Goto page Previous 1, 2
Leland C. Scott
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:03 am
Hal;
May have to reroute a few traces that cross a significant length of the
board to fix some design errors. I haven't looked at the raw Gerber files to
see how easy doing the editing by hand word be to do.
--
Regards;
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO
"The most reliable components are
the ones you leave out."
By Gordon Bell, father of the
minicomputer at DEC.
"Hal Murray" <hal-usenet_at_ip-64-139-1-69.sjc.megapath.net> wrote in message
news:WMKdnZGBOo69s6XXnZ2dnUVZ_r5i4p2d_at_megapath.net...
Quote:
What I have found so far is a free (GPL'd) Gerber file viewer, no editor.
How much editing do you want to do?
Gerber files are just text. You can edit with a normal text editor.
As long as you have a good viewer you can see if your edits did what
you want.
--
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.
Leland C. Scott
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:10 am
"Leon" <leon355_at_btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:5fd970fa-feb9-41b1-b078-e9960f0de82e_at_k8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
Quote:
The Pulsonix software I use has can import Gerber files and edit them,
but it isn't free.
You have a rough idea as to the cost for the bare-bones PCB core? I didn't
see any prices on the web sites from a quick look..
--
Regards;
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO
"The most reliable components are
the ones you leave out."
By Gordon Bell, father of the
minicomputer at DEC.
JosephKK
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:52 am
On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:40:28 -0700 (PDT), JeffM <jeffm__at_email.com>
wrote:
Quote:
Poxy hell mate. Have you never heard of tinyURL?
Tim Wescott
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:00 am
On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:40:28 -0700, JeffM wrote:
Quote:
Tim Wescott
Reverse the "Express" and the "PCB" and you'll find a really nice
little company that will take Gerber files and make boards for you.
Eagle PCB is free for small two-layer boards, includes schematic
capture, and works well
once you get your brain wrapped around their way of doing things.
Leland C. Scott wrote:
I'm going to check them out. I do some small one-off PCB's to test some
ideas out. I would like to have the Gerber files when I'm done in case I
want to incorporate it in a larger design.
When someone gets hot to trot for the Cadsoft product, I like to remind
him that he may find the same situation: *His* work product tied up in
**their** proprietary format:
The Downside of EAGLE aka ''The EAGLE virus'' by Markus Zingg
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.arch.embedded/browse_frm/thread/
f794e82d26b59e18/d7cf4149edb93ac7?q=*-*-website+reuse+paying.*+*-I-will-
switch+cracked-*+*.would.not.help.*+zzz+after-*-*-version-*+copied
+*.*.unlock.*.designs+*-*-*-*-exchange-*-*-*-*-third-party+reused+qq+*-*-
single-bit-*-*-*-*+useless+*-*-*-projects-could-no-longer-be-opened
Ah, I forgot about that issue.
So, any _other_ PCB layout program that coughs up a Gerber. Or be
careful of what you copy into your schematics.
--
www.wescottdesign.com
Hal Murray
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:48 am
In article <9ZmdneaPuo1w3aXXnZ2dnUVZ_rednZ2d_at_giganews.com>,
"Leland C. Scott" <kc8ldo_at_arrl.net> writes:
Quote:
Hal;
May have to reroute a few traces that cross a significant length of the
board to fix some design errors. I haven't looked at the raw Gerber files to
see how easy doing the editing by hand word be to do.
It's not the length that matters but the number of segments.
I didn't mean to suggest that it would be simple. It would take
a bit of trial and error to get going. You would probably have
to find some specs for the gerber file format.
I'd probably do the routing on paper and then transfer it to
the gerber file. The important point is that you can use the
viewer to show what you have so you know if you got it right.
--
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.
Leland C. Scott
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:22 pm
Hal;
I'll suggest that to my buddy and see if he has any luck. I didn't consider
trying that method. The board he has is about 10 by 12 inches, double sided
with around 40 through hole chips on it with several dozen discrete
components sprinkled around them. That could get very interesting.
Thanks for the suggestion and this may be what he will have to do. The free
Gerber viewer I found will come in handy for checking the results as you
pointed out. I'm sure I can find the spec's for the Gerber file format on
line some place so that shouldn't be a problem.
Thanks;
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO
"The most reliable components are
the ones you leave out."
By Gordon Bell, father of the
minicomputer at DEC.
"Hal Murray" <hal-usenet_at_ip-64-139-1-69.sjc.megapath.net> wrote in message
news:QpqdnU3sNZt7AqXXnZ2dnUVZ_jti4p2d_at_megapath.net...
Quote:
In article <9ZmdneaPuo1w3aXXnZ2dnUVZ_rednZ2d_at_giganews.com>,
"Leland C. Scott" <kc8ldo_at_arrl.net> writes:
Hal;
May have to reroute a few traces that cross a significant length of the
board to fix some design errors. I haven't looked at the raw Gerber files
to
see how easy doing the editing by hand word be to do.
It's not the length that matters but the number of segments.
I didn't mean to suggest that it would be simple. It would take
a bit of trial and error to get going. You would probably have
to find some specs for the gerber file format.
I'd probably do the routing on paper and then transfer it to
the gerber file. The important point is that you can use the
viewer to show what you have so you know if you got it right.
--
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.
Joel Koltner
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:46 pm
"Leon" <leon355_at_btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:5fd970fa-feb9-41b1-b078-e9960f0de82e_at_k8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
Quote:
The Pulsonix software I use has can import Gerber files and edit them,
but it isn't free.
It doesn't have many features that a purpose-built "Gerber editor" does,
although it certainly works in a pinch. (The biggest problem seems to be that
Pulsonix tries to be smart and figure out what things "are," whereas sometimes
you just want a "dumb" editor that thinks of everything as a drawn line or a
flashed shape.)
Protel used to have very good Gerber import abilities... I wonder if it still
does?
Joel Koltner
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:50 pm
"Leland C. Scott" <kc8ldo_at_arrl.net> wrote in message
news:kL6dneya5b4836XXnZ2dnUVZ_vSdnZ2d_at_giganews.com...
Quote:
You have a rough idea as to the cost for the bare-bones PCB core? I didn't
see any prices on the web sites from a quick look..
That almost always implies at least four digits. :-)
You pretty much have to call up your local Pulsonix distributor to get
pricing -- it tends to vary significantly worldwide. As of a little more than
a year ago, any Pulsonix suite that included PCB layout was >$2k in the U.S.
A full-featured suite with a handful of the "spendy" options (network
licensing, database connectivity, chip packaging toolkit, etc.) would tend to
top $10k in the U.S.
Baron
Guest
Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:55 pm
Leland C. Scott wrote:
Quote:
"JeffM" <jeffm__at_email.com> wrote in message
news:9f6d3303-beb7-4aba-8c82-9caaaa662c36_at_x5g2000yqk.googlegroups.com...
When someone gets hot to trot for the Cadsoft product,
I like to remind him that he may find the same situation:
*His* work product tied up in **their** proprietary format:
Boo! Hiss! Kick the dog. Well the dog isn't to blame , maybe not a
good idea to kick it.
Check this out.
http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/
I've used gerbv quite usefully ! It does take a little getting used to.
Quote:
http://pcb.gpleda.org/news.html#20090202
http://www.gpleda.org/index.html
I haven't tried out most of these tools. It would be interesting to
get somebody's comments who has used them for a project.
--
Best Regards:
Baron.
Brad Velander
Guest
Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:53 am
Joel,
I would counter your comment below. True that Protel can import Gerber
but it is specifically a very limited Gerber import that works mainly only
with it's own exported Gerbers. Try importing Gerbers created in another
toool and you are fighting a difficult if not loosing battle. There are all
sorts of legitimate Gerber expressions that it will just gag on.
--
Sincerely,
Brad Velander.
"Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgroups_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:169_l.215435$Tp1.101458_at_en-nntp-01.dc1.easynews.com...
Quote:
"Leon" <leon355_at_btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:5fd970fa-feb9-41b1-b078-e9960f0de82e_at_k8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
Protel used to have very good Gerber import abilities... I wonder if it
still does?
Leon
Guest
Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:24 pm
On 17 June, 02:10, "Leland C. Scott" <kc8...@arrl.net> wrote:
Quote:
"Leon" <leon...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:5fd970fa-feb9-41b1-b078-e9960f0de82e_at_k8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
The Pulsonix software I use has can import Gerber files and edit them,
but it isn't free.
You have a rough idea as to the cost for the bare-bones PCB core? I didn't
see any prices on the web sites from a quick look..
--
Regards;
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO
"The most reliable components are
the ones you leave out."
By Gordon Bell, father of the
minicomputer at DEC.
About $3,000.
Leon
Joel Koltner
Guest
Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:59 pm
Thanks for the information, Brad. When I was using Protel's Gerber import
functionality, it was only with Gerber files Protel itself had generated, so I
never saw the important limitations you're describing.
---Joel
Brad Velander
Guest
Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:44 am
Joel,
Glad I could enlighten or warn.
Plenty of users only find it out after their expectations are raised.
The first one that I stumbled across was that it wouldn't even import some
Protel Generated files that had been re-exported from their own Camtastic
2000DE after a couple of very minor edits.
Some externally generated Gerbers may be formatted much closer than
others to the precise format required.for Protel import. I have heard of a
couple people having success with only edits to the initial Gerber
configuration statements (approx. the first dozen lines). That wasn't the
case in a couple of my attempted imports, the required edits grew
exponentially as I tried to progress.
--
Sincerely,
Brad Velander.
"Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgroups_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:CTT_l.41756$op1.33593_at_en-nntp-05.dc1.easynews.com...
Quote:
Thanks for the information, Brad. When I was using Protel's Gerber import
functionality, it was only with Gerber files Protel itself had generated,
so I never saw the important limitations you're describing.
---Joel
Goto page Previous 1, 2
