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PG conversions now take place on our linux conversion computers, korat and minx. The general flow is that you will save your GDS file someplace in AFS. You will then run gdspg, view your converted file to verify correctness, and then run pgxfer to transfer your file to the PG.
You can pre-run gdspg without being in the Clean Room. Use gdspg to make sure your file converts correctly and that the flash count is reasonable. You do not want to wait until in front of the PG tool to find out you have too many flashes or that there is a problem converting your file.
1. Save your GDS file to AFS
Your W: drive on Windows is your AFS home directory. We highly recommend that you create a subfolder for working with a particular GDS file.
Each GDS file, once converted to tape, will be named PGTAPE.TAP, overwriting any pre-existing PGTAPE.TAP files. The pgxfer script expects your tape file to be named PGTAPE.TAP (the pgxfer script will not work if you rename the PGTAPE.TAP file to something else). To convert multiple GDS files, create a subfolder for each GDS file. Then work out of each subfolder.
2. Login to Korat/Minx
From the CNF Sunrays, choose Korat or Minx from the Applications menu
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On linux, unlike the VAX, file names and directory names are case sensitive. You can tab complete instead of typing in the whole filename/directory name. Press tab twice to list possible completions.
Working with files and directories from the Linux commandline:
Command | Description |
|---|---|
pwd | Show current directory |
cd ~ | Change to your home directory (same as your W: drive on WIndows) |
cd dirname | Change directory to a subfolder named dirname |
cd .. | Go up a directory |
ls | List files and folders in the current directory (with color highlighting) |
dir | List files and folders in the current directory without color highlighting |
mkdir dirname | Make a new subfolder named dirname |
rmdir dirname | Deletes the subfolder name dirname (forlder must be empty) |
rm filename | Deletes the file named filename |
rm -rf dirname | Recursively deletes the non-empty folder name dirname and all contained files and folders |
4. Convert your file
Run gdspg and follow the prompts to convert your file.
The underlying conversion software converts your file to a couple of different intermediate formats. CNF's gdspg runs the appropriate commands, under the hood, to successfully convert your file to the main intermediate format and then the finalized tape format for the PG.
You will first be prompted for the filename to convert. Then the layer number. Then the top level cell structure. To just use the top level structure in the GDS file, type in an equals sign ( = ). And finally a scale factor, which will vary depending on the tool.
The underyling conversion involves several intermediate steps. Our gdspg script takes care of all of these individual steps for you.
Next you will see a bunch of output from the underlying conversion programs as your file is converted. And you will be prompted to press Enter (CR) several times. Among the messages you see will be a flash count.
After your flashes are sorted, you will be prompted to open the viewer to view your converted file. If you choose to view your file, the script will wait and then automatically continue once you exit the viewer. See Running the PG Viewer below for more details on the viewer.
You will be prompted to "Delete output files". If everything looked ok in the viewers, you should NOT delete your output files. If you choose to delete the output files, you will be prompted to confirm each individual file. This is a safety measure. Choosing to delete the output files exits the conversion at this point.If you do not delete your output files, you will be prompted to convert your file to the tape format. You can still choose no and abort the conversion at this point. If you accidentally choose No, you can still run mkpgtape to convert your file to tape format. The gdspg program will output the correct mkpgtape command to run.
If you do choose to convert to tape format, a file named PGTAPE.TAP will be created in your directory. You are now ready to enable the PG in Coral.
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