name and
value text from the symbol in
order to move it or change its
layer or size.
By the way: For fine adjusting
a text, press the Alt key when
you are moving a text. Alt
activates the alternative grid
that can have any size which
is set in the GRID dialog. This
can also be used with other
commands like LABEL that
places the net name or a cross
reference.

The final step in creating a schematic should be the Electrical Rule Check. The result of this check is presented in the Errors
window. Click onto the error and warning messages and EAGLE shows you where to look in the drawing. Please read the mes-
sages carefully and decide what to do. In some cases you will recognize that the message is okay for you. So simply Approve
it.

Next part will introduce the De-


sign Link interface which offers
access to more than 400.000
components.

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EAGLE and DesignLink Valueable information about components
This time I want to show you one specialty of EAGLE: the DesignLink interface.
When you are in the design process of a schematic and you want to check whether one of the components you plan to use
exactly fits for your purposes, EAGLE offers a very convenient tool that allows to look up technical data and informs about
availablility and price. This function is realized in collaboration with Farnell/element14 by the help of an EAGLE User Language
program which gives access to the Premier Farnell web site and offers information about more than 400.000 components.
Simply click onto the DesignLink icon in the schematic editor and choose the General option.

A window pops up that allows to enter search words in the bottom line. Type in for example ATMEGA88A
and click onto the Search button. The result is shown in the window now. You have the option to look into
the data sheet (click on the datasheet link) or get information about different variants and about avail-
ability and price.

If you would like to order this components directly. Click onto Add selection to shopping cart.

If you have made your schematic and want to order all the components now, the DesignLink interface can serve again. Click
onto the DesignLink icon and select the Schematic option.
Now the DesignLink ULP loops through all the components placed in the schematic and looks for already existing library at-
tributes about the Farnell Order Code and Manufacturer Part Number. Then the ULP estblishes a connection to the web and
checks information about availablility and price.
Components that do no have information in their attributes, EAGLE tries to find a matching result via DesignLink online. The
value of the component is taken as search word.
The result will be shown and you can decide whether this is suitable for you. If not, you can initiate a manual search. Type in
fitting search word(s) and check the results. If it is okay, click Accept and the next component will be processed. In case you
dont want to have a certain component ordered maybe you have it already on stock and dont need to buy it click the
Skip button.

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Finally a bill of material will be presented that contains all information you need.
Now you can choose the Number of PCBs you want to order components for. Click Update for refreshing the list. To start the
online ordering process click Add to shopping cart. Optionally you can Export your BOM as a text file and forward it to the
purchase department. If you activate the checkbox for Save order codes the ULP saves all the information collected in the
schematic file. So you have them available for the next time.

Now we can start to create the layout in EAGLE. This can be done with a single mouse click. But this is subject for our next
article. Stay tuned. :)

Richard Hammerl

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Creating the Layout from your Schematic
As soon as you have finished your schematic design you can easily create the layout from it. There is one command that cre-
ates the board: the BOARD command. It is available in the Action toolbar of the schematic editor.

EAGLE opens the Layout Editor window and shows the components randomly arranged on the left of an example board con-
tour. The components are already connected with so-called airwires, the signal lines that result from the nets you have drawn
in the schematic.

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Before you start to arrange the components and create the layout, I would like to give you some advice before.
From now on EAGLE performs the Back&Forward Annotation which transfers each action executed in the Schematic Editor au-
tomatically into the Layout and vice versa: Lets say you add a new component in the Schematic, it will automatically appear
in the Layout Editor. Or connect two pins with a net-- you will immediately see the corresponding airwire in the Layout. But
please keep one thing in mind! You have to have loaded schematic and board simultaneously all the time. If you closed one of
the windows unintentionally EAGLE will warn you with a clear message in the Editor window.

If it should happen that there are differences between board and schematic Back&Forward Annotation stops working. You
have to compare board and schematic with the help of ERC and you have to correct the differences.

Second important subject before you start designing your layout: Think about Design Rules. Its important to set them in the
beginning. Decide about the number of layers your board probably will have and think about minimum sizes, clearance values
minimum drill diameter for example for vias or micro vias and so on. If you are uncertain what usable values are, contact
you board manufacturer. In most cases he can give you information about the values that can be used for his manufacturing
process.

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The Design Rules dialog is accessible through the Edit/Design Rules menu.

Okay, now we can start creating the layout. We have to decide about the board contour which has to be drawn in layer 20,
Dimension. Now move the components into the board area. More details about Layout creation.... in the next article.

Richard Hammerl

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Creating the Layout part 2
In this article of our EAGLE series I would like to show some items that are interesting for creating the layout. Usually you will
start to arrange the components in the board. You can use the LOCK command to fix components against moving them.
In case you have to move a component to a defined position you can use the command line. Type in, for example: MOVE IC1
(22 50) and hit the Enter key. This will move IC to the given location.

The properties dialog shows that IC1 was exactly placed with the coordinates given in the command line

In case you want to place components on the bottom side, use the MIRROR command. It will flip the component including silk
screen, solder stop mask, and cream frame if it is a surface mount device (SMD).

When arranging the components execute the RATSNEST command from time to time. This calculates the shortest airwires
and makes the layout better visible. It is also possible to hide some signals, lets say GND.
RATSNEST ! GND in the command line hides it. See the help of RATSNEST to learn more about its details.

Next step is to route the tracks. Therefore EAGLE offers the ROUTE command. Click onto one of the airwires and start laying
out the track. Decide about the layer in the parameters toolbar. If you want to change the layer, press the middle mouse
button and select the new layer. EAGLE automatically sets a via as soon as you fix the next wire segment. The airwires is
calculated dynamically and always points to the next object that belongs to the signal you are currently routing.
Run a Design Rule Check (DRC) from time to time to get out whether the design rules are fulfilled. If there are errors, EAGLE
shows you where to look at.

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DRC shows where the


problems are

If you think you have routed all signals, run the RATSNEST command again. If it tells you Nothing to do, you can be sure to
have routed everything.

One interesting command is POLYGON. It is used to draw copper planes in the layout. First draw the contour of the copper
area with POLYGON, then name it the same as the signal it should be connected to. After RATSNEST the polygon will be cal-
culated and the copper area will be shown. Objects that belong to the same signals are connected through thermal symbols,
other signals will be isolated.

GND Pads are con-


nected with thermal
symbols to the cop-
per area

Richard Hammerl

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