I needed exactly this sort of tool for a reverse-engineering project! I was so invested I returned here to write this comment... then spotted the other comments about "no Firefox support". Indeed, visually broken "Browser Not Supported" popup appears.
Darn. Disappointing. Guess I will have to keep looking.
Also... it doesn't look open-source and the comments about file access are valid. The functionality listed is completely possible as a browser-based local app with no server functionality.
Other webapps (https://falstad.com/circuit/) seem to be able to open a file picker in Firefox just fine. Saving is just via downloading to the Downloads folder, but the functionality is not impossible.
> Browser Not Supported
>
> PCB Tracer requires a browser that supports access to a local directory.
> This is needed to save and load your PCB Tracer project files.
>
> Please use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge for the best experience.
On Firefox, after bypassing the ominous warnings, when I tried to create a new project and choose a directory to save the project files, I get
> Directory picker is not supported in this browser. Please use a modern browser like Chrome or Edge.
While I appreciate the early warning, so that the user doesn't spend too much effort only to later realize that they can't save their files to disk, I don't appreciate the implicit labeling of Firefox as not being a "modern" browser.
If you're developing a web app with APIs only available in certain browsers, just say/admit so.
Honestly that's exactly what it would look like if someone posted malware to a show HN. I'm not claiming that's what this is, just that it's _exactly_ what it would look like so you'd have to be braindead to go that route.
I wonder (outside HN) what percentage of people who need to reverse engineer a PCB are also people who insist on Firefox. Probably smaller than the percentage of those people who want to save results to their local filesystem.
The overt hostility in this thread really bums me out!
I came to say that this looks amazing and came at the most absurdly perfect time, because I was literally habitually skimming HN before settling in to manually reverse engineer a PCB.
I hope this works well, because it's an extraordinarily useful tool if so.
I needed exactly this sort of tool for a reverse-engineering project! I was so invested I returned here to write this comment... then spotted the other comments about "no Firefox support". Indeed, visually broken "Browser Not Supported" popup appears.
Darn. Disappointing. Guess I will have to keep looking.
Also... it doesn't look open-source and the comments about file access are valid. The functionality listed is completely possible as a browser-based local app with no server functionality.
Other webapps (https://falstad.com/circuit/) seem to be able to open a file picker in Firefox just fine. Saving is just via downloading to the Downloads folder, but the functionality is not impossible.
If you're developing a web app with APIs only available in certain browsers, just say/admit so.
I wanted to test this but if I decline file access I can't do anything. What gives? Do you want people to understand your product? Demo your product.
Why do you need file access to sell me?
Closed immediately.
btw. I am your target market.
Honestly that's exactly what it would look like if someone posted malware to a show HN. I'm not claiming that's what this is, just that it's _exactly_ what it would look like so you'd have to be braindead to go that route.
Does it support non 2-layer boards? (e.g., 4 layer +)
Didn't work in my browser. I degoogled long ago. :shrug:
Support Firefox and do not require filesystem access. Or don't. I'm not your mom. And also not your user.
(I am not the app author, just a sympathizer)
I didn’t realize spite for users was a good reason for me to not bother with Firefox support in my web apps, thank you for enlightening me
Firefox not supported?
There was another Show HN recently (today?) that explained this. The JS feature to access local file system is currently not available in FF.
https://caniuse.com/native-filesystem-api
I understand, but why does it need filesystem access in the first place?
I skimmed through a couple of youtube videos, would I be right in thinking the tracing is done always manually here.
Would be really neat if it could trace automagically too, possibly with sanded PCBs?
Firefox not supported and you want to see my local files right away? Nope, not trying this shit.
I wonder (outside HN) what percentage of people who need to reverse engineer a PCB are also people who insist on Firefox. Probably smaller than the percentage of those people who want to save results to their local filesystem.
The overt hostility in this thread really bums me out!
I came to say that this looks amazing and came at the most absurdly perfect time, because I was literally habitually skimming HN before settling in to manually reverse engineer a PCB.
I hope this works well, because it's an extraordinarily useful tool if so.