[TUHS] Unix Circuit Design System

[ghisolfo.m@gmail.com (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.