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Convert PROTEL Board Files (.PCB) to TARGET 3001!

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Using the Protel 98/99/SE export we always got in the first line one of the following options:

PCB FILE 6 VERSION 2.80

PCB FILE 6 VERSION 2.60

PCB FILE 6 VERSION 2.40


Please check which PROTEL version you currently are using and also check it's export opportunities. Using the demo version of Altium Designer (Protel DXP) you can read in *.PCB files and later export them as "PCB FILE 6 VERSION 2.80". The Protel converter in TARGET 3001! can convert those files.

This is a screenshot of the Protel "Save As"-dialog (using a German Windows):


ProtelSaveAs.png



The conversion process is described as follows:

Highlight in Protel Design Explorer the file you wish to convert. In this example the file: "Z80 Processor Board.pcb". 

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In menu "File" choose "Export"...||Bstep2.jpg

In the following dialog choose "File Type" (extension) "Protel PCB 2.8 ASCII File (*.PCB)" and enter an appropriate name for the ASCII file, wich is now created. In our example we just added the letters TXT for the extension after conversion still is *.PCB.

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After "Save" is pressed please find the converted file in the defined directory.

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Now import this file to TARGET 3001!

Please open TARGET and select in menu "File" "Input-/Output Formats" and there  "ASCII - Interface"

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This is the dialog of the ASCII interface. Open the "Source", the ASCII-file we just generated. Click on button "Open".

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In the opening dialog select it but choose "File Type": "ProtelPCBText *.PCB".

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...sorry for not showing english Windows (R) dialogs. In the converter now click button "Convert".

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Where do you want to save it? In our example we save  it to the same directory. Now it is a TARGET -file (*.T3001).

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...sorry for not showing english Windows (R) dialogs. The converter shows you succeeded in converting!

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If you now wish to open the project in TARGET 3001! ...

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...just do it.

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...sorry for not showing english Windows (R) dialogs. This is how the project looks in TARGET. Because we just converted a schematic file, no layout can be there. <p>Please make a project Reorganisation. See TARGET menu "Actions / Reorganisation" <p>Currently free text elements unfortunately get lost. The data integration between schematic and PCB layout can be realized in TARGET 3001! menu "Input-/Output Formats/Concatenate a schematic and a pcb"...

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