gerbv now available for Windows

Looks good...

Hasn't Gerbv been running on Windows for something like a decade? It is a simple tool with not much fancy. Someone was looking for a tool to automat ically check clearances and gerbv won't do that for example. It's pretty g ood for looking at your layouts though.

One nice feature is that you can import all your layers, set the order and colors to your liking. Then you can save that setup and reopen your stacku p any time you like. I haven't tried to see if I can apply the same gerbv file to gerbers in a different directory with the same names. That would b e sweet!

Rick C.

Thanks Joerg, does it put the drill holes on the same view with the gerber stuff? I use Viewmate, but it doesn't do the holes 'right'. So I just use it to double check the other artwork.

George H.

It does on the current PADS layout I am reviewing.Clearances are another matter as Rick pointed out. I don't need automatic check but it seems the rulers are off in dimensions and the zoom levels are limited.

I usually review the work from my layouter in PADS Viewer and then the last iteration is a Gerber check to make sure that nothing flew of the rocker when generating the photo files.

Yes, I have seen no real problems with drill holes. The only issue I've se en is that when I got the "built-to" data for this board it had four PCBs o n a panel. The drill file for this panel used an M70 code which gerbv didn 't recognize and so would not process the file. I was able to get it to wo rk by removing the M70 code and was never able to find the meaning of this code. The documentation for the Excelon drill files is not well documented because, like the original Gerber file format, it is proprietary to a part icular company and in fact varies some between different models of machine. While the Gerber format has been standardized as RS-274X, there is no for mal standard for the drill file.

A decade or so ago some of the interested parties tried to promote a new st andard that would incorporate all design info for a PCB into a new standard . It got little traction and has since been abandoned. Too bad. The docu mentation for PCBs is a real mess requiring significant amounts of data to be conveyed by drawings and notes.

I haven't seen any problems with the rulers being off. It is a very basic program. I would like to see a few features added like snapping to the edg e of a feature when measuring the size/spacing. Heck, it could even snap t o the nearest point to the point you select or move both points to find the minimum spacing.

Rick C.

Rick C.

It does not read Excel files, so make a Gerber for that. PS: one can edit a Gerber file via deletion and re-write of file.

Normally there are no Excel file submitted for board fab. Only for assembly (the BOM).

Yes, but that can be a recipe for disaster later down the road. Best not to do that and make the changes in the CAD, then generate new Gerber files.

"Excellon" perhaps - the drill file.

here gerbv understands the drill file generated by (GEDA) PCB, it also works with the output from easyeda.com.

I believe the drill holes are not specified normally in a Gerber file, but rather in an Excellon drill file. I have no idea why you are bringing up Excel files.

Rick C.

A word of caution:

The windows version of gerbv has caused hardcore errors in rendering. Missing pads, ghost pads showing up in weird places including outside the board perimeter.

I found that Viewmate from Pentalogix is still available as a free version and the paid ones are not forcing into a yearly "maintenance tax". Now they have a PCB manufacturing biz as well and give a rebate off the software cost on the first job.