eProduct Designer 2004 Read Me First

Copyright © 2004 Mentor Graphics Corporation.

The original recipient of this document may reproduce and distribute this document for internal use at a customer site licensed to use the Mentor Graphics software referenced herein, provided that this notice appear on  all copies.

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End-User License Agreement: You can print a copy of the End-User License Agreement from: www.mentor.com/supportnet/documentation/eula.pdf.

Contents

Before you install eProduct Designer 2004

Determining product and platform availability

Installing and using ePD2004

Transitioning from previous versions of ePD to ePD2004

Switching between ePD2004 and PADS on the same computer

Accessing information on known problems and fixed defects

Configuring printers for UNIX systems

Documentation for HSSD tools

Setting up printers on UNIX for using HSSD tools

PDB Hetero Support

Contacting Mentor Graphics Corporation

 

Before You Install ePD2004

This document contains important information about installing and using version 2004 of eProduct Designer (ePD), a comprehensive suite of products from Mentor Graphics. You should review this entire document before you install ePD2004.

New product features and enhancements

In addition to a number of bug fixes in this release, ePD2004 now includes the following:

See also

For more information about the new version 2004 functionality and enhancements, see What's New in eProduct Designer, at http://www.mentor.com/epd/epd_software_users/landing_page.html.

Installation, licensing, and technical support information

The following documents contain information about installing the product, setting up licensing, and obtaining technical support information for ePD.

Updating licensing information

The ePD2004 release uses FLEXlm v8.2.

For additional information about license server installation, refer to the licensing information within your CD insert booklet and in the following Application Notes that are available on Mentor's Web site:

http://www.mentor.com/supportnet/

Accessing end-user information for ePD products

As in previous versions of eProduct Designer, you can access end-user information for ePD products from the ePD Help/Book Connection, available from the Dashboard Help menu. The ePD Help/Book Connection contains links to each product's online help system or PDF document for those products that do not have online help.

Help link issues: If you access ePD from a network drive and you have Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later installed, you may experience problems when you click on links in the DxDesigner help files. This problem is cause by the updated security in Internet Explorer 6.0. The solution is to install ePD on a local drive.

License expiration notification issues

When Mentor Graphics licensing for any product within ePD2004, the software does not display any notification or warning that a license has expired or is about to expire.

In order to prevent interruptions with the use of your ePD tools, Mentor Graphics recommends that you examine your license file to determine when the licensing for your ePD products will expire, and then write this information down in a convenient location for quick reference.

When a tool's license expires, you can no longer use that tool.

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Determining product and platform availability

ePD2004 is available on the following Windows and UNIX platforms:

ePD2004 is also compatible with version 7.0 and 7.1 of Exceed terminal emulation software.

Restriction: ePD2004 does not support Windows 98, Windows ME, Solaris 2.6, or Solaris 2.7.

In addition, some of the products and tools within ePD2004 are available only on the specific platforms checked below.

ePD2004 platform support for products with limited platform availability

Windows XP Professional
Windows 2000

Windows XP Professional
Windows 2000

Windows XP Professional
Windows 2000
Solaris 8, 9

Windows XP Professional
Windows 2000

Windows XP Professional
Windows 2000

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Installing and using ePD2004

To install ePD2004 release, you must first install Mentor Standard Installer

If you are installing ePD for the first time, see the booklet inside of your ePD CD case for instructions on installing, configuring, and setting up licensing for ePD. You can also find this information in the following files, which are in the ePD\2004 directory on the ePD distribution CD-ROM:

We recommend you install ePD2004 according to the installation instructions included with the product documentation.

Adobe installation:  Acrobat Reader, which is included in the ePD2004 CD, must be installed and set in the PATH before installing ePD2004. To install Acrobat Reader on Windows, click Install Adobe Acrobat on the cdinstall menu.

Using ePD2004 with Microsoft Internet Explorer

Requirement: Windows installations of ePD2004 requires Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later. It does not need to be set as your default browser.

Using ePD2004 with previous releases of the software

ePD2004 can coexist with all previous releases of ePD software. However, You can only run one version of ePD at a time on your system.

Unlike the previous versions of ePD, the Configurator of ePD2004 should not be used to switch back to ePD 3.1 or earlier versions. Instead, to switch between ePD2004 and an earlier version, click Start > Programs > eProduct Designer. Select the Configure eProduct Designer tool, then choose the version of the product that you want to use. To switch back to ePD2004 from an earlier version, use the configurator of ePD2004, which can be invoked from Start>Programs>MentorGraphics SDD>The MGC SDD Configurator.

Note: ePD2004 should not be installed within the same root directory that has an earlier version of ePD

Exception: The Configurator tool does not update the MGLS_LICENSE_FILE environment variable for Mentor Graphics Licensing. When switching from eProduct Designer 2.0, 3.0, or 3.1 to 2004, you must manually update the MGLS_LICENSE_FILE environment variable to point to your license file. If you want the Configurator to automatically update your licensing, use the LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable instead of the MGLS_LICENSE_FILE environment variable to set your licensing.

Using ePD2004 with eMatrix

ePD2004 supports eMatrix version 10.0.

Using ePD2004 with Expedition

ePD2004 works only with the version of Expedition that is included with WG2004.

New Mainwin environment with ePD2004

There is a change in the MainWin environment for the ePD2004 Windows release. The new MainWin environment is based on the  MainWin System Core (MSC), which is a new run-time component that was introduced with Visual MainWin 5.0.

At the heart of the MSC is a collection of system services (daemons) which run separately from the ePD application. The MSC services implement central Windows system functionality, such as Registry access and COM/DCOM invocation (RPCSS). ePD applications do not interact with the MSC services directly. Instead, interaction with the MSC services is done transparently by the Visual MainWin run-time libraries, which are linked to the applications.

The registry server and the RPCSS server start automatically when ePD is invoked. They stop automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Migrating epd3.1 registry settings to work with ePD2004 on Unix.

The registry for ePD2004 is no longer written in the .innoveda directory, but now resides in the .mgc directory. (This directory is still stored in your $HOME.) To import your user registry settings from a previous version of epd, export them from the registry in the .innoveda directory and then import them into the registry in the .mgc directory. More information on this can be found in Technote: mg36166.

In ePD2004, the user registry is stored in $HOME/.mgc/2004/mw/5.0/<arch>/hkcu.bin and the machine registry is stored in the directory $HOME/.mw/core_data/mgc2004/<hostname>.

Troubleshooting ePD applications on Unix

If you get a message such as “Failed to start Core Services,” you can stop the MainWin core service with the shell command:

sddmwadm stop

This command will stop the core services (if they are running). You can then delete the registries with the following shell command:

rm -rf $HOME/.mw/core_data/mgc2004/<hostname>

Running the application again (for example, dashboard) will create the fresh registries for you.

You can view the registry using the sddregedit command. You can use the sddregsvr command to register an application.

Updating UNIX ODBC drivers

The DataDirect ODBC driver library in ePD2004 has changed. If you are using ODBC, you must update your odbc.ini file for the tools to work. These changes must be made if the following conditions apply to you:  

To update odbc.ini for ePD2004:

  1. Locate the odbc.ini file and open it in a text editor.

Tip: You can locate this file by checking the value of the ODBCINI environment variable.

  1. In the Driver lines, change the prefix of the driver library from dx to MO.

  2. Update the paths to the odbc37 directory to reflect the new ePD2004 installation path. This includes the paths specified in the Driver, TraceDll, and InstallDir lines.

Example of an ePD3.1 file:

 [ODBC Data Sources]

Parts=

[Parts]

Driver=/apps/mgc/epd31/3.1/common/sunos5/lib/odbc37/lib/MOtxt16.so

Description=Text driver

Database=/apps/mgc/dxdb/partsdb

AllowUpdateAndDelete=1

[ODBC]

Trace=0

TraceFile=odbctrace.out

TraceDll=/apps/mgc/epd31/3.1/common/sunos5/lib/odbc37/lib/odbctrac.so

InstallDir=/apps/mgc/epd31/3.1/common/sunos5/lib/odbc37

To update odbc.ini, modify the software path and the driver prefix to reflect the changes.

Example of an ePD2004 file:

[ODBC Data Sources]

Parts=

[Parts]

Driver=/apps/mgc/epd2004/2004/common/sunos5/lib/odbc41/lib/Motxt18.so

Description=Text driver

Database=/apps/mgc/dxdb/partsdb

AllowUpdateAndDelete=1

 

[ODBC]

Trace=0

TraceFile=odbctrace.out

TraceDll=/apps/mgc/epd2004/2004/common/sunos5/lib/odbc41/lib/odbctrac.so

InstallDir=/apps/mgc/epd2004/2004/common/sunos5/lib/odbc41

 

Using ModelSim with ePD2004 software

ViewDraw is compatible with all ModelSim versions 5.6 through 5.8b.

Simulation and EDIF Tools

EDIF Netlisters and the Simulation tools Fusion/Viewsim, DxAnalog, and Fusion/Speedwave are on a separate CD labeled ePD2004 Simulation and EDIF Tools, which is in the ePD2004 CD case.

In order to work with simulation/EDIF tools, you must install the ePD2004 Simulation and EDIF Tools CD on top of epd2004 tree. Wait until the ePD2004 CD installation is complete and then install the ePD2004 Simulation and EDIF Tools CD. Change the source location to the simulation/EDIF CD location. For the target location, use the same path where you installed ePD.

Note: The EDIF tools in ePD2004 are not supported for use with any PADS release.

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Transitioning from previous versions of ePD

Products removed from the ePD2004 CD

If you own any of these products or own bundles that include these products, we recommend that you register for SupportPro to receive the latest information on these products, and other products of interest.

The following products are now located on other CDs.

Updating from ePD3.0 and earlier versions of DxVariantManager

The underlying product architecture and construction process for variant designs and schematics for DxVM was changed in ePD3.1. For example, the ePD2004 version generates, stores, and manages variant information in XML files separate from the base schematic. It also adds the variant designs as libraries to the base design project.

You can migrate designs from the previous version of DxVM, and work on them in the ePD2004 version of DxVM. To do so, you must first create a Dashboard project for the existing base design and set it as the active project. After you open the base design in DxDesigner, import the variant designs associated to the base design into the ePD2004 version of DxVM.

Some information within old designs is no longer used and will therefore not be imported when you migrate from a previous version of DxVM. For example, the VARIANT attribute is no longer used and variant design property settings such as color, part number, and BOM attributes, that were defined in a previous version, are not imported with the design.  

Below are other changes and considerations that you need to know before you proceed with design migration:

For more information on migrating designs from previous versions of DxVariantManager, see the product's online help system.

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Switching between ePD2004 and PADS on the same computer

ePD2004 and PADS 2004 cannot run concurrently because they share several environment variables. To run either product, you must set the shared environment variables to the appropriate values.

Important: This procedure should only be followed once, in order to make a transition from one of the products to the other. This does not support switching back and forth between the products.

To switch to ePD from PADS:

  1. Set the variables by running eProduct Designer configurator. From the Start menu, select Programs -- eProduct Designer. Click configure eProduct Designer. If you encounter any messages, click Yes to continue.

  2. In the WDIR user environment variable, manually remove the following paths:

    C:\Program Files\Mentor Graphics\PADS\2004\Settings

    C:\Documents and Settings\<login name>\My Documents\PADS Projects\Settings

  3. In the PATH user environment variable, manually remove any PADS 2004 paths.

  4. If the EPD_CVS user environment variable exits, manually remove the following path:

C:\Program Files\Mentor Graphics\PADS\2004\Programs\cvs.exe

To switch to PADS from ePD:

  1. From the Start menu, select Settings (if present), and click Control Panel.

  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.

  3. Select PADS Suite 2004 and click Change/Remove.

  4. In the Setup Maintenance dialog box, click Repair, and then click Next. Follow any remaining screen prompts.

  5. Manually remove any paths that ePD added to the WDIR user environment variable.

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Accessing information on known problems and fixed defects

Information on known problems (Software Problem Reports) and fixed defects within version 2004 of ePD is available on Mentor's Web site at the following address:

//www.mentor.com/epd/epd_software_users/landing_page.html

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Configuring printers for UNIX systems

The list of supported printers and the default print commands are stored in the registry. You can add printers or change the default printer used with the print command.

To add a new printer and set it as the default printer:

  1. From the eProduct Designer Dashboard Folders window, expand Toolboxes, and then click Service and Documentation Center.

  2. In the application window, double-click the Control panel icon.

  3. In the MainWin Control Panel, double-click the Printers folder.

  4. In the MainWin Printers window, double-click the Add New Printer icon.

  5. In the Add Printer Wizard, click Next.

  6. In the Identify your Unix Printer window, select a UNIX printer from the list, and click Next.

  7. In the Print Command box, replace the default command with the correct command and syntax used to print files from your UNIX system.

Example:  The following command sets a network printer called printer5 as the destination printing device.

lp -d printer5

  1. Click Next.

  2. In the Printer Name window, specify a name for the printer as you want to identify it within eProduct Designer, and add a description if desired.

  3. Click Next.

  4. In the Finish Adding New Printer window, verify the printer information you just specified, and then click Finish.

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Documentation for HSSD tools

Documentation for HSSD tools is available in the following formats:

Manual pages

Manual pages that can be used with most man commands are provided on the distribution media under $QUADHOME/man.

Man pages are typically stored under man1 and require the "an" macros. They may be stored under cat1 in a preformatted form. Any cat1 pages that have been converted to man1 format are also available in $QUADHOME/man/cato and can be accessed using the following command:

man -old product_name

Release notes for HSSD products

Release notes for individual HSSD products are available in the following directory:

$QUADHOME/release_notes

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Setting up printers on UNIX for using HSSD tools

You can print hardcopies from some programs using the HSSD tools within ePD. These tools use Xprinter from Bristol Technology Inc., and is available on all UNIX platforms. When you install any HSSD product, the Xprinter files are installed into the $QUADHOME/Xp directory.   

If you are already using Xprinter with other applications, you can set the XPATH environment variable to use that configuration. You can also establish the XPATH environment variable to the alternate directory location by placing a wrapper script around applications using Xprinter. If you are not using existing Xprinter definition files, you do not need to set any additional user environment configurations.

Limitation: Mentor Graphics cannot guarantee compatibility with another version of Xprinter file other than those installed by the HSSD tools. We recommend that you compare the version number of your existing Xprinter files to the version number logged in the file $QUADHOME/Xp/Xpversion.

Describing printers to Xprinter

Because Xprinter stores printer configuration information in the $QUADHOME/Xp/Xpdefaults file, you can define the default settings for all commonly used printers in this file.

The first time you make changes within the printer setup dialog box from within an application, the Xpdefaults file is copied to your home directory as .Xpdefaults. All subsequent changes made to the printer setup dialog box are saved in your local Xpdefaults file, effecting only the printer defaults including default settings such as DPI, page size, and number of copies.

To reset your printer setup dialog box to use updated default settings from the $QUADHOME/Xp/Xpdefaults file, delete your local copy of the Xpdefaults file. Note that this will also delete your custom printer default settings

Adding printers to the Xpdefaults file

Use the following procedure to add printers to the Xpdefaults file. During this procedure you will:

Tip: During printer setup, you may want to refer to the sample file in the  $QUADHOME/Xp/Xpdefaults directory. Also, these instruction apply to both Xpdefaults and .Xpdefaults, since they are the same type of file.

Specifying the display name for a printer

Use a descriptive name to identify the printer in the printer setup dialog box. The name can include spaces, but cannot include an equal sign (=).

Printer name example: HP Laser Jet IV si

The printer name is used to associate the printer with a printer device type, language, and port.

Specifying a Printer Port

A printer port specifies the command used to print files to a printer.

You must create a port entry in the [ports] section of the Xpdefaults file for every printer you use. Use the following format to specify port definitions:

<port name>=<printer command>

In example 1 below, Dilbert is the display name for the actual printer named hp4si. lpr is the UNIX command that spools files for printing on this printer. Depending upon your computer or network configuration, the hp4si printer may be local or remote.

Printer name example 1:

Dilbert=lpr -Php4si

In example 2 below, Catbert is a local printer on a system named chili. Therefore, the remote shell command rsh is used to run the lp command that directs output from a remote system to the local printer on Chili.

Print name example 2:

Catbert=rsh chili "lp -d ps"

Specifying a Printer Device Type

After you specify a printername, you must select the type of printer associated with that printer name. You do this by adding entries in the [devices] section of the Xpdefaults file, using the following syntax:

<name>=<printer description> <language>,<port>

Rule: You must insert a space between the PPD_file and driver, and a comma between the driver and port of this entry.

Printer device syntax entries:

The displayed name is the name of the printer selected in the printer setup dialog box.

The name of the printer description (PPD) file is used by the printer. This name is listed without the .ppd exptension. To determine the name of the PPD file to use, look in the directory PSPPDS or in PCLPPDS in $QUADHOME/Xp

This entry refers to the driver that defines the language used by the printer. Valid values are PCL4, PCL5, Postscript, and PCL (equivalient to PCL5).

The printer port name used is listed in the [ports] section of the Xpdefaults file.

Specifying a Default Output Device

After you have configured all available printers in the .Xpdefaults file, you can set a specific printer as the default printer in your setup dialog box.

To set a specific printer as the default printer:

In the [windows] section of the Xpdefaults file, specify the default printer using the following syntax:

<printer name>=<printer description>, <language>,<port>

Rule:  Place a comma between the PPD_file and the driver.

Default printer setup example 1:

[windows]

device=HP4SI523,Postscript,Ancho

In the following example, the default printer is set up to print generic PostScript output to a file. When selecting this printer in the printer setup dialog box, the user can specify a filename and change the type of output to PCL.

Default printer setup example 2:

[windows]

device=Null,Postscript,FILE:

Reviewing a sample Xpdefaults File

Here is an example of a complete Xpdefaults file:

[windows]

device=HP5SI,Postscript,hp5si_x

[devices]

HP Laser Jet 4si Postscript=HP4SI Postscript,hp4si

HP Laser Jet 4si Postscript=HP4SI Postscript,FILE:

HP Laser Jet 4si PCL=HP4SI PCL5,hp4si

HP Laser Jet IIIsi Postscript=HP3SI Postscript,FILE:

HP Laser Jet IIIsi Postscript=HP3SI Postscript,hp3si

[ports]

hp3si=lpr -Php3si

hp4si=lpr -Php4si

 

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PDB Hetero Support

In DxDesigner-Expedition Library Manager, generic symbols are symbols without built in pin numbers, while nongeneric symbols contain built in pin numbers. The new DxD-Expedition flow, using Central Library, supports specific PDB-driven and DxDesigner-driven generic and nongeneric Hetero symbol types.

DxDesigner Driven Heteros

Generic:       No Types
Non-Generic: Type I, Type II, Type III, Type IV

For Hetero devices, the definition of a Hetero attribute is required. DxDesigner Driven Heteros are Hetero devices whose definition resides in the DxDesigner symbol.

When driving a Hetero device from DxDesigner, the Hetero attribute must be defined on a DxDesigner symbol.  The definition of Hetero attribute can be overridden in the component.  The Hetero attribute, if defined in DxDesigner, will always override a possible Hetero attribute that can be created from the PDB.  All non-generic Heteros are supported in this flow.  Generic DxDesigner Driven Heteros are NOT supported. These are Heteros that do not have pin definitions on the DxDesigner symbol.  

PDB Driven Heteros

Generic:        Type I, Type III
Non-Generic:  Type I, Type III

The PDB Driven Heteros are Hetero devices whose definition is not present in the DxDesigner symbol/component. Instead, the PDB Hetero means its attribute comes from a central library part definition. When driving a Hetero device from the PDB, the Hetero attribute is not needed in the DxDesigner symbol since the packager will create a custom Hetero attribute and add it to the DxDesigner symbols.  In this flow only Hetero 1 and 3 are supported, and the annotated Hetero attribute will be one of a Hetero of type 1.  This Hetero attribute definition will work for a Hetero of type 3, but it will not work for Heteros of type 2 and 4. Hetero types 2 and 4 when driven from a PDB are NOT supported.

Note that PDB Driven Heteros will not work for simulation flows where the netlisters depend on the Hetero attribute in order to determine the type of Hetero.

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Contacting Mentor Graphics Corporation

Telephone: 503.685.7000

Toll-Free Telephone: 800.592.2210

The following links provide access to Mentor Graphics websites.

Mentor Graphics Corporation Website

Mentor Graphics Supportnet

Documentation Feedback

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