Protel is a software package for printed circuit board design and manufacture. An area for the the schematic layout is provided and an area for the actual printed circuit board layout is provided.
Before you start, go to the Protel Support home page and download a tutorial on Protel. Read trough the tutorial thoroughly before proceeding any further.
This is the section in Protel where the circuit diagrams of your printed circuit board are drawn. The actual layout of components does not matter in this area, just make sure that the components are connected correctly.
When adding new components, make sure that the component you are adding to the schematic has the same number of pins (if you are placing a chip) as the one you mean to place. The actual function of the chip you are placing is not important, as long as all the pins are represented. For connecting to things off of the board use a "HEADER": an array of pins protruding from the printed circuit board.
If a certain component cannot be found in the Protel library that matches the pin count of your chip, use a "HEADER" with the same pin count.
The next section will describe the "footprints" that you will have to assign to each component
This is the section in Protel where the physical printed circuit board is layed-out and created. The final product can be sent to a printed circuit board manufacturer to be produced.
Each component will appear in the PCB (printed circuit board) area like its trace would appear on the actual PCB. The "trace" is the connections on the PCB to which you saulder your chip. In the Schematic Document section each component should have been assigned a footprint: double click on the component and type the specific footprint into the correct field. All the footprints contained in the Protel library can be found by clicking on the "Browse Protel" tab on the left hand side of the PCB Document section. Then in the "Browse" pull-down menu select "Components". Search for the footprint that best describes your compontents.
| Component | Footprint |
| Resistor-the kind used in bread boards | AXIAL0.4 |
| Capacitors (both tantalum and ceramic)-the kind used in bread boards | RAD0.1 |
| Header | eg. SO-8,SOL-16,SOL-28 |
| Chip-surface mount,approx. 8mm wide (not including pins), pins approx. 1mm appart | eg. SOL-16,SOL-28 |
| Chip-surface mount,approx. 5mm wide (not including pins), pins approx. 1mm appart | eg SO-8 |
Place all components on the printed circuit board where you would like them to be placed. Make sure that ceramic capacitors are placed as close to the chips as possible to minimize RF noise.
Once all components have been placed on the printed circuit board use the "Auto Route" tool (Auto Route -> All) to have Protel automatically wire the PCB in the optimal way.
IMPORTANT: Check to make sure all connections between chips and components exist on the PCB and that all traces are the correct size. Protel has been known to miss connections between components and mistakes can be made. This will save time and money when the printed circuit board is produced.