Homebrew PCBs

I don't have a laser printer and I don't have the funds to invest in a
laser printer right now, but I still want to create my own PCBs. All I
have access to right now are 2 Inkjet printers. One is a Lexmark Z12
inkjet and the other is a HP OfficeJet 5610 All-In-One
Printer/Scanner/Fax. How would I go about creating a PCB without
access to laser printer and only inkjet printers?

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Robin" <skeeterb_2002@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 6:54 PM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Laser Printer Alternative


>I don't have a laser printer and I don't have the funds to invest in a
> laser printer right now, but I still want to create my own PCBs. All I
> have access to right now are 2 Inkjet printers. One is a Lexmark Z12
> inkjet and the other is a HP OfficeJet 5610 All-In-One
> Printer/Scanner/Fax. How would I go about creating a PCB without
> access to laser printer and only inkjet printers?

Just create transparencies on the inkjet printer and use the photo-etch 
process. It works very well for me.

Leon
--
Leon Heller
Amateur radio call-sign  G1HSM
Yaesu FT-817ND transceiver
Suzuki SV1000S motorcycle
leon355@...
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller

Robin:

I may be missing some context here, so if I am, disregard my comments.

I don't have a laser printer, but I still fab my own PCBs by taking my
original art work (PCB layout) to my local Office Max or UPS store.
I sometimes use a nearby "Mom & Pop" mailing service shop that
has several Minolta laser printers.

They make copies of my original artwork on the glossy paper that
I provide.

I use the laser copies to fab my PCBs using the iron-on technique
with etching in the popular hydrogen peroxide/muriatic acid
etch solution.

I get really good results, and I will probably never purchase a
laser printer.......at least not specifically for making PCBs.

Roland F. Harriston, P.D.




Robin wrote:

>
> I don't have a laser printer and I don't have the funds to invest in a
> laser printer right now, but I still want to create my own PCBs. All I
> have access to right now are 2 Inkjet printers. One is a Lexmark Z12
> inkjet and the other is a HP OfficeJet 5610 All-In-One
> Printer/Scanner/ Fax. How would I go about creating a PCB without
> access to laser printer and only inkjet printers?
>
>

Hello,

Don't have a laser printer either, but do have an inkjet printer and 
a big box office supply store in the area.

My approach is to make a copy of the PCB layout using the inkjet.  At 
the big box office supply store, transfer the printed layout to the 
toner transfer paper using the laser copier in the big box 
store.  Most will do the coping for ~ 10 cents.

Hint: make several copies of the design or of other PCB layouts, 
print them out using the inkjet printer, cut the inkjet PCB layouts 
out and glue them to another piece of paper.  Have the laser copier 
transfer all the layouts to the toner transfer paper.  Cut out the 
PCB layout from the TT paper and make the board.  This approach 
reduces the wasted TT paper.

At 01:54 PM 5/4/2008, you wrote:
>I don't have a laser printer and I don't have the funds to invest in a
>laser printer right now, but I still want to create my own PCBs. All I
>have access to right now are 2 Inkjet printers. One is a Lexmark Z12
>inkjet and the other is a HP OfficeJet 5610 All-In-One
>Printer/Scanner/Fax. How would I go about creating a PCB without
>access to laser printer and only inkjet printers?
>
>
>------------------------------------
>
>Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos:
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
         73,
         Mike, K4GMH 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Quoth Mike at 2008-05-05 07:38...

> Hint: make several copies of the design or of other PCB layouts, 
> print them out using the inkjet printer, cut the inkjet PCB layouts 
> out and glue them to another piece of paper.  Have the laser copier 
> transfer all the layouts to the toner transfer paper.  Cut out the 
> PCB layout from the TT paper and make the board.  This approach 
> reduces the wasted TT paper.

Good tip, especially for those of us on a tight-ish budget.

The same hint also applies to the very pricey 'Laserstar' film (looks 
like tracing paper with a big price tag) that I use.  Don't use just one 
sheet per board unless 1) you are actually producing A4 sized boards or 
b) you are very rich.

I create my layouts in Eagle.  When I create the PostScript file in the 
CAM processor, I keep changing the X/Y offsets of each design so that I 
can fill a whole sheet of paper.  As my printer is actually a PCL type 
rather than PostScript, I convert PostScript to PDF and print the 
designs using Acrobat Reader, feeding the same sheet of paper back in 
each time.  To make sure that I have calculated the correct offsets, I 
first perform this procedure using a sheet of plain copier paper.  Once 
I am satisfied that I have no designs overlapping or too close together, 
I then print all the PDFs again onto the Laserstar film.

Note - after about the third pass through the printer, the Laserstar 
film starts to curl a little; I have found that gently rolling it up in 
the opposite direction to the curl seems to get things straight again.

The one thing that would make my process easier is if I had a tool that 
could merge my PostScript or PDF files.  Tried it using an art package 
(the Gimp), without success.  I also tried a bit of raw PostScript 
programming a year or so back, but that just gave me a headache ;-)

Cheers

M


-- 
Matthew Smith
Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy

I have to travel 20 minutes to go to any kind of place where I can
photocopy anything. 

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Mike <k4gmh@...> wrote:

>
> Hello,
> 
> Don't have a laser printer either, but do have an inkjet printer and 
> a big box office supply store in the area.
> 
> My approach is to make a copy of the PCB layout using the inkjet.  At 
> the big box office supply store, transfer the printed layout to the 
> toner transfer paper using the laser copier in the big box 
> store.  Most will do the coping for ~ 10 cents.
> 
> Hint: make several copies of the design or of other PCB layouts, 
> print them out using the inkjet printer, cut the inkjet PCB layouts 
> out and glue them to another piece of paper.  Have the laser copier 
> transfer all the layouts to the toner transfer paper.  Cut out the 
> PCB layout from the TT paper and make the board.  This approach 
> reduces the wasted TT paper.

Quoth Robin at 2008-05-05 08:09...
> I have to travel 20 minutes to go to any kind of place where I can
> photocopy anything. 

If you only have an inkjet, as a previous poster suggested, just print 
on an appropriate type of paper and use positive photoresist coated boards.

I have had just as good results doing this with an inkjet as I have with 
a laser.  (I don't use an injket any more because my printing is so 
infrequent that the heads always get clogged up with disuse.)

Cheers

M

-- 
Matthew Smith
Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy

Matt -
I use Eagle as well, but instead of having it create postscript files, I 
have it create HPGL files. I then import them into CorelDraw, and move 
them around easily. Then it's only one pass.
Chris
KC8UFV

Matthew Smith wrote:

>
> I create my layouts in Eagle. When I create the PostScript file in the
> CAM processor, I keep changing the X/Y offsets of each design so that I
> can fill a whole sheet of paper. As my printer is actually a PCL type
> rather than PostScript, I convert PostScript to PDF and print the
> designs using Acrobat Reader, feeding the same sheet of paper back in
> each time. To make sure that I have calculated the correct offsets, I
> first perform this procedure using a sheet of plain copier paper. Once
> I am satisfied that I have no designs overlapping or too close together,
> I then print all the PDFs again onto the Laserstar film.
>
> The one thing that would make my process easier is if I had a tool that
> could merge my PostScript or PDF files. Tried it using an art package
> (the Gimp), without success. I also tried a bit of raw PostScript
> programming a year or so back, but that just gave me a headache ;-)
>
> Cheers
>
> M
>
> -- 
> Matthew Smith
> Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
> Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/ <http://www.smiffytech.com/>
> Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/ <http://www.smiffysplace.com/>
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy 
> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy>
>
>

Quoth Chris Hart at 2008-05-05 09:14...

> I use Eagle as well, but instead of having it create postscript files, I 
> have it create HPGL files. I then import them into CorelDraw, and move 
> them around easily. Then it's only one pass.

Hmm - interesting.  I wonder if there are other packages that can also 
manipulate HPGL.

I don't actually have CorelDraw and can't really justify buying it just 
for that.  (There's also the issue that I run GNU/Linux on the desktop 
and that using CorelDraw would involve firing up Windows through VMWare, 
which does tend to slow the system down a bit).

Have to do a bit of Googling to see if there are any other tools out 
there that talk HPGL.

Thanks for the tip.

Cheers

M



-- 
Matthew Smith
Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy

> Matthew Smith wrote:
>
> <SNIP>
>
> Have to do a bit of Googling to see if
> there are any other tools out there
> that talk HPGL.

How about using vanilla gerbers and use
a gerber veiwer to lay them up.

Veiwmate by pentalogix is free and will
do that.  The free version wont let you
save layups though.

Quoth Andrew at 2008-05-05 10:59...

> How about using vanilla gerbers and use
> a gerber veiwer to lay them up.
> 
> Veiwmate by pentalogix is free and will
> do that.  The free version wont let you
> save layups though.

Thanks Andrew - I've grabbed a copy of that and will give it a try.

It may mean firing up a Windows virtual machine, but that's far quicker 
than what I was doing before!

Cheers

M

-- 
Matthew Smith
Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy

Quoth Matthew Smith at 2008-05-05 11:42...
> Quoth Andrew at 2008-05-05 10:59...
> 
>> How about using vanilla gerbers and use
>> a gerber veiwer to lay them up.
>> 
>> Veiwmate by pentalogix is free and will
>> do that.  The free version wont let you
>> save layups though.

OK - I went into Eagle and selected GERBER as the device.  It wants a 
wheel file.  What's a wheel file?

-- 
Matthew Smith
Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy

You might want to have a look at 'HPGS', an open source app to convert HPGL
files to eps or png.

I made a pcb plotter a while back, and used HPGS to convert HPGL to EPS
format. The reason i used it and not the PS output from the CAM processor is
that the EPS output from HPGS looks a lot neater and was easier to parse
from my plotter program. Depending on your scripting or coding skills, it
might be possible to write something to tile your board layouts.


On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:31 PM, Matthew Smith <matt@...> wrote:

>   Quoth Matthew Smith at 2008-05-05 11:42...
>
> > Quoth Andrew at 2008-05-05 10:59...
> >
> >> How about using vanilla gerbers and use
> >> a gerber veiwer to lay them up.
> >>
> >> Veiwmate by pentalogix is free and will
> >> do that. The free version wont let you
> >> save layups though.
>
> OK - I went into Eagle and selected GERBER as the device. It wants a
> wheel file. What's a wheel file?
>
> --
> Matthew Smith
> Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
> Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
> Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy
>  
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The link for HPGS:
http://hpgs.berlios.de/

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 2:04 PM, James Bishop <bishopaj@...> wrote:

> You might want to have a look at 'HPGS', an open source app to convert
> HPGL files to eps or png.
>
> I made a pcb plotter a while back, and used HPGS to convert HPGL to EPS
> format. The reason i used it and not the PS output from the CAM processor is
> that the EPS output from HPGS looks a lot neater and was easier to parse
> from my plotter program. Depending on your scripting or coding skills, it
> might be possible to write something to tile your board layouts.
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:31 PM, Matthew Smith <matt@...>
> wrote:
>
> >   Quoth Matthew Smith at 2008-05-05 11:42...
> >
> > > Quoth Andrew at 2008-05-05 10:59...
> > >
> > >> How about using vanilla gerbers and use
> > >> a gerber veiwer to lay them up.
> > >>
> > >> Veiwmate by pentalogix is free and will
> > >> do that. The free version wont let you
> > >> save layups though.
> >
> > OK - I went into Eagle and selected GERBER as the device. It wants a
> > wheel file. What's a wheel file?
> >
> > --
> > Matthew Smith
> > Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
> > Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
> > Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
> > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy
> >  
> >
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Mon, 2008-05-05 at 07:51 +0930, Matthew Smith wrote:
> The one thing that would make my process easier is if I had a tool
> that 
> could merge my PostScript or PDF files. Tried it using an art package 
> (the Gimp), without success. I also tried a bit of raw PostScript 
> programming a year or so back, but that just gave me a headache ;-)

There are many ways to concatenate PDF files -- unfortunately, none of
them are likely to be 100% reliable for strange edge cases.  You can get
pretty darn close to 100% though with a few methods.

Take a look at the pdfjam package [1].  It comes with a bash script
called pdfjoin:

pdfjoin first.pdf second.pdf third.pdf --outfile joined.pdf

It uses pdflatex to do the voodoo and does so extremely well.

[1]
<http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/staff/academic/firth/software/pdfjam>

As an interesting aside, with "simple" PDF files, you can actually do
the following:

cat first.pdf second.pdf > joined.ps
ps2pdf joined.ps

ps2pdf will complain about errors but usually recover and provide a nice
concatenated PDF file.  The pdfjoin script is much more elegant and
proper, however.

-Jeff

Matt,

"Gerber" was originally a photoplotter format. The photoplotter had a
"wheel" or disk with the shapes around the circumference. Think photo
negatives of geometric shapes. Each wheel had a file with the corresponding
shapes with their position on the wheel.

In the older gerber formats, the wheel file was separate, in the newer
gerber format, it is included.

Of course, today the photoplotter was replacedd by software.

Myc

On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 10:31 PM, Matthew Smith <matt@...> wrote:

>   Quoth Matthew Smith at 2008-05-05 11:42...
> > Quoth Andrew at 2008-05-05 10:59...
> >
> >> How about using vanilla gerbers and use
> >> a gerber veiwer to lay them up.
> >>
> >> Veiwmate by pentalogix is free and will
> >> do that. The free version wont let you
> >> save layups though.
>
> OK - I went into Eagle and selected GERBER as the device. It wants a
> wheel file. What's a wheel file?
>
> --
> Matthew Smith
> Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development
> Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/
> Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy
> 
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi, Can't you combine PDFs with Acrobat Pro??   afn  T

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Stevens <jeff@...> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 2008-05-05 at 07:51 +0930, Matthew Smith wrote:
> > The one thing that would make my process easier is if I had a tool
> > that 
> > could merge my PostScript or PDF files. Tried it using an art package 
> > (the Gimp), without success. I also tried a bit of raw PostScript 
> > programming a year or so back, but that just gave me a headache ;-)
> 
> There are many ways to concatenate PDF files -- unfortunately, none of
> them are likely to be 100% reliable for strange edge cases.  You can get
> pretty darn close to 100% though with a few methods.
> 
> Take a look at the pdfjam package [1].  It comes with a bash script
> called pdfjoin:
> 
> pdfjoin first.pdf second.pdf third.pdf --outfile joined.pdf
> 
> It uses pdflatex to do the voodoo and does so extremely well.
> 
> [1]
>
<http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/staff/academic/firth/software/pdfjam>

> 
> As an interesting aside, with "simple" PDF files, you can actually do
> the following:
> 
> cat first.pdf second.pdf > joined.ps
> ps2pdf joined.ps
> 
> ps2pdf will complain about errors but usually recover and provide a nice
> concatenated PDF file.  The pdfjoin script is much more elegant and
> proper, however.
> 
> -Jeff
>

Hi Robin,

If you can spend US$50-60, you might be able to get a used laser 
printer on eBay.  I picked up several Lexmark Optra E+ for around 
US$50 each (including shipping/handling) and consider them a prudent 
purchase.

I do almost all of my printing in B&W these days and the cost of 
toner refills is much, much lower than ink refills.  A toner refill 
costs me about US$10 and is rated at 5000 sheets (at 5% coverage).  
I've refilled my cartridge twice and don't even think twice about 
printing board layouts for review.

I still use an inkjet for color printing, but now refill much less 
frequently.

I haven't found any significant difference between OEM toner and the 
refills I got from a place in Canada (they sell on eBay).  I use 
inkjet transparencies instead of paper and have had very good 
results with 8 mil traces and 8 mil spaces; though I usually use 
wider traces and spaces to make the boards easier to make and less 
susceptible to mild pitting.  I size my traces so pitting is only a 
cosmetic issue.

I've found that, as with paper, not all inkjet transparencies work 
well.  I'm using an HP brand.  I tried another members idea of using 
a heat gun to "fuse" the toner after transferring and found that it 
works well.  I did it on one of my "goof" boards and it turned out 
okay; more pitting than usual, but I didn't spend much time touching 
up (only traces that transferred very poorly).

If you can't spend $50, finding a place to make laser copies on your 
paper would be one method.  But with the cost of gas being what it 
is, a laser printer would quickly pay for itself if you also used it 
for general B&W printing...

Regards,
Dennis
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Robin" <skeeterb_2002@...> 
wrote:
>
> I don't have a laser printer and I don't have the funds to invest 
in a
> laser printer right now, but I still want to create my own PCBs. 
All I
> have access to right now are 2 Inkjet printers. One is a Lexmark 
Z12

> inkjet and the other is a HP OfficeJet 5610 All-In-One
> Printer/Scanner/Fax. How would I go about creating a PCB without
> access to laser printer and only inkjet printers?
>

I saw a Samsung Laser printer in the Staples flyer this weekend for $59.

I've benen using one for toner transfer for a number of years.


Myc

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:55 PM, Dennis <dl5012@...> wrote:

>   Hi Robin,
>
> If you can spend US$50-60, you might be able to get a used laser
> printer on eBay. I picked up several Lexmark Optra E+ for around
> US$50 each (including shipping/handling) and consider them a prudent
> purchase.
>
> I do almost all of my printing in B&W these days and the cost of
> toner refills is much, much lower than ink refills. A toner refill
> costs me about US$10 and is rated at 5000 sheets (at 5% coverage).
> I've refilled my cartridge twice and don't even think twice about
> printing board layouts for review.
>
> I still use an inkjet for color printing, but now refill much less
> frequently.
>
> I haven't found any significant difference between OEM toner and the
> refills I got from a place in Canada (they sell on eBay). I use
> inkjet transparencies instead of paper and have had very good
> results with 8 mil traces and 8 mil spaces; though I usually use
> wider traces and spaces to make the boards easier to make and less
> susceptible to mild pitting. I size my traces so pitting is only a
> cosmetic issue.
>
> I've found that, as with paper, not all inkjet transparencies work
> well. I'm using an HP brand. I tried another members idea of using
> a heat gun to "fuse" the toner after transferring and found that it
> works well. I did it on one of my "goof" boards and it turned out
> okay; more pitting than usual, but I didn't spend much time touching
> up (only traces that transferred very poorly).
>
> If you can't spend $50, finding a place to make laser copies on your
> paper would be one method. But with the cost of gas being what it
> is, a laser printer would quickly pay for itself if you also used it
> for general B&W printing...
>
> Regards,
> Dennis
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com <Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "Robin" <skeeterb_2002@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > I don't have a laser printer and I don't have the funds to invest
> in a
> > laser printer right now, but I still want to create my own PCBs.
> All I
> > have access to right now are 2 Inkjet printers. One is a Lexmark
> Z12
> > inkjet and the other is a HP OfficeJet 5610 All-In-One
> > Printer/Scanner/Fax. How would I go about creating a PCB without
> > access to laser printer and only inkjet printers?
> >
>
> 
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Matthew Smith <matt@...> wrote:
> I create my layouts in Eagle.  When I create the PostScript file 
in the 
> CAM processor, I keep changing the X/Y offsets of each design so 
that I 
> can fill a whole sheet of paper.  As my printer is actually a PCL 
type 
> rather than PostScript, I convert PostScript to PDF and print the 
> designs using Acrobat Reader, feeding the same sheet of paper back 
in 
> each time.  

This may Produce a lot of hassle. Try out Ghostscript (and may be 
ghostview as GUI) and you will have a lot more fun. I don't know the 
postprocessing of eagle. Very often the created postscript files are 
well structured and ascii readable texts. Just take a few minutes to 
study the header. Mostly there are a few commands defined in the 
prologue. Windows postscript driver defines a lot of unused commands 
here;-) you may keep the file easier to analyse if you go to the 
settings and use there postscript level 2 and no compression...
 
> I then print all the PDFs again onto the Laserstar film.
> Note - after about the third pass through the printer, the 
Laserstar 
> film starts to curl a little; 

You only have to find the "showpage" commands, remove them (or 
comment them off, also the headers and merge them by hand by copying 
the relevant rows together after the first prologue. Ghostview will 
help you to preview the result on the monitor. You don't have to 
create pdf or anything other. Print your postscript using ghostscript 
on your printer will do the best.

> The one thing that would make my process easier is if I had a tool 
that 
> could merge my PostScript or PDF files.  Tried it using an art 
package 
> (the Gimp), without success.  I also tried a bit of raw PostScript 
> programming a year or so back, but that just gave me a headache ;-)

I guess the only problem was the wrong literature or a too high 
sophisticated printerdriver. postscript is a very powerful and 
amazing programming language and every hour you spend with it is 
worthful. I managed a lot of workaround with very basic knowledge of 
this language.

Good luck

Martin

Myc,

I realise this ias blasphemy for EAGLE users, but take a look at DIPTRACE,
another free pcb program.There is a direct printout of the board, so you do
not have to jump through hoops.

Diptrace also includes a panelization oo printouts and well as the ability
to import EAGLE files.

Myc
On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 5:35 PM, martin_schoenegg <Martin.Schoenegg@...>
wrote:

>   Matthew Smith <matt@...> wrote:
> > I create my layouts in Eagle. When I create the PostScript file
> in the
> > CAM processor, I keep changing the X/Y offsets of each design so
> that I
> > can fill a whole sheet of paper. As my printer is actually a PCL
> type
> > rather than PostScript, I convert PostScript to PDF and print the
> > designs using Acrobat Reader, feeding the same sheet of paper back
> in
> > each time.
>
> This may Produce a lot of hassle. Try out Ghostscript (and may be
> ghostview as GUI) and you will have a lot more fun. I don't know the
> postprocessing of eagle. Very often the created postscript files are
> well structured and ascii readable texts. Just take a few minutes to
> study the header. Mostly there are a few commands defined in the
> prologue. Windows postscript driver defines a lot of unused commands
> here;-) you may keep the file easier to analyse if you go to the
> settings and use there postscript level 2 and no compression...
>
> > I then print all the PDFs again onto the Laserstar film.
> > Note - after about the third pass through the printer, the
> Laserstar
> > film starts to curl a little;
>
> You only have to find the "showpage" commands, remove them (or
> comment them off, also the headers and merge them by hand by copying
> the relevant rows together after the first prologue. Ghostview will
> help you to preview the result on the monitor. You don't have to
> create pdf or anything other. Print your postscript using ghostscript
> on your printer will do the best.
>
> > The one thing that would make my process easier is if I had a tool
> that
> > could merge my PostScript or PDF files. Tried it using an art
> package
> > (the Gimp), without success. I also tried a bit of raw PostScript
> > programming a year or so back, but that just gave me a headache ;-)
>
> I guess the only problem was the wrong literature or a too high
> sophisticated printerdriver. postscript is a very powerful and
> amazing programming language and every hour you spend with it is
> worthful. I managed a lot of workaround with very basic knowledge of
> this language.
>
> Good luck
>
> Martin
>
> 
>


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I like DipTrace also over Eagle. Eagle just isn't intuitive like Protel, 
Orcad Diptrace.
The only thing I do like about Eagle is the export features. Sorry.