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

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

On Dec 31, 2015, at 6:58 PM, Jeremy C. Reed <reed(a)reedmedia.net> wrote: 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!''

On Jan 1, 2016, at 8:58 AM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m(a)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(a)tuhs.org>rg>: > 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(a)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(a)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.

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(a)ccc.com>om>: > Xterm can emulate a Tek terminal. > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Jan 1, 2016, at 8:58 AM, Michele Ghisolfo <ghisolfo.m(a)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(a)tuhs.org>rg>: >>> 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(a)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(a)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.