From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 20882 invoked from network); 10 Feb 2023 12:56:52 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 10 Feb 2023 12:56:52 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 578D0411DB; Fri, 10 Feb 2023 22:56:47 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-vs1-xe2c.google.com (mail-vs1-xe2c.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4864:20::e2c]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0CAA6411D7 for ; Fri, 10 Feb 2023 22:56:42 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-vs1-xe2c.google.com with SMTP id g8so5554635vso.3 for ; Fri, 10 Feb 2023 04:56:42 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=dartmouth.edu; s=google1; t=1676033801; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=FBeIoh1gYiqY8tbSR+nq/TBRmXOkKzHsgJFQPFuiypg=; b=O/YLIqDoZllmSG7rzPLlzFL8gpP0L18DwrS++GDRfEwkCCD5m43p288I0Ym+nfh8N1 F/ivjZRpJZA9HMvhEz7GMkaCjEH+ShTHDzYQ6p1SiTXkJIG8rV+e/EFgCpRjIFHFb9U8 1o9fWXblZ8FqYov7W+olMhRGXZbJ//MicEK/vW8JXvAVdh6HJzZHkNMQFB/B9fJyEXMU 2Zl6urZD3YnBoKB1nSkocVtiYUPaDC/OCTUyLNqgo20xyL6r+aFn3bhcpIHrBNHkzrLy MYbJa/PFLudMhDtYB8uD9mChpJfQcXrJxtR8bqU45NDVPSp14FqDBDZ5CTcSyIsIKfIu iKKg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20210112; t=1676033801; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id :reply-to; bh=FBeIoh1gYiqY8tbSR+nq/TBRmXOkKzHsgJFQPFuiypg=; b=4vZNsPfN5OPF2mrshaYzvTf4V3qE7vLVljA1lqgGrYnFqZGcj9JWiOYozibxZi6yaC USE0IT+jlNefgK+bQN9IwyIdgjOPj7ZnsvsVmFj4FzVKZzx6hglIiIlbPL6Xee+fEqgF 3aRDX5gUua7vzwwTtrtqC2N7O+5PNN0Fi85arw5xHkAMdLBFBhzwlf3akaoWxSPlKrYK Ps4lz1pYTqafIEMANvJvPnyyfJLDBkv0WCmI7KUhntAmRmjm8ghMqFM/wngdJhF4X1Qk yEQZzw3gqG5sSz7cTxCVl1HtEq6nJuNb/V6VC95z3vPKZ4/uUWqz8q6sIF8H8kInEl+D fmeg== X-Gm-Message-State: AO0yUKXs7eQb86zGKCkGVVoUtJad+kL9x+ooABCu9p67G+LusDfl3YvN ACsFxF2FMfWDRJoFNIGeVlYld/i7qq7cQaLdP7X5zA== X-Google-Smtp-Source: AK7set9kYmDdXHZR/pP7+7jqP/ovxzyEye3mS7Q12oZn67AvjgwvqWebq+R+nNkNHpZYDO/AL87R3kW5RqPWZDo/87k= X-Received: by 2002:a67:d613:0:b0:411:be13:883d with SMTP id n19-20020a67d613000000b00411be13883dmr1701820vsj.63.1676033800848; Fri, 10 Feb 2023 04:56:40 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <854dfba0-6cf2-57a4-3995-c57571205d1f@googlemail.com> In-Reply-To: <854dfba0-6cf2-57a4-3995-c57571205d1f@googlemail.com> From: Douglas McIlroy Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2023 07:56:29 -0500 Message-ID: To: Christian Dreier Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Message-ID-Hash: HIWJT3Z4OT5YIZQ2VGRS2OFIZVMNLE7X X-Message-ID-Hash: HIWJT3Z4OT5YIZQ2VGRS2OFIZVMNLE7X X-MailFrom: douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: tuhs@tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Circuit design tool mentioned in AT&T Unix promotion List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: CDL was for designing wired circuit boards, not integrated circuits.. It was used to design the Datakit switch, the Belle chess machine and other hardware. I suspect the cited IC-design tool was one that Steve Johnson created for use in a short course that Carver Mead taught at Bell Labs. I am not aware that it saw use outside of that course. Doug On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 12:37 AM Christian Dreier via TUHS wrote: > > Hello there, > > I recently watched an old Unix promotion video by AT&T on YouTube (AT&T > Archives: The UNIX Operating System: https://youtu.be/tc4ROCJYbm0) and > they mention a design tool for integrated circuits (apparently named > L-Gen or lgen; timestamped link: https://youtu.be/tc4ROCJYbm0?t=1284). > > Part of this software is a language implemented with YACC that appears > to describe the behavior of digital logic, like modern hardware > description languages, i.e. Verilog and VHDL. > > Does anyone have information about this, in particular: > - Documentation > - Which projects were realized with this? > - Source code, if possible > > I asked this question on retrocomputing.stackexchange.com (see > https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/q/26301/26615) but so far there > is no satisfying answer. A "Circuit Design Language" (CDL) is mentioned > and there is some good information about it but it has another syntax > (as shown in the video vs. the documentation about CDL) and apparently > another purpose (description of board wiring vs. logic behavior). > > Best regards, > Christian