[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Michele Ghisolfo]

Hello all!

While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated Excerpts
from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set of
utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote of this
article:

"CDL (v7 pages 60-63)

Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System, it has long
stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy Fraser and
extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles circuits
expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to create
descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards automatically, to
check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to specify
combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays (Chesson
and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit, the 5620 Blit
terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.  UCDS appeared
in only one manual, v7."


I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found references of
this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS and got no
results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET archives.  In
particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were dedicated to it.
Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and "wrap".  I
also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS descendant
in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:

http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/

However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could not find
it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it may
be possible to get hold of an older release at least.

Does anyone have any information?

Thank you in advance!

    --- Michele

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Clem Cole]

Funny you should ask....

I had the last known virgin copy of that UCDS a few years ago, which we
managed to save.  Dennis declared it part of V7 (just a little late being
distributed), which we promptly sent to Warren, who has the source in his
archives.    Note it uses a tektronix 40xx terminal as the native screen.
It's been years since I used it, but I may be able to answer a few
questions.  I suspect the biggest issue with trying to use with xterm
emulation is that lack of the two wheels that the tek terminals had.

Good luck,
Clem

On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hello all!
>
> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated
> Excerpts
> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set of
> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote of this
> article:
>
> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
>
> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System, it
> has long
> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy Fraser
> and
> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles
> circuits
> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to create
> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards automatically,
> to
> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to specify
> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays
> (Chesson
> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit, the
> 5620 Blit
> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.  UCDS
> appeared
> in only one manual, v7."
>
>
> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found references
> of
> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS and
> got no
> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET
> archives.  In
> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were dedicated to
> it.
> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and
> "wrap".  I
> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS
> descendant
> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
>
> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
>
> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could not
> find
> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it may
> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
>
> Does anyone have any information?
>
> Thank you in advance!
>
>     --- Michele
>
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[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Warren Toomey]

Ah, it's in the archive at http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Circuit_Design/

Cheers, Warren

On 1 January 2016 8:52:34 am AEST, Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>Funny you should ask....
>
>I had the last known virgin copy of that UCDS a few years ago, which we
>managed to save.  Dennis declared it part of V7 (just a little late
>being
>distributed), which we promptly sent to Warren, who has the source in
>his
>archives.    Note it uses a tektronix 40xx terminal as the native
>screen.
>It's been years since I used it, but I may be able to answer a few
>questions.  I suspect the biggest issue with trying to use with xterm
>emulation is that lack of the two wheels that the tek terminals had.
>
>Good luck,
>Clem
>
>On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Michele Ghisolfo
><ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>> Hello all!
>>
>> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated
>> Excerpts
>> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set
>of
>> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote
>of this
>> article:
>>
>> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
>>
>> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System,
>it
>> has long
>> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy
>Fraser
>> and
>> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles
>> circuits
>> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to
>create
>> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards
>automatically,
>> to
>> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to
>specify
>> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays
>> (Chesson
>> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit,
>the
>> 5620 Blit
>> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built. 
>UCDS
>> appeared
>> in only one manual, v7."
>>
>>
>> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found
>references
>> of
>> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS
>and
>> got no
>> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET
>> archives.  In
>> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were
>dedicated to
>> it.
>> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and
>> "wrap".  I
>> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS
>> descendant
>> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
>>
>> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
>>
>> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could
>not
>> find
>> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it
>may
>> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
>>
>> Does anyone have any information?
>>
>> Thank you in advance!
>>
>>     --- Michele
>>

-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Larry McVoy]

Any chance this was code that turned into the Ousterhout stuff, I think it
was called spice?

On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 07:20:40PM +0100, Michele Ghisolfo wrote:
> Hello all!
> 
> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated Excerpts
> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set of
> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote of this
> article:
> 
> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
> 
> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System, it has long
> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy Fraser and
> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles circuits
> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to create
> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards automatically, to
> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to specify
> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays (Chesson
> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit, the 5620 Blit
> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.  UCDS appeared
> in only one manual, v7."
> 
> 
> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found references of
> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS and got no
> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET archives.  In
> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were dedicated to it.
> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and "wrap".  I
> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS descendant
> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
> 
> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
> 
> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could not find
> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it may
> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
> 
> Does anyone have any information?
> 
> Thank you in advance!
> 
>     --- Michele

-- 
---
Larry McVoy            	     lm at mcvoy.com             http://www.mcvoy.com/lm 

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Jeremy C. Reed]

On Thu, 31 Dec 2015, Larry McVoy wrote:

> Any chance this was code that turned into the Ousterhout stuff, I think it
> was called spice?

While I am not involved with it at all, I did interview a couple 
developers toward my BSD history book. (The following is from my 3BSD 
"Welcome to Virtual Vax/UNIX" chapter.)

\textsc{Spice} 2\index{SPICE}, the Simulation Program with Integrated 
Circuit Emphasis, was another program that benefited from the VAX work. 
This Fortran program predicted the electrical characteristics of an 
integrated circuit.  Spearheaded by professor Donald O. 
Pederson\index{Pederson, Donald O.}, who helped establish a fabrication 
lab --- the first integrated circuit fabrication facility at any 
university\cite{donpederson2005} --- in the 1960's, it was developed by 
the integrated circuits group of the Electronics Research Laboratory and 
the Electrical Engineering department [at University of California at 
Berkeley] in the mid 1970's.

To many it is considered the first significant open source program.
The program was available free of charge, for
not-for-profit uses to any interested party.
% above CITE archives/1970s/3bsd/usr/src/cmd/spice/roots.f
Its source code was distributed for the cost of writing the 
tape and copying the documentation, so it was decided to 
include it on the BSD distribution tape as well.\cite{tom-quarles-1}

\textsc{Spice} was originally developed to run as a batch program in 
punched-card form on the university's CDC 6400 system outputting to a 
132-column line printer, but its default allocation of 400,000 double 
precision numbers in an array wouldn't work with the PDP-11.  It was 
later ported to many operating systems and machines that had adequate 
memory and floating point capabilities, such as VMS and Unix on the 
VAX.\cite{tom-quarles-1}

The program shipped with BSD provided general-purpose circuit
simulation for nonlinear DC, nonlinear transient, and linear AC
analyses.  Circuits could contain resistors, capacitors, inductors,
mutual inductors, independent voltage and current sources, four
types of dependent sources, transmission lines, and the four most
common semiconductor devices: diodes, bjts, jfets, and
mosfets.\cite{spice-vax-guide-1979}
% ALSO same in archives/1970s/3bsd/usr/man/man1/spice.1

Virtually every electronic chip --- even today --- used \textsc{Spice} 
or one of its derivatives at critical stages during its
design.\cite{donpederson2005} In fact, its name has become
a verb in the industry: ``let's \textsc{Spice} that circuit
and see if it works!''

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Clem cole]

SPICE is very different than UCSD.    The later is for schematic capture and board design - full components like IC packages.   Think of it's most famous use - the boards that Ken created for the chess machine - Belle.  The former is for low level circuit design - transistor level of a chip.  For instance the standard SPICE benchmark is the internals of the 741 op-amp or the 555 timer. 



BTW at the time, Tom was my housemate. Don Pederson (aka dop) was my second reader as he was for Tom. My thesis was an Array processor for BSD used to run TQ's thesis - SPICE3 (we were both students of Richard Newton who had been one of dop's students years before) 

Anyway SPICE1 was actually started in the late 1960's by dop. Ellis Cohen wrote SPICE2 for the CDC 6400 in the mid 70's, added some new device models and created really novel bit of self modifying Fortran the compiled the inner loop.  

You are correct it was really the first widely available FOSS code - an idea that you correctly note dop created.  He used to say he went in the back door to all the firms in the Bay Area and had there secrets because he helped them and was not selling his research.  If we took money then we would be like any other salesman. 

For SPICE3, Tom pulled the system into modules and made it so different models could be added, made it callable from other tools and rewrote it into C from Fortran. 

It's interesting both versions are still generally available and have different followings. 


In the end spice is basically a program that solves systems of simultaneous differential equations with many many variables using linear algebra.  Very slick system. 

Clem 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 31, 2015, at 6:58 PM, Jeremy C. Reed <reed at reedmedia.net> wrote:
> 
>> On Thu, 31 Dec 2015, Larry McVoy wrote:
>> 
>> Any chance this was code that turned into the Ousterhout stuff, I think it
>> was called spice?
> 
> While I am not involved with it at all, I did interview a couple 
> developers toward my BSD history book. (The following is from my 3BSD 
> "Welcome to Virtual Vax/UNIX" chapter.)
> 
> \textsc{Spice} 2\index{SPICE}, the Simulation Program with Integrated 
> Circuit Emphasis, was another program that benefited from the VAX work. 
> This Fortran program predicted the electrical characteristics of an 
> integrated circuit.  Spearheaded by professor Donald O. 
> Pederson\index{Pederson, Donald O.}, who helped establish a fabrication 
> lab --- the first integrated circuit fabrication facility at any 
> university\cite{donpederson2005} --- in the 1960's, it was developed by 
> the integrated circuits group of the Electronics Research Laboratory and 
> the Electrical Engineering department [at University of California at 
> Berkeley] in the mid 1970's.
> 
> To many it is considered the first significant open source program.
> The program was available free of charge, for
> not-for-profit uses to any interested party.
> % above CITE archives/1970s/3bsd/usr/src/cmd/spice/roots.f
> Its source code was distributed for the cost of writing the 
> tape and copying the documentation, so it was decided to 
> include it on the BSD distribution tape as well.\cite{tom-quarles-1}
> 
> \textsc{Spice} was originally developed to run as a batch program in 
> punched-card form on the university's CDC 6400 system outputting to a 
> 132-column line printer, but its default allocation of 400,000 double 
> precision numbers in an array wouldn't work with the PDP-11.  It was 
> later ported to many operating systems and machines that had adequate 
> memory and floating point capabilities, such as VMS and Unix on the 
> VAX.\cite{tom-quarles-1}
> 
> The program shipped with BSD provided general-purpose circuit
> simulation for nonlinear DC, nonlinear transient, and linear AC
> analyses.  Circuits could contain resistors, capacitors, inductors,
> mutual inductors, independent voltage and current sources, four
> types of dependent sources, transmission lines, and the four most
> common semiconductor devices: diodes, bjts, jfets, and
> mosfets.\cite{spice-vax-guide-1979}
> % ALSO same in archives/1970s/3bsd/usr/man/man1/spice.1
> 
> Virtually every electronic chip --- even today --- used \textsc{Spice} 
> or one of its derivatives at critical stages during its
> design.\cite{donpederson2005} In fact, its name has become
> a verb in the industry: ``let's \textsc{Spice} that circuit
> and see if it works!''
> 

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Michele Ghisolfo]

Thank you!  I think I'll tamper with it a bit, when I have time.  With
regards to
the lack of wheel emulation in xterm, I think it wouldn't be too difficult to
write a terminal emulator with the set of tek functions and codes used
by "draw".

I'll try as soon as possible!

2016-01-01 0:13 GMT+01:00 Warren Toomey <wkt at tuhs.org>:
> Ah, it's in the archive at
> http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Circuit_Design/
>
> Cheers, Warren
>
>
> On 1 January 2016 8:52:34 am AEST, Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>>
>> Funny you should ask....
>>
>> I had the last known virgin copy of that UCDS a few years ago, which we
>> managed to save.  Dennis declared it part of V7 (just a little late being
>> distributed), which we promptly sent to Warren, who has the source in his
>> archives.    Note it uses a tektronix 40xx terminal as the native screen.
>> It's been years since I used it, but I may be able to answer a few
>> questions.  I suspect the biggest issue with trying to use with xterm
>> emulation is that lack of the two wheels that the tek terminals had.
>>
>> Good luck,
>> Clem
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello all!
>>>
>>> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated
>>> Excerpts
>>> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set of
>>> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote of
>>> this
>>> article:
>>>
>>> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
>>>
>>> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System, it
>>> has long
>>> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy Fraser
>>> and
>>> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles
>>> circuits
>>> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to
>>> create
>>> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards automatically,
>>> to
>>> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to specify
>>> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays
>>> (Chesson
>>> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit, the
>>> 5620 Blit
>>> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.  UCDS
>>> appeared
>>> in only one manual, v7."
>>>
>>>
>>> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found references
>>> of
>>> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS and
>>> got no
>>> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET
>>> archives.  In
>>> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were dedicated
>>> to it.
>>> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and
>>> "wrap".  I
>>> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS
>>> descendant
>>> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
>>>
>>> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
>>>
>>> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could not
>>> find
>>> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it may
>>> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
>>>
>>> Does anyone have any information?
>>>
>>> Thank you in advance!
>>>
>>>     --- Michele
>>
>>
>
> --
> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Clem cole]

Xterm can emulate a Tek terminal. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 1, 2016, at 8:58 AM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thank you!  I think I'll tamper with it a bit, when I have time.  With
> regards to
> the lack of wheel emulation in xterm, I think it wouldn't be too difficult to
> write a terminal emulator with the set of tek functions and codes used
> by "draw".
> 
> I'll try as soon as possible!
> 
> 2016-01-01 0:13 GMT+01:00 Warren Toomey <wkt at tuhs.org>:
>> Ah, it's in the archive at
>> http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Circuit_Design/
>> 
>> Cheers, Warren
>> 
>> 
>>> On 1 January 2016 8:52:34 am AEST, Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Funny you should ask....
>>> 
>>> I had the last known virgin copy of that UCDS a few years ago, which we
>>> managed to save.  Dennis declared it part of V7 (just a little late being
>>> distributed), which we promptly sent to Warren, who has the source in his
>>> archives.    Note it uses a tektronix 40xx terminal as the native screen.
>>> It's been years since I used it, but I may be able to answer a few
>>> questions.  I suspect the biggest issue with trying to use with xterm
>>> emulation is that lack of the two wheels that the tek terminals had.
>>> 
>>> Good luck,
>>> Clem
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hello all!
>>>> 
>>>> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated
>>>> Excerpts
>>>> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set of
>>>> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote of
>>>> this
>>>> article:
>>>> 
>>>> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
>>>> 
>>>> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System, it
>>>> has long
>>>> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy Fraser
>>>> and
>>>> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles
>>>> circuits
>>>> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to
>>>> create
>>>> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards automatically,
>>>> to
>>>> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to specify
>>>> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays
>>>> (Chesson
>>>> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit, the
>>>> 5620 Blit
>>>> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.  UCDS
>>>> appeared
>>>> in only one manual, v7."
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found references
>>>> of
>>>> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS and
>>>> got no
>>>> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET
>>>> archives.  In
>>>> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were dedicated
>>>> to it.
>>>> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and
>>>> "wrap".  I
>>>> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS
>>>> descendant
>>>> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
>>>> 
>>>> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
>>>> 
>>>> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could not
>>>> find
>>>> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it may
>>>> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
>>>> 
>>>> Does anyone have any information?
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you in advance!
>>>> 
>>>>    --- Michele
>> 
>> --
>> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Michele Ghisolfo]

Yes, but earlier you pointed out that it does not emulates two wheels
of the terminal.  Since I have never used "draw" nor any Tektronix
terminal I don't know what was the purpose of the wheels and how they
are used by the program.  So I thought that, if "draw" heavily relies
on such feature, xterm might not suffice.

2016-01-01 15:31 GMT+01:00 Clem cole <clemc at ccc.com>:
> Xterm can emulate a Tek terminal.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jan 1, 2016, at 8:58 AM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thank you!  I think I'll tamper with it a bit, when I have time.  With
>> regards to
>> the lack of wheel emulation in xterm, I think it wouldn't be too difficult to
>> write a terminal emulator with the set of tek functions and codes used
>> by "draw".
>>
>> I'll try as soon as possible!
>>
>> 2016-01-01 0:13 GMT+01:00 Warren Toomey <wkt at tuhs.org>:
>>> Ah, it's in the archive at
>>> http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Circuit_Design/
>>>
>>> Cheers, Warren
>>>
>>>
>>>> On 1 January 2016 8:52:34 am AEST, Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Funny you should ask....
>>>>
>>>> I had the last known virgin copy of that UCDS a few years ago, which we
>>>> managed to save.  Dennis declared it part of V7 (just a little late being
>>>> distributed), which we promptly sent to Warren, who has the source in his
>>>> archives.    Note it uses a tektronix 40xx terminal as the native screen.
>>>> It's been years since I used it, but I may be able to answer a few
>>>> questions.  I suspect the biggest issue with trying to use with xterm
>>>> emulation is that lack of the two wheels that the tek terminals had.
>>>>
>>>> Good luck,
>>>> Clem
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello all!
>>>>>
>>>>> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated
>>>>> Excerpts
>>>>> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set of
>>>>> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote of
>>>>> this
>>>>> article:
>>>>>
>>>>> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
>>>>>
>>>>> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System, it
>>>>> has long
>>>>> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy Fraser
>>>>> and
>>>>> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles
>>>>> circuits
>>>>> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to
>>>>> create
>>>>> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards automatically,
>>>>> to
>>>>> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to specify
>>>>> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays
>>>>> (Chesson
>>>>> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit, the
>>>>> 5620 Blit
>>>>> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.  UCDS
>>>>> appeared
>>>>> in only one manual, v7."
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found references
>>>>> of
>>>>> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS and
>>>>> got no
>>>>> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET
>>>>> archives.  In
>>>>> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were dedicated
>>>>> to it.
>>>>> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and
>>>>> "wrap".  I
>>>>> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS
>>>>> descendant
>>>>> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
>>>>>
>>>>> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could not
>>>>> find
>>>>> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it may
>>>>> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
>>>>>
>>>>> Does anyone have any information?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you in advance!
>>>>>
>>>>>    --- Michele
>>>
>>> --
>>> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Michele Ghisolfo]

It compiled fine in 4.2BSD (inside simh).  I telnetted in with an
xterm in Tektronix mode and draw works like a charm.  I even got the
xterm to graphically display some logic gates.  There's only some
minor fiddling with environment variables to be done.



2016-01-01 16:45 GMT+01:00 Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>:
> Yes, but earlier you pointed out that it does not emulates two wheels
> of the terminal.  Since I have never used "draw" nor any Tektronix
> terminal I don't know what was the purpose of the wheels and how they
> are used by the program.  So I thought that, if "draw" heavily relies
> on such feature, xterm might not suffice.
>
> 2016-01-01 15:31 GMT+01:00 Clem cole <clemc at ccc.com>:
>> Xterm can emulate a Tek terminal.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Jan 1, 2016, at 8:58 AM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Thank you!  I think I'll tamper with it a bit, when I have time.  With
>>> regards to
>>> the lack of wheel emulation in xterm, I think it wouldn't be too difficult to
>>> write a terminal emulator with the set of tek functions and codes used
>>> by "draw".
>>>
>>> I'll try as soon as possible!
>>>
>>> 2016-01-01 0:13 GMT+01:00 Warren Toomey <wkt at tuhs.org>:
>>>> Ah, it's in the archive at
>>>> http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Circuit_Design/
>>>>
>>>> Cheers, Warren
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On 1 January 2016 8:52:34 am AEST, Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Funny you should ask....
>>>>>
>>>>> I had the last known virgin copy of that UCDS a few years ago, which we
>>>>> managed to save.  Dennis declared it part of V7 (just a little late being
>>>>> distributed), which we promptly sent to Warren, who has the source in his
>>>>> archives.    Note it uses a tektronix 40xx terminal as the native screen.
>>>>> It's been years since I used it, but I may be able to answer a few
>>>>> questions.  I suspect the biggest issue with trying to use with xterm
>>>>> emulation is that lack of the two wheels that the tek terminals had.
>>>>>
>>>>> Good luck,
>>>>> Clem
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello all!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated
>>>>>> Excerpts
>>>>>> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a set of
>>>>>> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote of
>>>>>> this
>>>>>> article:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design System, it
>>>>>> has long
>>>>>> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy Fraser
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles
>>>>>> circuits
>>>>>> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to
>>>>>> create
>>>>>> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards automatically,
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to specify
>>>>>> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays
>>>>>> (Chesson
>>>>>> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit, the
>>>>>> 5620 Blit
>>>>>> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.  UCDS
>>>>>> appeared
>>>>>> in only one manual, v7."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found references
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from TUHS and
>>>>>> got no
>>>>>> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET
>>>>>> archives.  In
>>>>>> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were dedicated
>>>>>> to it.
>>>>>> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and
>>>>>> "wrap".  I
>>>>>> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS
>>>>>> descendant
>>>>>> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could not
>>>>>> find
>>>>>> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope it may
>>>>>> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Does anyone have any information?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you in advance!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    --- Michele
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[Clem Cole]

That makes sense.   That version should have had my changes and should have
been pretty close to that version that was ever released from BTL.  I had
ported it @ Tek to the next generation 4Yxx terminal,.  At the time time, I
ensured it ran on 4.1[ABC] which ever version was current from Evans at the
time.  (those systems were the "beta" system for 4.2BSD).   When I was
done, I had sent the changes back to Ted Kowalski , Ken et al and they had
sent me the final tape -- which is why I had a copy of it in my archives.

I'm not sure if its the in makefile, of that version, but I did have
makefiles for the research Magnolia system.   We used some of USCD to it
and of course brought it up on it when we were done.   I'm not so sure
those deltas went back, they might have.   The one thing that UCSD did not
have was a good board layout program (it creates net-lists), we imported
something I had been familiar with from CMU, who's name I can remember.

BTW:  As part of some other experiments, Tek Labs also had a Lilith system
from CERN, which also had some circuit tools written in Pascal/Modula; but
I've forgotten if we used any of them in the design stream for Magnolia
before it was baked.   IIRC one or two those tools were ported to Magnolia
later when the Modula compiler was brought up by Larry Morandi [I think].
There was a strong anti-C run in many parts of the Tek in those days (there
was by one count in 1980 over 14 different "Tek Pascal's").    So the Labs
folks were always looking for tools that product groups would consider,
since the product teams were so Pascal centric.

On Fri, Jan 1, 2016 at 12:42 PM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
wrote:

> It compiled fine in 4.2BSD (inside simh).  I telnetted in with an
> xterm in Tektronix mode and draw works like a charm.  I even got the
> xterm to graphically display some logic gates.  There's only some
> minor fiddling with environment variables to be done.
>
>
>
> 2016-01-01 16:45 GMT+01:00 Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>:
> > Yes, but earlier you pointed out that it does not emulates two wheels
> > of the terminal.  Since I have never used "draw" nor any Tektronix
> > terminal I don't know what was the purpose of the wheels and how they
> > are used by the program.  So I thought that, if "draw" heavily relies
> > on such feature, xterm might not suffice.
> >
> > 2016-01-01 15:31 GMT+01:00 Clem cole <clemc at ccc.com>:
> >> Xterm can emulate a Tek terminal.
> >>
> >> Sent from my iPhone
> >>
> >>> On Jan 1, 2016, at 8:58 AM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Thank you!  I think I'll tamper with it a bit, when I have time.  With
> >>> regards to
> >>> the lack of wheel emulation in xterm, I think it wouldn't be too
> difficult to
> >>> write a terminal emulator with the set of tek functions and codes used
> >>> by "draw".
> >>>
> >>> I'll try as soon as possible!
> >>>
> >>> 2016-01-01 0:13 GMT+01:00 Warren Toomey <wkt at tuhs.org>:
> >>>> Ah, it's in the archive at
> >>>> http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Circuit_Design/
> >>>>
> >>>> Cheers, Warren
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> On 1 January 2016 8:52:34 am AEST, Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Funny you should ask....
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I had the last known virgin copy of that UCDS a few years ago, which
> we
> >>>>> managed to save.  Dennis declared it part of V7 (just a little late
> being
> >>>>> distributed), which we promptly sent to Warren, who has the source
> in his
> >>>>> archives.    Note it uses a tektronix 40xx terminal as the native
> screen.
> >>>>> It's been years since I used it, but I may be able to answer a few
> >>>>> questions.  I suspect the biggest issue with trying to use with xterm
> >>>>> emulation is that lack of the two wheels that the tek terminals had.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Good luck,
> >>>>> Clem
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Michele Ghisolfo <
> ghisolfo.m at gmail.com>
> >>>>> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Hello all!
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> While I was reading the article "A Research UNIX Reader:  Annotated
> >>>>>> Excerpts
> >>>>>> from the Programmer's Manual" from Douglas McIlroy, I learnt of a
> set of
> >>>>>> utilities for designing electronic circuits.  Here is a brief quote
> of
> >>>>>> this
> >>>>>> article:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "CDL (v7 pages 60-63)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Although most users do not encounter the UNIX Circuit Design
> System, it
> >>>>>> has long
> >>>>>> stood as an important application in the lab.  Originated by Sandy
> Fraser
> >>>>>> and
> >>>>>> extended by Steve Bourne, Joe Condon, and Andrew Hume, UCDS handles
> >>>>>> circuits
> >>>>>> expressed in a common design language, cdl.  It includes programs to
> >>>>>> create
> >>>>>> descriptions using interactive graphics, to lay out boards
> automatically,
> >>>>>> to
> >>>>>> check circuits for consistency, to guide wire-wrap machines, to
> specify
> >>>>>> combinational circuits and optimize them for programmed logic arrays
> >>>>>> (Chesson
> >>>>>> and Thompson).  Without UCDS, significant inventions like Datakit,
> the
> >>>>>> 5620 Blit
> >>>>>> terminal, or the Belle chess machine would never have been built.
> UCDS
> >>>>>> appeared
> >>>>>> in only one manual, v7."
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I looked it up on the 7th Edition's Manual and I haven't found
> references
> >>>>>> of
> >>>>>> this system.  I also searched a v7 system image downloaded from
> TUHS and
> >>>>>> got no
> >>>>>> results.  However I got some references of this system in USENET
> >>>>>> archives.  In
> >>>>>> particular, two hierarchies, net.draw and after net.ucds were
> dedicated
> >>>>>> to it.
> >>>>>> Apparently two of the binaries of the system were called "draw" and
> >>>>>> "wrap".  I
> >>>>>> also found a manual of a similar system which I suppose is the UCDS
> >>>>>> descendant
> >>>>>> in the 1st Edition of Plan 9.  This is the link of the document:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> http://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/1st_edition/cda/
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> However that edition of Plan 9 is not publicly released and I could
> not
> >>>>>> find
> >>>>>> it in following editions.  But since v7 Unix is available, I hope
> it may
> >>>>>> be possible to get hold of an older release at least.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Does anyone have any information?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Thank you in advance!
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>    --- Michele
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>
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