[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.