anyway to save the pcb in an opensource format?

[terramir]

Hi is there anyway to save the pcb files in an open source format like .pcb since this is an open source project it would be nice if people could alter is with open source tools :)
if you could post those as well would be great.
Also exactly which arm processor are you using there are several options in this family and if someone wants to experiment they might want to start with what you got. A bigger board single sided or just simple double sided might not be as elegant but could work

thanks
terramir

[casainho]

Hello.

"Hi is there anyway to save the pcb files in an open source format like .pcb since this is an open source project it would be nice if people could alter is with open source tools :)"

The R2C2 board were designed with commercial CAD Altium. We wanted a more productive CAD and also the professional who did the design have a lot of experience with Altium.

I designed a simple bluetooth module for R2C2 using KiCAD, which is OpenSource and the sources are available on R2C2 github: http://www.3dprinting-r2c2.com/?q=content/first-r2c2-module-bluetooth

And I would like to note that most big projects and Open Hardware don't use Open Source CADs, like the Arduino, Sparkfun products and LadyAda products - all of them use the proprietary Eagle CAD.

One project that is a reference for me is micropendous, it is fully Open Hardware: http://code.google.com/p/micropendous/

[terramir]

What I don't understand is why you cannot use the commercial software like altium and save it in a format that other people can use. Yeah I look into eagle there is no way to self etch in eagle I tried printing the files the problem is that it will not produce anything that is usable, because surfaces of copper are not reproduced correctly. Yeah I agree with what your stating there arduino and sparkfun have the same problem you have you claim open source and you use open source elements, however then you actually go against the sprit of open source by making it inaccessible to others to reproduce. there are pdf save options in altium that could help people reproduce though. this much I know
So please help the open hardware development by resaving the files in more accesible formats.
my $.02
terramir