Protel PCB Client from the 90's

I have Protel 99SE on an XP VM. I haven't used it since early 2000s but I can probably remember enough to generate gerbers. You can reach me at rawde dot edward at gee male.

Thx, mail sent.

I opened the PCB file in Protel and generated gerber and drill files with the default options. You should get a return email with the files.

I believe Protel evolved into Altium Designer. You may have some luck opening them in the free version of Altium which is called CircuitMaker:

The full Altium is ~$7k pa so uncheap just for generating plots.

Theo

I am always amused at how "cheap" engineers are when it comes to software tools -- despite the amount of TIME (which is money) usually saved.

E.g., What would a SPICE license be worth -- at your current billable rate -- to avoid having to construct and probe some number (likely a very small number!) of prototypes to ascertain their behaviors, if you had to "simulate them with real hardware"!?

Granted, one can farm out a board layout and save the trouble of having to learn how to use such a tool -- PROFICIENTLY. But, one can farm out a lot of activities that somehow seem justified to take on, internally!

(E.g., I no longer build prototypes as it's "grunt work" -- even for a grunt! Easier to find someone who has the expertise to make them "in production quantities" and get a heads up on any issues with the design before RTM.)

I'm long since retired on a pensioners budget. No way can I afford ANY fancy software.

Many thanks for your help- really appreciated.

Different use case -- you're no longer being paid for your work so can't use that as a metric to decide what a paid PRODUCT would be worth.

I no longer buy software as I have enough tools to address most needs -- even if my tools aren't "current". There is a cost to STAYING current that I don't care to "pay" (because the cost is expressed in terms of HOURS not dollars!)

Yes it did, and they had such serious quality problems with Altium designer at the time that I continued using Protel 99SE for many years after Altium designer appeared. I would guess that there's no issue with recent versions of Altium Designer but I now use KiCad for any PCB layout I might want to do. There is Protel to KiCad conversion software out there which was reasonably ok but needed some manual intervention last time I tried it. I still keep 99SE in an XP VM.

You're welcome. Let me know if you need any further Protel help.

When I did my first PCB I needed

Computer? Software? What's that?

I used a taped "negative" and an etch tank that we had in the lab. Smelly stuff. And, messy. Gotta wonder what the MSDS for that stuff declared!

But, that was all analog discretes. Doing the same with anything denser would have just been folly. Six? Eight? Ten layers?? No thank you!

Fortunately (!), clients always had different ideas as to which tools to use. And, folly to think *I* was going to buy (underwrite) a tool just for THEIR needs! So I have quite a collection of tools bought on their dimes. The "investment" being my time learning each of them (and maintaining functional tools to cover the possibility of their needing/wanting a change at some future date)

I'd hate to have to design an enclosure for a board/assembly just using dimensioned drawings -- and wondering why "it doesn't fit"! It is SO much easier to use a motion controller to verify "fit" on a screen than after having built the parts!

Different versions (of different tools!) have their own sets of "issues". It is wise to keep <whatever> version of <whatever> tool around until you are SURE the product has reached the end of its life.

I've had clients contact me because they "upgraded" a tool and it broke compatibility with their design (schema/layout) from an earlier version. They made the mistake of upgrading and not keeping a legacy system around for "maintenance". Their hope/expectation was that I still had "their" version running...

Same here

For any one-off veroboard is the best. Use adaptors for small stuff. Modification is easy, once it is working it lasts a lifetime,. like the above stuff for decades and still does, Also faster, no PeeSeeBees fab and babble needed.

For large production quantity I had the analog digital board layouts and PeeSeeBees made by a local company.

Spices? only used for some filter stuff to check it, there are better filter programs for Linux. Spices in food yes. Especially for HF spice is worth next to nothing. Same for digital. For very high frequencies there are some nice PCB programs although I have not used those.. Impedances of traces etc etc.. Couple of Giggle Hertz and it all becomes critical. Always think in wavelenght.

Old Z80 system graphics card: