Gerber help sought

[Eric Smith]

der Mouse wrote:
> - How do I specfy which layer is which?

One Gerber file per layer.  The file doesn't know which layer it is;
you have to either use some naming convention for the files, or supply
a human-readable file giving the designations.

> - How do I specify soldermask?

It's just another layer.

> - ...holes and vias?

Holes are in the Excellon drill file.

Vias consist of holes in the drill file and pads (etc.) in the
Gerber files for the appropriate layers.

> - Is the PDF I have accurate and complete?

Heck if I know.

> [gEDA] probably would be for me too, if it were to build painlessly.  That
> is extremely unlikely.

I don't know.  I last tried to use gEDA two or three years ago, and it
wasn't mature enough then, so I bought Eagle.  gEDA is reported to be
much better now, but since I already have Eagle I'm not inclined to
try it.

> Even if I were willing to run code I don't have source to (I'm not; I'd
> sooner throw some money to someone on the list to do it for me than run
> something I don't have source to), it wouldn't be free even as in beer,
> because (AIUI) Eagle is a Windows program, and Windows ain't cheap.

Actually Eagle is available for Linux.  That was the main reason I
chose it.  You still don't get source, though.

I generally won't run kernel code for which I don't have source, but I'm
more willing to run user-space code without source, since I can use
various tools to make sure it can't do things it shouldn't, e.g., a
chroot jail, and a library preload that prevents network access other
than to the local display.

Eric