pcb-rnd knowledge pool

 

Announcement: change in default board (for layer stackup)

default_pcb by Tibor 'Igor2' Palinkas on 2017-09-23

Tags: announcement, default, layers, settings, config, conf, configuration

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Abstract: Original announcement on changing the default layer stack, mainly to include explicit paste and mask layers.

  Imported from the mailing list archives.

The file "default.pcb" is the "blank board" pcb file that is loaded when you run pcb-rnd without a file name to load. The main role of default.pcb is to provide the default layer stack, board dimensions and styles. The user can edit this template file and can change the name of the template being used in the configuration. I am sure hard-core pcb-rnd users already have their own preferred template. The one we ship is important because this is what most new users will meet first.

I am working on the last touches on the subcircuit-terminal effort for this cycle. While working on it, I realized we are going to have a minor annoyance with subcircuits if our default.pcb doesn't have explicit paste and mask layers. I've planned this for a long time anyway, so I decided to do it today: I've switched over from default.pcb to default4.lht.

The new default4.lht is a 4 layer board. I intend it to be a good starting point for changing (especially the layer stack) to what the end user wants: either adding 1..2 extra layers or removing one or both internal layers. It obviously features explicit paste and mask layers, but no composite layers by default.

As an alternative we are also providing default2.lht, a 2 layer board template "for hobbysts".

If you dislike the new stock template and haven't configured your own yet, you can do it using the conf tree node rc/default_pcb_file ; probably best to be saved as an user level config (but often useful to have it a project-level config for projects with many similar boards).