Which Gerber Viewer?

[jpanhalt]

The cheaper board houses seem to require submission of Gerber files, not just Eagle files. There are several free versions on the Internet. Here is an older review (2011): http://www.bot-thoughts.com/2011/09/free-windows-gerber-viewers.html

The two choices below are that author's favorites:
**broken link removed**
http://www.easylogix.de/products_detail.php?prog_id=1

1) Are those safe sites?
2) Any experience with them to report?

There are many others that are not included in that review, such as this one:

http://www.mccad.com/FREE_GerberViewer.html

I am looking for recommendations. Safety is a main criterion of mine. I don't like junk on my PC.

John

UPDATE:

1) easylogix/gerberlogix -- had problems doing a drill file from the Eagle-made Gerbers. A 2012 note from Sunstone mentions the need to create the drill file as a separate procedure. That didn't seem to work. Addendum: Eagle Tutorial 7.2.0 had the answer. Sunstone used a much earlier version. Same approach, just slightly different terminology.

2) MCCAD has known problems with Windows. MS has a fix for those problems: **broken link removed** Seems like a bit of a pain on top of the glitches in Eagle 7.2.0

 

[kubeek]

At my work we are using Viewmate, its quite easy to use. https://www.pentalogix.com/viewmate.php
Gerberlogix is not bad either, we used to use it before we switched to viewmate.

 

[jpanhalt]

Thanks. I will try that. I went with GerberLogix, apparently didn't get any garbage in my PC, and could see all the layers. I will try the Pentalogix in the next few days and compare.

John

 

[jbeng]

I've used and been very happy with GC-Prevue from GraphiCode. Here's a link to their website: https://www.graphicode.com/

 

[jpanhalt]

Thanks, Jeff

I downloaded GC-Prevue and got a "malicious" warning from Chrome. Don't know whether Chrome is being over sensitive this morning or it's for real. Will try again later in the day. Avast was quiet, so I suspect it is a false alarm.

John

 

[jbeng]

Could be a false alarm... I've never gotten a malicious warning from their site (I use FF 34.0.5).
Frankly, I'm not sure how a site gets a rating like that in the first place.

 

[jpanhalt]

Avast gives a lot of false warnings. This is the first warning I have had from Chrome that I can remember. My guess is that it is seeing an executable or something. Surprisingly, Avast did not give a warning. Alternatively, maybe there is a malicious software site that Chrome subscribes to that has the company listed. That has happened to me a few times with spam blacklists that had errors.

We got the mild part of the storm that is hitting the East coast -- about 6" where I am. I will get that cleaned up in a few hours and then re-try.

John