X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-help-bounces using -f X-Recipient: geda-help AT delorie DOT com Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2015 07:13:42 +0200 (CEST) X-X-Sender: igor2 AT igor2priv To: "Stan Katz (stan DOT katz DOT hk AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-help AT delorie DOT com]" X-Debug: to=geda-help AT delorie DOT com from="gedah AT igor2 DOT repo DOT hu" From: gedah AT igor2 DOT repo DOT hu Subject: Re: [geda-help] General PCB Layout Question on Two Layer Board In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (DEB 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: MULTIPART/MIXED; BOUNDARY="0-74676362-1440911622=:6924" Reply-To: geda-help AT delorie DOT com Errors-To: nobody AT delorie DOT com X-Mailing-List: geda-help AT delorie DOT com X-Unsubscribes-To: listserv AT delorie DOT com Precedence: bulk This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text, while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools. --0-74676362-1440911622=:6924 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE On Sun, 30 Aug 2015, Stan Katz (stan DOT katz DOT hk AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-help AT delo= rie.com] wrote: > Lucky for me, pcb-rnd didn't segfault. This may mean a regression in the mainline version since the fork. Sharing= =20 your pcb and/or backtraces of the crash may help mainline developers to=20 fix it. >The trace colors were also >nicely saturated, and easier on my old eyes. Give Igor2 one thumbs up from= a >rank amateur hobbyist....for what that's worth.=C2=A0 Thank you! I think the effect on the colors is related to (the lack of)=20 opengl/transparency support in pcb-rnd. At last, I'm not the only one with= =20 old eyes. Sorry, I can't help with the two layer question; I've read some books on=20 signal integrity lately (different domain: high speed digital), and that=20 also said it was very hard to achieve good results without a solid=20 ground plane, so it was more into 4+ layers too. As a hobbyst, I also build PCBs a lot at home using toner transfer; I was= =20 considering building 4 layer boards: I can buy 1 and 2 layer laminates of= =20 0.8 mm. I'd use a 0.8mm 2 layer board with a Vcc and a GND layer in the=20 middle. I'd solder in short pins in all vias. I'd then roll two 0.8mm=20 single sided boards for the outer layers and just sandwich them all. There= =20 are some drawbacks, tho: - I'd probably need to come up with some special method for preparing the= =20 middle board: printing an almost fully black page with only the=20 unconnected vias having white rings sounds suboptimal - solder cones on the middle layers would require the back of outer layers= =20 to be drilled with some larger drills to a few tenth of mm... currently=20 drilling is one of the most time consuming step of the process even with a= =20 single layer board - once i find there's a soldering problem on the inner layer, I'm doomed. Regards, Igor2 --0-74676362-1440911622=:6924--