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?
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.
I've used gerbv quite usefully ! It does take a little getting used to.
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.
dn't
About $3,000.
Leon
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
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.Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
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