EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => PCB/EDA/CAD => Altium Designer => Topic started by: ToniElectronics on December 30, 2019, 10:04:15 am
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Hello!
My name is Antonio and for the last 5 years, my father and me are trying to find a working copy of Protel Advanced PCB v2.8. Why? Let me explain.
In 1995, my dad got his first PC-a 386 SX machine running Windows 3.11. My dad likes electronics and he made PCBs-by hand. He hand-drew the traces in water-resistant sharpie and using a acid which ate away the copper, he made PCBs.
His friend got a copy of Protel Advanced PCB on 1.44Mb floppies, and my dad tried it out. He loved it. He learned the program inside-out and soon enough he was making PCBs like nothing.
He saved the floppies on the PCs hard drive and returned the floppies back to his friend.
Fastforward to 2004. My dad got a new PC, a Athlon x2 64 setup. He installed XP SP3 on it and installed Protel too. He made several PCBs along the way until 2012, when we had a robbery. The robbers stole my dad's computer and his camera, but nothing else. On that computer were the original setup files for Protel.
Since then, he tried to use other programs, but...nothing worked. He only knew how to work in Protel and that's it. He INSISTS on using Protel and nothing else.
Later down the road, I joined in the search and found a 'working' copy which wouldn't save. It was a cracked version whose setup was corrupted or something. I tried to fix it, but I couldn't...
Now, here's where I ask everyone: Has anyone a working copy of the program? Like, no bugs with saving, etc? If we need to pay, that's OK, we planned it out. If someone had a working program, please send a message or send me a e-mail to: tonihoti907@gmail.com
Thanks in advance, Antonio
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His friend got a copy of Protel Advanced PCB on 1.44Mb floppies, and my dad tried it out. He loved it. He learned the program inside-out and soon enough he was making PCBs like nothing.
He saved the floppies on the PCs hard drive and returned the floppies back to his friend.
Does the license of that software allow it?
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As long he didn't publish it online, it's allowed.
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Hmm, how different is 2.8 and 3? Surely your old man can't be that stuck in his ways, right?...
https://techdocs.altium.com//display/ALEG/Legacy+Downloads
Seems to be the oldest version they provide; from the horse's mouth, no less!
Tim
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Hmm, how different is 2.8 and 3? Surely your old man can't be that stuck in his ways, right?...
https://techdocs.altium.com//display/ALEG/Legacy+Downloads
Seems to be the oldest version they provide; from the horse's mouth, no less!
Tim
Those are all update packages, they still require the base installation (and license details etc):
https://techdocs.altium.com/display/ALEG/Protel+3+SP1+Installation+notes
The Service Pack modifies the existing Protel Version 3 files. Do not uninstall the existing installation of Protel Version 3 before installing the Service Pack
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Oh, poo.
Tim
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The links I got for Protel 3 and the patches are NOT working, I cannot dowload them.
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Hello!
I was mistaken about Protel 3, however, the other links don't work.
Still on a lookout.
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Hi, just made an account on here to reply to this.
My dad has a copy of Protel 2.8 that he still uses for PCB design, along with the install files and codes required. I uploaded a copy to archive.org for anyone who wants it.
https://archive.org/details/pfw-2.8