Legacy PCB art files
Legacy PCB art files
(OP)
I have, on a legacy Macintosh computer, circuit board files and presumably schematic diagrams that I don't know how to recover. The files bear no extensions, so I don't know how they were generated, nor do I know how to translate them into something usable.
Is there anyone out there who is familiar with the type of circuit board software available for use with the Mac circa 1997? Is it possible to identify the file types by inspecting the data as recovered using a text editor? An example is attached.
Is there anyone out there who is familiar with the type of circuit board software available for use with the Mac circa 1997? Is it possible to identify the file types by inspecting the data as recovered using a text editor? An example is attached.





RE: Legacy PCB art files
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Legacy PCB art files
Thanks for responding.
The computer in question is one of several used by the company in the early 70's. By 1998, all the active engineering documents had been migrated to Windows based applications.
I've been here since 2000. This is the first time we have needed any of the older circuit board art to be duplicated.
All the folks involved in engineering back when are scattered to the winds, and the owner, who is also a designer, doesn't remember what programs were in use here at the plant.
This is the sole remaining old mac computer.
RE: Legacy PCB art files
Boards of that vintage shouldn't be too hard compared to these days.
Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Legacy PCB art files
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Legacy PCB art files
Also, if you're just trying to make more boards, any chance that films were returned from the board house and saved? I know that houses that I used back then would return films every time we had them make boards.
RE: Legacy PCB art files
Iirc, there used to be a Mac based CAD program called ClarisCad (or similar). It was a general sort of simple CAD, much like the old PC TurboCad.
Cheers
Harry
RE: Legacy PCB art files
TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Legacy PCB art files
Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Legacy PCB art files
The photo-tools last generated for the boards were destroyed, along with what was apparently the last known stand-alone Gerber file set when the board vendor purged his old customer files.
I had hoped to avoid regenerating the board art, and that is of course the last resort. The boards were two layers.
Since my last post, we have been doing a bit of forensic bit banging, and have managed to recover what appears to be a MacCad application that may have the PCB layout module.
Also, just on the off chance they survived, the films that were once used to check bare boards for incoming QC are being sought. Hopefully, they are still here. QC are a bunch of notorious pack rats (thank goodness)so perhaps among the cigar stubs and GooGoo wrappers, we will find some usable, or at least reparable, photo-tools. Thanks for that suggestion, geekEE and IRstuff...it completely escaped my attention that there are likely some films still here.
Thanks so much, Gentlemen.
Perhaps it is time to close this thread (?)