Home Brew Printed Circuit Boards on Linux

By Thomas Weeks, 2002-08-19

• Circuit/Schematic Design: gEDA/gaf's "gshcem" - http://geda.seul.org/tools/gschem/
  
  This is the program that you use to design your schematic diagram and create the "net list" that you will use to create the PC board layout. Other related tools (e.g. Circuit simulators, etc) are located here: http://www.geda.seul.org/ . There are several other schematic capture and design packages out there such as XCircuit, Electric, and others. Check here for more information: http://www.openppc.org/tools.html
  

• PCB Layout/Design: "PCB" - http://bach.ece.jhu.edu/~haceaton/pcb/
  
  This is the package that you use after you have either created net-list, or you just want to go directly to designing your printed circuit board. The current version is only listed up to V1.7, but the 1.99j (unsupported) version has much better functionality and is located here: http://bach.ece.jhu.edu/~haceaton/pcb/pcb-1.99j.tar.gz . After you create your PCB layout, you then output them to postscript if you are printing them, or to gerber files if you are sending them off to a PCB fabrication house.
  
  
  

• Gerber File Viewer: "gerbv" - http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/
  
  This is the package that you should use after you create your final output gerber files before sending them off to the PCB fabrication house. This is not a required step, but strongly recommended. Otherwise an unseen error could creep up and you may have to re-master your PCB gerber files. Some people even recommend viewing your gerber files with more than one gerber viewer, just to make sure.
  
  
  

• PCB Fab Vendors:
  
  There are several on line vendors that are really great and will work with you on various PC board sizes, layers, and customization. One of the best services for the price that I found was through a pace called "Advanced Circuits" here at this site: http://www.4pcb.com/ . The also have a special deal where if you meet several of their minimum requirements and can afford a 1-2 week turn around, you can get 3 boards for as little as $100 (~$33 each). This special deal can be found here: https://www.4pcb.com/33each.asp Just make sure that your project meets their minimum requirements before expecting to take advantage of this deal.
  
  Some other vendors are: http://www.pcbexpress.com/ , http://www.unitedel.com/ , and others: http://www.electronicassemblynews.com/printed-circuits/index19.html