Dropping the middle mouse makes EAGLE v8 your laptop's new best friend...

[matt.berggren]

Hi All - 

It’s no secret that using EAGLE with a laptop could at times, prove painful, if you didn’t have that magical “middle mouse” button at your fingertips...Namely when routing a board.  Having taught dozens or even hundreds of classes which have used EAGLE, I recall emailing my students reminding them to bring a mouse along with their laptops (lest they find themselves unprepared for the challenges of multi-layer board layout).

In this latest version of EAGLE we've sought to solve this once and for all and what’s more, to make this experience consistent whether you use a desktop or a laptop (think:  do not need to relearn your shortcuts or retrain your brain when going from your desk, to the train, to your home office, or aboard a plane).

This latest EAGLE release now supports the SPACE bar for layer changes while routing, which we hope you’ll find is both more convenient and less fatiguing (and trust us, the person in that center seat on the plane?  they’ll thank you for not dragging out your mouse while you finish routing that DRAM and elbowing them all the way to Albuquerque).  

Once you’ve had a chance to experience this, you’ll ask yourself why every tool doesn’t do it this way.  To try it, begin by selecting the route tool, click to start the track and as you route, simply hit SPACE and see the via drop and the layer change!  (Also checkout how the via is now where the mouse is, when you switch layers, making it far more predictable when placing vias).

Unhappy with that?  Hit the Backspace key (delete on Mac) to unwind while routing to the last anchor point.  

In version 8.0.1 (at the time of this post, about 2 weeks away) you’ll also find that once you hit the Route button to start the route command, you’ll also be able to change your start layer using SPACE, cycling the layer without having to access the list of layers at the top left of the workspace.  Again, it is a small change, but the feel of it is super smooth.  

These little improvements should hopefully help you to become more productive than ever before and we’d love to hear your feedback!

Best regards,

Matt - Autodesk.

[rachaelATWH4]

Hi Matt,

It's not just laptops that have this problem, I use Mac's with an Apple Magic Mouse and they don't have a middle button either so this small change has made a big difference for me too! Thanks 🙂

Best Regards,

Rachael

[jm2morri · Accepted solution]

And thanks for not undoing middle button function for us who prefer that method.

No if we could just find a way through the licensing maze I think I might like some of the other improvements....

James.

[Anonymous]

Hello

what about selecting LAYER when working in designing device for the Library.

I need to change LAYER to enter >NAME, but I don't find anyway to simulate the Middle Button.

Any idea ?

Thanks

[jorge_garcia]

Hello pja_,

I hope you're doing well. Thanks for visiting our forums, in the library you can add the >NAME and >VALUE texts very easily by running the set_name_value.ulp that comes with EAGLE. It automatically adds those texts on the correct layers. You can find it by typing RUN followed by the enter key. In the dialog that appears find set_name_value.ulp and double click it.

The Middle Button really applies to the ROUTE command, when working with other commands you can just go to the top toolbar and change the layer.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,