Gerber Viewer is a no-cost tool for viewing Gerber files.
If you're a PCB manufacturer, then Gerber Viewer, aka gerbv, is a tool you should definitely have installed on your system. Its functionality is pretty straightforward - it's a viewer for Gerber files generated by a PCB CAD system to be used as the basis for the manufacturing process. What makes gerbv unique is that it supports the standard RS-274X, which is the latest version compared to the older version, RS-274D. The difference between the two standards is basically the addition of apertures in RS-274X. If you have an RS-274D file and an aperture list, you can still make an RS-274X file out of it using gerbv.
Apart from RS-274X files, gerbv also supports drill files, which are commonly known as NC-drill or Excellon files. Different EDA-vendors implement this format differently, but gerbv's parser is quite tolerant as long as you have the tools definition in the file. The different holes are shown as dots in the scaled correct size.
One of the coolest things about gerbv is the fact that it can load all the different layers of a PCB and display them "on top of each other," which means you can independently turn them on and off. This way, you get a clearer picture of what's going on when you're manufacturing the PCB.
To use gerbv, you will need to meet some requirements such as having GTK+ and GDK-Pixbuf installed on your system. Additionally, getopt_long from the GNU project may be required. There are various setup options available, including installing from a directory and setting the maximal number of files. If you're installing the program, the steps to follow include unzipping the gerbv file, configuring, and making the installation.
This release of gerbv includes several new features such as better support for small drill files, improved window size handling for bigger displays, and broadened maintainership through the gEDA project. Overall, gerbv is a highly recommended tool for anyone in the PCB manufacturing industry who needs to view and manipulate Gerber files.
Apart from RS-274X files, gerbv also supports drill files, which are commonly known as NC-drill or Excellon files. Different EDA-vendors implement this format differently, but gerbv's parser is quite tolerant as long as you have the tools definition in the file. The different holes are shown as dots in the scaled correct size.
One of the coolest things about gerbv is the fact that it can load all the different layers of a PCB and display them "on top of each other," which means you can independently turn them on and off. This way, you get a clearer picture of what's going on when you're manufacturing the PCB.
To use gerbv, you will need to meet some requirements such as having GTK+ and GDK-Pixbuf installed on your system. Additionally, getopt_long from the GNU project may be required. There are various setup options available, including installing from a directory and setting the maximal number of files. If you're installing the program, the steps to follow include unzipping the gerbv file, configuring, and making the installation.
This release of gerbv includes several new features such as better support for small drill files, improved window size handling for bigger displays, and broadened maintainership through the gEDA project. Overall, gerbv is a highly recommended tool for anyone in the PCB manufacturing industry who needs to view and manipulate Gerber files.
What's New
Version 1.0.3: N/A