EE141 FAQ (all those you were afraid to ask)

• UNIX
• NT PC's
• MAGIC
• IRSIM
• AWAVES
• HSPICE
• PROJECTS
  
  

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  UNIX

  • What machines can I logon to?
    type { clients } at the UNIX command prompt...
    note... DEC ALPHAs in 199 are the fastest machines currently available... it is recommended to logon to these.
    
    
  • What must I do to remote login and display everything locally?
    From the machine that you are sitting, type { xhost + }, this allows any machine to "control" the machine you are on. Next, type { telnet fastmachinename } will allow you to log into a better machine. Once you have completed the login process, type { setenv DISPLAY slowmachinename:0.0 }, this will setup the fastmachine to export all graphics to your local display.
    
    
  • How do I print out text or postscript files?
    type { lp -dprintername filename (HP) or lpr -Pprintername filename (DEC) }
    for this class, lw199, lw117, & 353-hp8000 are probably the easiest to use
    
    
  • How do I print out four slides per page?
    login to parker and type the following { /usr/sww/bin/psnup -n4 -G -pf3.ps slides3a.ps }, this produces the file f3.ps which contains four slides per page
    
    
  • How do I keep the colormaps from messing up?
    probably the largest headache as far as the colormapping is the use of netscape... run netscape like this { netscape -install & } this will force netscape to use its own colormap
    
    
  • How do I change my shell to tcsh?
    You can always just type tcsh at the prompt, or you can log onto po. Then you have to type chsh and then enter /usr/local/bin/tcsh, then wait 24 hours. After this time, tcsh will be your default shell.
    
    
  • How do I fix my backspace?
    Either you can use tcsh as your shell, or you can add the following to your .cshrc... stty erase (hit backspace)... then source your .cshrc... or just type the same command at the prompt...
    
    
  • What can I use to edit files?
    emacs, vi, pico, or any local text editor
    
    

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  NT PC's

  • How do I make sure MAGIC works with exceed?
    Make sure your colors are set to 256 by right clicking on the backgroud and checking the settings under properties. After this, load MAGIC before anything else.
    
    

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  MAGIC

  • How do I set the display for MAGIC?
    type { magic -d X11 filename }
    
    
  • What layers can I paint anyway?
    you might want to print out the MAGIC Layers Guide
    
    
  • What are all the commands anyway?
    you might want to print out the MAGIC Command Guide
    
    
  • How do I change the technology?
    Enter :extract style "lamda=XXXX" at the magic prompt with XXXX replaced by the extraction style (ex. 0.6(hp)).
    
    
  • How do I make sure ext2spice extracts all cap and resistance?
    Enter ext2spice -r0 -c0 filename at the UNIX prompt. The 0's after the -r and -c can be replaced with larger numbers such that the ext2spice will only produce spice equivalents if they are larger than this number. If you still have questions, check the man page listing.
    
    

  
  

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  IRSIM
  

  • How do I make a vector?
    First, define the vector...
    vector a a[{7:0}]
    then you have to set the vector...
    set a 0000001
    
    
  • How do I use this program?
    you might want to print out the IRSIM man page.
    
    

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  AWAVES
  

  • What are all the commands anyway?
    you might want to print out the Awaves Command Guide
    
    

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  HSPICE
  

  • Here's a copy of the HSPICE manual
  • What do to run hspice and redirect the output to a file?
    hspice input.sp >! input.out &
    the >! redirects the output from the screen to the file input.out while the & runs the simulation in the background.
    
    
  • What do I check when hspice does not produce the right output?
    Check filename.out or filename.lis to see if there are any errors or problems with the hspice simulation.
    
    
  • I have check my netlist a 100 times and it still says that there is nothing in my netlist when I run hspice... WHAT IS WRONG?
    Make sure that there is a return after the .END at the end of the file. Basically just edit the file and hit the return button at the end of the file.
    
    
  • I need an example spice netlist to understand it... what can I do?
    Check out the hspice example or commands.
    
    
  • I need help with my project... Power calculation and input vectors...
    Check out the hspice project help.
    
    

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  PROJECTS

  • I need help with my layout, are there basic things I should know before doing serious poly-pushing?
    Check out the layout common sense.
    
    

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