PCB - Printed circuit board

Friday, 05 December 2008 20:27

PCB is an interactive printed circuit board editor for the X11 window system to design printed circuit boards. A layout consists of lines, arcs, polygons, elements (lines, pins and arcs), vias, and text information seperated into several layers. Each of them is identified by a unique name and color (also supported SMD circuits). Visibility of pins and SMD pads and vias is controllable. Up to 8 copper layer designs are supported, in addition to a silkscreen layer. PCB includes various features;

Rats nest;
Design Rule Checking (DRC);
Autorouter;
Trace optimizer which can tremendously reduce layout time.

Moreover, support to the industry standard RS-274-X (Gerber file), NC drill, and centroid data (X-Y data) output for use in the board fabrication and assembly process. Pcb is intended to be a simple tool without memory and time consuming features like autorouter and autoplacement. Layout related settings are saved together with the data. Can interoperate with free schematic capture tools such as gEDA and XCircuit.