Open Access ??

I always look at oddball files with Wordpad to see if I recognize the content. Some are common file types with custom extensions.

Tried that already... all I see are little squares :-(

...Jim Thompson

You need to Google for "Open Office" - it is a really good MSOffice work alike. Open Access is the database program in the suite.

Open Office is free as a large download or you can by CD's of it on ebay

I've used an ancient third-party DOS utility called "list" for viewing unknown files. It will display a file in text (if ASCII) or hex on request (and strips Wordstar formatting codes). It can't damage a file, as, if I remember correctly, it can only read files, not write them.

My first employer used OpenAccess in the 80's but there were never any

Foundries, layouters etc. sometimes use extensions to describe layers. I absolutely don't like that but this "habit" is probably the reason why Gerber programs eat those files without complaint.

OpenOffice is quite good but the database part of it isn't. Quite incompatible to the rest of the world. It can't even read in my MS-Works database files.

Gerbers are text files...

I know. But it's bad practice to call the files gizmo.top, gizmo.a02, gizmo.bot and so on. They should be called gizmo_top.pho, gizmo_a02.pho, gizmo_bot.pho and so on. That's how professional layouters like mine do it.

Start with a text editor..

Do the TextFX menu and select Dec to Hex. That'll show the actual values.

Joerg Inscribed thus:

Nothing other than "Works" can read its database files !

When I started up a small med company I found that admins in the US were largely unfamiliar with databases. They knew Excel well but not Access. Same for the one I hired. So, I had to teach her because I wanted just about anything organized in databases in order to have the company ready for growth.

I took some sample databases from my home to the company (sans content, of course, except for a few lines of sample data). It was all in MS-Works. I had no problem at all getting that loaded into MS-Office which was the 97-version back then.

Can Works export its data to some more readable format?

Thanks, Rich

If I remember correctly it can do comma delimited, not sure about any other.

Things may have changed a bit since then. I remember rewriting a works database application in "Paradox" because nothing could read the "Works" format and "Foxbase" cost a fortune at the time. I don't recall what that became. Come back "Ashton Tate" all is forgotten. :-)

Here's the scoop:

the

Not to be baroque, but have you tried checking the Cadence web site?

Yep, I have. They provide nothing without a HUGE fee :-(

...Jim Thompson

Yep, you see, Open Access doesn't mean Open, like Open Source, it means that there is a standard that bridges across vendors. See, if a start up uses OA in their tools, then, when Cadence buys them, it is a lot easier to link them into the tool chains... ;-)

Charlie