Tutorial Part 3: Optional Points on Synopsys

1. The interactive debugger.

   You can use the interactive debugger instead of the command-line simulator.

   1. At the Unix prompt:
      vhdldbx &

      The "&" is important for reuse of the terminal.

   2. Specify the top level unit (tb here, choose tb__behav to get the behavioural implementation). Notice the simulation time units.
   3. Have a look at the general layout of the simulator window
      • top menu bar and sub-menus
      • text window (displaying source codes, read only)
      • status window
      • command buttons (list the most frequently use command from the menu bar)
      • output display window (read only)
      • simulator window (for input of simulator command)
   4. Trace some signals
      1. trace A, B, C by mouse blacking the signal name in the text window while watching the pop-up of the Waveform Viewer
      2. look at the trace (i.e. timing diagram) list from the menu bar (Traces, list) you can delete some signals from the list
   5. Navigate to different files by Misc, Hierarchy Browser. For Hierarchy Browser:
      • explain the hierarchy at the left window (triangles and black squares)
      • explain the labels appear at the right window:
        • P: Ports
        • S: Signal
        • V: Variable
        • G: Generic
        • C: Constant
      • Navigate to UUT, thus get file xor.vhd, add signals not_a, not_b, and_1, and_2 to the trace list while watching the update of the Waveform Viewer.
   6. Simulate. In debuger command window, at the right of "Run" command, type in the time slot you want to simulate, e.g. 1000 put the Waveform Viewer window at the foreground, then hit "Run" button.
2. Printing:
   1. Print the source files (text format). Suppose you want to print the file and.vhd, at the unix prompt, type:
      lpr -Pcsil-2 and.vhd
   2. Print out waveforms
      1. from the simulator window, save the wave file in postscript format (e.g., xor.ps).
      2. convert into pdf format (ps2pdf xor.ps xor.pdf)
      3. use acroread to read the file, and print it from acroread menu.

There used to be a bunch of setup steps needed. These aren't required any more, but I don't want to throw them away entirely until I'm totally sure.

To initally setup the Synopsys software the following steps should be taken:

1. In your home directory there should be a file named .CSIL.rc (that's a dot, then CSIL.rc) . Open this file for editing using Emacs or some other editor. The file consists of a series of SETENV statements. Find the following statments:

   setenv SETUP_GNU       NO    # Free Software Foundation
   setenv SETUP_SYNOPSYS  NO    # Synopsys designer

   Change the word NO to the word YES in each statement. [If they are already YES, you don't need to change anything.] Then save the file.

2. Copy the synopsys setup file to your home directory. In order to do that, at the Unix prompt type:
   cp /gfs1/CMPT/250/Synopsys/setup_synopsys.csh .

   (Note the period at the end of the command. This indicates that the destination of the copy is your current directory).

3. Run the setup file. This will set the environment so that Synopsys can be run. In order to do that, at the Unix prompt type:
   sh setup_synopsys.csh

   (Note: this script saves your old .login, .cshrc, .CSIL.rc into a directory called Copy_of_Old_Config, then copies standard ones into your home directory).

4. Log out by right clicking on the desktop and choosing logout from the menu.
5. Log back in. The purpose of steps 3 and 4 is to let the new .login file, copied by the setup file, take effect. (Note: Whenever you login later, you don't need to these steps again, unless you have changed the three standard files (.login, .cshrc, .CSIL.rc).

[ Go back to part 2 ]