Open Source Pcb Files

PCB design solutions are software tools that automate many of the tasks that EDEs previously performed manually over the course of designing an electronic circuit. There are variety of tools available including many excellent free options. For new PCB designers, making a decision which solution to use can be a challenge. To make your decision easier, we have reviewed different tools and listed below the 10 Best FREE PCB Design Solutions available in the marketplace today. We recommend starting with free PCB software until you require more advanced software features and are more experienced, in order to get the best use out of paid software.

1. KiCad

How to Open PCB File Types with Altium Designer’s PCB Viewer Check out the Altium Designer PCB viewer free download-It’s the best option for accessing PCB layouts in the EDA file format. The viewer takes all formats within the output files. The.pcb file extension is known as a printed circuit board file wherein Printed Circuit Board deals with electrical components and their connections. Printed Circuit Boards are usually used in manufacturing. Note: Gerbv displays RS-274X files! Gerbv will not display RS-274D files! When you create Gerber files using your PCB tool make sure you export RS-274X files if you want to view the files with gerbv. In the Gerber format, the different layers of a PCB (e.g. Top silk, top metal, interior layers, etc.) are held in separate files.

This is an open source software suite containing programs for Schematic Capture, PCB Layout and Gerber file output. It has more horsepower than a basic schematic capture tool and it is specifically designed for multiple tasks needed in Electronic Design Automation. It can handle PCB layouts up to 32 layers and even includes a 3D viewer so you can review your design with rotate and pan inspection capabilities. This is the most used and well regarded free PCB design tools.
Platforms: Windows, Linux and OS X

2. DesignSpark PCB

DesignSpark PCB is a very popular, easy-to-learn schematics capture and PCB layout tool for electronic design automation. It has a broad range of users from students to professional EDEs. It is free and can create 3D views so you can to visualize your design in real time.
Platforms: Windows

3. ExpressPCB Plus and ExpressSCH

This is a basic PCB design and layout tool that's easy to install, easy to learn, and easy to use. It can work with multilayer PCBS up to 4 layers. It's a great tool for rapid prototyping and small production runs. There is a community component library and ExpressSCH for schematic creation.
Open Source Pcb FilesPlatforms: WindowsOpen source pcb cad

4. Osmond PCB

This is a PCB design solution for Mac computers. It has an excellent spatial resolution of 10 nanometers. You can now design boards of any size and shape and with as many layers as you want. It's easy to use in metric or imperial units. And its editing tools makes it easy to design and tweak your circuits.
Price: Free for <700 pins and $79 for >700 pins
Platforms: Mac OSX

5. Zenit PCB

Overall, it’s a great, simple and easy to use PCB design tool to get you started designing circuits fast. This software is aimed at students and hobbyists who do not need the most advanced features and not wish to pay for more expensive software. It does not have a built-in autorouter. A schematic editor ZenitCapture is also available for a full circuit design solution. Designs are limited to 1000 pins.
Platforms: Windows

6. FreePCB

This is a free and open source PCB design editor. It does not have a built-in autorouter, but it can use the FreeRoute web-based autorouter. While its source code is copyrighted, FreePCB was released under the GNU General Public License (version 2 or later).
Platforms: Windows

7. Fritzing

This is PCB layout tool that is uniquely supported by a community website and services for teaching electronics. It is meant to be a creative platform that's easy to use and has similarities to Processing and Arduino. Useful for new designers or students.
Platforms: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux

8. TinyCAD

This is a basic electronic circuit schematic drawing solution that's supported by extensive symbol libraries to facilitate PCB layout tasks. What's nice about this tool is that you can use it as front end to other PCB layout tools. It also has the ability to check for design circuit flaws. This is an open source software project.
Platforms: Windows

9. gEDA

This is a comprehensive Electronic Design Automation suite and toolkit that runs on Linux. It's free and capable of performing schematic capture, attribute management, BOM generation, analog and digital simulation, and PCB layout.
Platforms: Linux

10. BSch3V

This is a schematic capture tool for use on Windows. The name 'BSch' is an abbreviation of 'Basic Schematic'. It's the third generation of Suigyodo's schematic capture software. It's a basic schematic editor and can't handle complex tasks. There are better free schematic editors available.
Platforms: Windows
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File typePrinted Circuit Board Format
DeveloperN/A
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What is a PCB file?

PCB file format was developed for purposes related to electronics. PCB is a text file that stores a project of printed circuit board. The solution guarantees proper board layout and connections between the board’s components.

Finished projects are then used in PCB manufacturing process. PCB files can be viewed and editied using dedicated applications, though users may encounter some format compatibility issues.

Program(s) that can open the .PCB file

Open source pcb files
Windows
Linux

How to open PCB files

If you cannot open the PCB file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports PCB among those that are installed on your device.

A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the PCB file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.

Possible problems with the PCB format files

The inability to open and operate the PCB file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the Printed Circuit Board Format file. Below is a list of possible problems.

  • Corruption of a PCB file which is being opened
  • Incorrect links to the PCB file in registry entries.
  • Accidental deletion of the description of the PCB from the Windows registry
  • Incomplete installation of an application that supports the PCB format
  • The PCB file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
  • The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the PCB file.
  • Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a PCB file are out of date.

Open Source Pcb Files List

If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the PCB file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the PCB file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the PCB file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.

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Pcb File Types

How to associate the file with an installed software?

Open Source Pcb Mill

If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.PCB) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected PCB file. From the drop-down menu select 'Choose default program', then click 'Browse' and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the PCB file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.

Open Pcb File Ppt

Is there one way to open unknown files?

Open Source Pcb Files

Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. PCB) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.