From: blockedofcourse@foo.invalid   
      
   On 1/16/2026 6:27 PM, Edward Rawde wrote:   
   > "Theo"  wrote in message ne   
   s:NMv*hWQwA@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk...   
   >> TTman  wrote:   
   >>> Anyone still using this? I might need some help generating gerber plots.   
   >>> Not used it for 10 yrs so memory is lacking...   
   >>   
   >> I believe Protel evolved into Altium Designer.   
   >   
   > Yes it did, and they had such serious quality problems with Altium designer   
   at   
   > the time that I continued using Protel 99SE for many years after Altium   
   designer appeared.   
   > I would guess that there's no issue with recent versions of Altium Designer   
   but I now   
   > use KiCad for any PCB layout I might want to do.   
      
   Different versions (of different tools!) have their own sets of "issues".   
   It is wise to keep  version of  tool around until you   
   are SURE the product has reached the end of its life.   
      
   > There is Protel to KiCad conversion software out there which was reasonably   
   ok but needed   
   > some manual intervention last time I tried it. I still keep 99SE in an XP VM.   
      
   I've had clients contact me because they "upgraded" a tool and it   
   broke compatibility with their design (schema/layout) from an earlier   
   version.  They made the mistake of upgrading and not keeping a legacy   
   system around for "maintenance".   Their hope/expectation was that   
   I still had "their" version running...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)