I use Eagle Pro (version 6.5.0) (cost £900) on my computer.
A junior engineer has layed out a prototype PCB in the free version of Eagle (version 7.1.0).
I now need to evaluate his work and tidy it up. Is it possible to view and edit his schematic and pcb in my Eagle version 6.5.0?….or do I have to download the free version 7.1.0 in order to look at his work and edit it?
(I heard a rumour that if one loads the latest version of Eagle onto your PCB, it invalidates and puts a “virus” into any previous version of eagle that one has, and renders all the libraries forever unuseable in the previous version of Eagle…is this true?
I have loaded some version 7 files into my 6.5 without issue; since version 6, Eagle uses XML files as its main document storage format. Loading into version 5 would not work.
The one thing you do need to look out for is that version 7 has added some features. While 6.5 can load the files okay, if any of those features were made use of, they will not load (correctly) in 6.5. Or, as CadSoft put it in their release notes:
If a version 6 drawing is edited in version 7 and the new autorouter or hierarchical design are not used, the drawing remains down compatible to version 6
