Re: gEDA-user: I need to open and print a PCB created in ExpressPCB: What are my options?

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I am a second semester Electrical Engineering Technologies student
> at a community college. To get some practice with circuit
> prototyping/manufacture I would like to try my hand at printing a
> PCB layout for a laser tag system on photo transfer paper and using
> it to etch a PCB.

You've come to the right place!

(also, look into toner transfer - IMHO less complicated than photo
transfer, once you figure out the nuances of the process)

> The first problem I ran into during this process was that the
> MilesTag project (link here: http://lasertagparts.com/mtdesign.htm)
> provided no PCB layouts, only schematics.

Most places do that.  If they provide a layout, it's normally just a
PDF, because cad programs all have their own format.

> The MilesTag project was kind enough to place PCB layouts on their
> website, but they were produced using ExpressPCB and I cannot open
> them with gerbv or PCB! I gather that RS-274D files are not
> supported by either of these programs (PCB and gerbv),

More likely, they're expresspcb-specific binary files that have
nothing to do with RS-274 (gerber) format.  Gerber is the *output* of
these programs, not the storage format.

What you want to do is download the technical reference PDF, which
includes both schematics and board plots.  Use the schematics as
references to learn to use gschem, so you'll have real schematics
(which produce a netlist, for example).  Use the board layouts as
background images to aid you in re-laying-out the boards in PCB (make
their layouts the background image, see
http://www.delorie.com/pcb/bg-image.html).

Once you learn gschem and pcb, you'll be able to do lots of boards at
lots of fabs, but learning expressPCB ties you in to their service.

> - Can ExpressPCB save in other formats like RS-274x? If so, I might
> be able to ask (politely, of course) if the MilesTag folks could
> post new PCB files that I could use.

Don't know.  Won't help you much, since the ONLY thing you can do with
RS-274X files is make a board from them; you can't really edit them or
"design" with them, and you might as well learn to do the boards
yourself anyway.

> - And last but not least, could I write my own schematics (using the
> schematics on the MilesTag site) and make my own PCB from this
> schematic?

Yes!  The tech ref PDF has everything you need to re-do it all in
gschem and PCB.

> If so, how long would it take someone starting from almost absolute
> zero to create these files?

If I had nothing else to do all day, about a day.

> I have looked into gEDA and it looks very complicated at first
> glance, yet very powerful -- like most things under Linux :-) --
> what documentation should I peruse if I were to attempt this feat?

The FAQ has a few key bits about symbol and footprint creation (also
see www.gedasymbols.org), which is the trickiest bit of the whole
process (*I* think it's easy, but it generates the most questions).

> This is my first foray into EDA and I understand that my ignorance
> probably shows, so thank you very much for your patience,

Hey, at least you're willing to learn.


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