Despite all later "advances", OrCAD SDT is still a very productive design environment if you add a few tools.
Keyboard macros can slash the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks required to create and edit drawings.
Page ties (intersheet references)
make it easier to follow signals across multiple schematic pages, without
being as cumbersome as hierarchical drawings:
A streamlined symbol definition format saves endless drudgery in the definition of high pin count symbols.
Download the utility package. This includes my macro library, the page tie generator, bulk title block updates, improved Laserjet printer drivers, PCX bitmap conversion, and my streamlined symbol definition tool. The page tie generator and title block update is designed for SDT 4.x, but instructions for SDT/386+ are included.
To generate PDF files, print to HP Laserjet format, then use PCL2PDF by Visual Software to convert to PDF.
OrCAD SDT schematic file format
How to package OrCAD schematics for distribution
- Use the LIBARCH utility to archive all library parts used in your
design into a text file:
LIBARCH X.SCH X.L COMPOSER XXX.L XXX.LIB
Decomposed SDT/386+ libraries may not be compatible with the SDT 4.x COMPOSER utility, use COMP16 instead. - If using SDT/386+, I recommend that you use the 32TO16 utility to convert the schematics to 16 bit format.
- Never name schematics with identically prefixed names such as XXX.1, XXX.2 etc. Use XXX.SCH, 2.SCH, 3.SCH etc. instead.
- Consider including a HP Laserjet print file - they compress very nicely.