EAGLE Files for shields?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

Hi,
I would like to know if there are some Eagle (4.16) compatible files on the net. All i did find yet was for 4.6 which i dont have.

2

Eagle's lack of backward compatibility is a bit annoying, isn't it?

You might try:

  1. get the freeware version of Eagle 4.6
  2. Run Eagle 4.6, and read in the library.
  3. export the desired library as a script.
  4. Run your Eagle 4.1x.
  5. Import the script.

Don't let 4.6 overwrite your .epf file; I'm not sure what will happen.

3

Is there a reason you can't get the latest version of Eagle? I have an Arduino Shield Scaffold that makes it extremely easy to start your own shield. It won't load in less than Eagle 4.6. The latest version is 5.4.0 and should read in all your old files just fine.

4

Hi, I already found that scaffold files and couldnt use it because i have 4.1. There is no reason for not upgrading, but our comany uses 4.1 - and i didnt know there is afreeware version of Eagle blushes

Thanks ^^

5

Hi,
I was talking to the guy who is responsible for the sorftware here today.. the problem is that our plotter for making the pcbs isnt capable of handling any newer versions than 4.1...
In the meantime i did download a new version of eagle and was able to open the files from the scaffold (thanks again!) - is there a way of exporting it to 4.16?

6

Nachtwind, I think your software guy is putting you on. Eagle exports Gerber files, and Gerber is Gerber, it's been the same for decades. Plotters don't directly accept Eagle files. Maybe the software is able to import Eagle files, but it will also open Gerber files.

7

In any case, going from Eagle 4.1 to Eagle 5.x for a commercial company with a multi-seat license is likely to be a pretty expensive undertaking.

See my earlier post about exporting from 5.x to earlier versions via scripts.

8

For a commercial company, the money for outright buying multi-seat licenses for Eagle is pocket change, compared to the licensing costs of other common PCB CAD software. And Cadsoft will probably give you a discount for an upgrade.

9

okok.. now finally i have more or less an answer that i do understand ;0)
Of course we are not feeding Eagle files right through into the plotter, instead we have a tool chain which has to be followed and which gets massive hickups if not 4.16 Files are used. Also there seem to be upgrade issues if we would upgrade to 5..

Well, then i think i have to find a different way ;0)