Hi everyone,
I’m new to posting here, although I’ve been reading element14 on and off for a while. I’m a hardware/software developer, mostly working around board bring-up, PCB review workflows, and the software side of making hardware projects easier to inspect and share.
For the past couple of years I’ve been building PCBAtlas, a PCB review workbench for iPad, iPhone, and Mac. It recently entered a public TestFlight beta.
The basic problem I’m trying to work on is that PCB review often lives in too many places at once: EDA screenshots, Gerber viewers, revision folders, notes, chat threads, and informal checklists. PCBAtlas is an attempt to bring some of that review process into a single workbench — import board/manufacturing data, inspect the layout in 2D, keep revisions together, skim a board summary, and export something that can be shared before fabrication.
It is not meant to replace KiCad, an EDA editor, or a CAM/DFM sign-off flow. It is much more limited than that: a review and communication tool for people who already have PCB data and want to inspect it more conveniently.
KiCad `.kicad_pcb` files are where I’ve spent the most testing time so far, especially 2D inspection, 3D viewing, and project/schematic browsing. The beta also supports manufacturing-side imports such as Gerber and IPC-2581, but real-world files always expose quirks, so I’m especially interested in feedback on format compatibility and odd import behavior.
I’d like to participate here as a normal member, not just drop a product thread and disappear. If anyone here regularly reviews boards and wants to try the beta on a real or non-sensitive project, I’d be grateful for blunt feedback on import issues, unclear reports, missing review information, or anything that feels awkward in the workflow.
TestFlight: testflight.apple.com/.../k37Njgd9
I can share a site link, or a short walkthrough in the replies if useful, but I did not want to make the first post link-heavy.
*Disclosure: I’m the developer of PCBAtlas. I’ll answer questions in this thread and won’t DM anyone or add anyone to a mailing list.*
