« BackPCB Tracerpcbtracer.comSubmitted by Luc 4 days ago
  • gurjeet 2 hours ago

      > 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.

    • pgt 3 hours ago

      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.

      • fc417fc802 2 hours ago

        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.

      • Brian_K_White 2 hours ago

        Support Firefox and do not require filesystem access. Or don't. I'm not your mom. And also not your user.

        • namuol 2 hours ago

          (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

        • Liftyee 41 minutes ago

          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.

          • infinitewars an hour ago

            Does it support non 2-layer boards? (e.g., 4 layer +)

            • mog_dev 3 hours ago

              Firefox not supported?

              • dylan604 2 hours ago

                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

                • copperx an hour ago

                  I understand, but why does it need filesystem access in the first place?

                  • dylan604 39 minutes ago

                    so you can upload an image of a PCB you are looking to trace

                    • joemi 2 minutes ago

                      There are other ways for webpages to get file uploads than this particular JS API. I upload files via firefox every single business day as part of my job.

                      • fc417fc802 14 minutes ago

                        But I can drag and drop (or use the file picker) just fine on other websites.

                • ireflect an hour ago

                  Didn't work in my browser. I degoogled long ago. :shrug:

                  • peteforde an hour ago

                    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.

                    • anfractuosity 2 hours ago

                      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?

                      • raziel2701 2 hours ago

                        Firefox not supported and you want to see my local files right away? Nope, not trying this shit.

                        • wrs 2 hours ago

                          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.