Open Source EDA Solution
gEDA, an Open Source EDA, also offers a very mature suite of free software packages for complete project design cycle. It includes schematic capture, attribute editor, bill- of- material ( BOM) generation, net-list generation in various formats, simulation and PCB design.
gEDA can be a solution to the limitation of size and number of sheets, which are faced with Eagle evaluation version. Also, Simulation support makes it a complete Open Source design tool for electronics industry. —Ankit Gupta, Technical Editor,
EFY Magazine in the electronics and semiconductor industries.”
“Cadence has always been supportive of start-ups in India. Each start-up is unique, and the business models are tailored to suit each one’s special requirements. For example, a start-up in the design services space is likely to have a different set of requirements from a start-up in IP or product development,” adds Ahuja.
Alternatives
Another way in which vendors hope to help start-ups is by providing EDA as a service in the cloud. By doing this, they retain control of the environment and do not have to worry about cracks, fake key generators or tampered code. Moreover, the EDA as a service offerinJ KDV WKe flexiEiOiWy WR EUinJ in new SDyPenW PeWKRGV WKDW FRuOG EenefiW smaller companies.
Ahuja adds, “One of the solutions that are ideal for start-ups is hosted design solutions by Cadence. These Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions combine industry-leading and produc- tion-proven technology, methodologies, services, collaboration and IT infrastructure. Outsourcing the elements of a production-grade design environment that are non-differentiating—yet critical—can address certain customer needs for reduced cost and risk, and are perfect for start-ups where budget considerations are critical.”
Of course, there are a lot of engineers who say that the Open Source (DA WRROV DvDiODEOe wiOO VuIfiFe IRU PRVW VWDUW-uSV DnG VPDOO GeViJn fiUPV. Apart from the price factor, another reason to not go for commercial tools iV WKeiU FORVeG nDWuUe—FORVeG fiOe VWUuFWuUeV PDNe iW GiIfiFuOW WR DGG FuVWRP features to tools.
haran Thakkar, hobbyist and graduate from hIT’s College of Engineering, says, “I have worked with hiCad and Eagle, and both are easy to use. hiCad is free and Open Source and Eagle gives out a free evaluation veUViRn. , finG (DJOe PRUe uVeU-IUienGOy because of the large repository of libraries freely available. Although the evaluation version of Eagle has some restriction on the size of the layout and the number of sheets, I would GefiniWeOy UDWe iW JRRG enRuJK IRU VPDOO eOeFWURniFV GeViJn fiUPV.”
Besides Open Source, you can go for the free limited versions of popular commercial tools as well.
“Most EDA software are expensive and not within the reach of small industries and start-ups. But we can utilise the demo version—sometimes the GePR veUViRn iV VuIfiFienW WR GR ORWV RI experiments,” says Sumit Vaish, director, Embedronics e-Design.