In Reply to: Cadence Allegro vs PowerPCB posted by rich on 10/30/01 at 3:49 PM:
I've used both tools, and like you am more exsperienced in PADS.
Allegro is a very powerful tool with an extensive and deep signal constraints manager, which is not user friendly. The copper plane function is not as slick as pads, in Allegro when say a pad is removed that goes thru a plane a void is left, which you have to edit out manually.
Like you say there is no undo and the constraints manager must be used to build a set of rules for autorouting, but these also apply when you manually routeas well.
The route tool is not bad, but generally Allegro is the victim of it's own power.
I think the Cadence tools excels in Signal intergrity, and the other tools that come with the suit, at the cost of a not so good PCB layout tool, but it will do the job once you get to grips with it.