Sometimes it is necessary to convert a version of P-CAD 200x to a previous version. For example, you might be using P-CAD 2000 (Ver. 15.10), and need to hand the PCB design to someone that is still using ACCEL EDA Version 12.

It is possible to convert the design to something that can be read by _all_ versions of P-CAD 200x, as well as ACCEL EDA.

The software to do so exists, and is freely available from Altium's web site. The software is also available in the Utils sub-directory.

The software is called DBXS2PCB. It creates a 'Tango PCB Compatible ASCII Output' file. This is the older version of Tango PCB.

I was able to load the resulting Tango PCB ASCII file into both Version 14 and Version 12 - Demo ACCEL EDA. (This means that it is compatible across all Versions of ACCEL EDA from Ver. 12.0 through Ver 14.01.)

There are a couple of gotchas, though.

1) The resulting file has all attributes turned on. This clutters up the screen real quick.

The solution is to turn off all the unneeded attributes after you load the translated file.

2) It has problems translating 1mil TRACEs or ARCs.

The solution to this is to either not have 1mil Traces or Arcs in your PCB design, or edit the resulting translated file, changing all occurrances of

TRACE 1 to TRACE 2, and ARC ......... 1 to ARC ........... 2.

Well, it ain't perfect, but it's free.

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