Question about Tango

Thread Starter

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
I got an inquiry by email. I do not respond to private questions. The question is abut a 20 some year old CAD program:
Are you still a Tango user? I have recently revived my Tango stuff and am looking for later versions of PCB Plus v 2.30 or later and RoutePro 1.01 or later. It's still pretty good software and I know the interface pretty well.

Anything you can help with would be appreciated.
Accel Technologies got subsumed into another company, as their product did amazing things. Version 2.30 is the very last.

As it would cost more than $3000 to replace it, I still use Tango. The path of layout to actual negative has become rather elaborate, as Tango only has drivers for a couple of printers.
 
Just found your post. I had emailed because your post referencing Tango was so old I didn't think you would find it, but then I'm not a regular forum person and don't know the system well. Tango was a great package written for DOS, but runs pretty well in dos mode on win98se. I did find a version 2.30 that works with my dongle. The schematic capture program does not need a dongle and works quite well in dos mode on xp with Nivea chipset graphics boards and the VESA graphic drivers. I also have a copy of RoutePro v1.00 that works, but my disk 2 for v1.01 is no good any more. I'm trying to find another copy either of the executable or the disk 2 install disk. A lot of pc board houses will still accept the Gerber 374D files that Tango will generate. You can also find 374D to 374X converters that bring the Tango output up to current standards! Pretty amazing for 20 year old software. I just had boards made using 0.4 mm pitch 100pin flatpack ics from a Tango layout. I really wasn't sure it could do it, but they came out perfectly. It would be nice to have a Tango users group, but I haven't been able to find one. I still think it is better than a lot of the more recent software I have looked at.
 

Thread Starter

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
I think it was good enough that Accel got glommed very fast. There are more elaborate CAD programs, but Tango has it all in a very tight package. Too bad the print drivers are so useless now (unless you have an old printer that accepts HP control codes).
 
There are still some printers that support the hp codes. I use the hplj300 and hplj600 drivers and print to file. Believe it or not, you can print to file directly to a thumb drive when running in a dos window under win98se. I then use a free utility, "Print to File", to print out the file from the thumb drive on my xp machine. My printer is a Brother 2170-W. The print quality is terrific!
 

Thread Starter

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
I lost two very nice HP code compatible printers, so I use CC'98 (perhaps no longer to be found) as it is able to read Tango text files. It outputs bitmaps or will print to any modern printer. The demo I have will not save, though.

If you are trying to do a Tango user's group, I believe the schematic capture and layout apps are both abandonware, and available online. It helps to have a computer running Win98, too. There is even a dongle defeating app available.
 
Last edited:
Just purchased a copy of a Gerber editor (Fab 3000) that imports and exports 374D and 374X formats and does copper pour and a lot of other things. Looks like a great complement to my old Tango stuff - essentially brings it up to date with the additional functionality and compatibility.
 
Top