Homebrew PCBs

Andrew wrote:
>>Russell wrote:
>>Most "real" machines read G-code, that has
>>been generated from the original CAD data
>>such as DXF (gerber is G-codes).
> 
> I Assume "real" means real milling machine /
> drilling machine or something specific to PCB
> or engineering.
> 
> Real plotters use HP/GL
> Real printers use postscript or PCL
> Real photo-printers (often) use TIFF

Printers aren't "real" machines;)

I mean milling machines, x-y laser cutters, etc.

> My photoplotter will also be used to make photo
> tools for screen printing.  That will be
> inherently raster stuff rather than bitmaps.
> 
> Someone else has written the software to
> convert gerber to bitmaps so I dont have too :D
> 
> 
>>By converting all external data types to one
>>format suited to the machine, machine
>>complexity is minimized.
> 
> 
> There are lots of different standards out
> there.  I would have liked to use one of
> them rather than make up my own.
> 
> 
>>Even if it could read tiff, that would
>>mean that any other data type would need
>>to be converted to tiff.
> 
> 
> Yes - but by some software someone else
> has written and that is also probably
> already availabe cross-platform.
> 
> You do understand the concept and
> advantages of making the machine just a
> terminal that accepts a file via x-modem
> don't you ?

Yes, but i'd use a vector format like g-code, gerber,
postscript, pcl, or some forth dialect because the file size
would be a thousandth of a bitmap file size. For an edm
or milling machine, the vector commands can be executed
directly. For a raster output device such as a scanner,
the machine controller can rasterize the vector output
like laser printers do with postscript.