NAME¶
- l2p
- - Creates a PostScript file from a symbolic layout file,or
from a physical layout file.
ORIGIN¶
This software belongs to the ALLIANCE CAD SYSTEM developed by the ASIM team at
LIP6 laboratory of Université Pierre et Marie CURIE, in Paris,
France.
Web :
http://asim.lip6.fr/recherche/alliance/
E-mail :
alliance-users@asim.lip6.fr
SYNOPSIS¶
- l2p
- [-color] [ -drawingsize=<w>x<h>]
[ -fA3] [-fLETTER] [ -fLEGAL] [ -givebwdict]
[-givecolordict] [ -help] [ -noheader] [
-papersize=<x>x<y>x<w>x<h>] [
-pages=<x>x<y>] [ -tsize=<s>] [
-nrname] [ -ncname] [-nrfname] [-niname] [
-nsname] [ -mfeed] [ -real] [-resol=<x>]
[ -rflattencatal] [-rflattentrans] [ -rotate]
[-scale=<f.f>] [ -usedict=<f>] cellname
DESCRIPTION¶
Two main kind of cells can be used as inputs for l2p :
First, you can use l2p to print symbolic layout cells. File formats can be .ap
or .cp . This is given by an environment variable
MBK_IN_PH that gives
the appropriate symbolic layout file format.
Second, you can use l2p to print real layout cells whose file formats can be
.cif or .gds . This is given by an environment variable
RDS_IN that
gives the appropriate real layout file format.
The path to the input file is set up by two environment variables:
MBK_WORK_LIB(3) and if not found
MBK_CATA_LIB(3). The output of
l2p is a
PostScript file in the current directory. The drawing
size and the paper size can be specified by the user. So, you can split your
drawing in as many pages as wanted. The resulting file can be then used on any
adequat
Postcript printer.
l2p will generate in the current directory, either a single file called
<cellname>.ps, either several files suffixed by
-<x>x<y>.ps, depending on wether you've asked for a
monopage plot or for a drawing that will be splitted on several pages. If you
do something like
l2p -pages=2x1 cell, it will generate two files
called
cell-1x1.ps, and
cell-2x1.ps.
OPTIONS¶
With no options, l2p generate a 'standard file', with all options off. This is
ok for leaf cells, but not for large circuits.
- -color
- generates a color PostScript file for use with color
interpreters. The default value gives a black and white PostCript
file.
- -drawingsize=<width>x<height>
- specifies the drawing area in centh of inch. By default,
wide = 725 and height = 1068 for french A4 paper. If the drawing size is
bigger than the paper area, then the drawing will be splitted on several
pages.
- -fA3
- The drawing is done on A3 format paper.
- -fLETTER
- The drawing is done on LETTER format paper.
- -fLEGAL
- The drawing is done on LEGAL format paper.
- -givebwdict
- give the Black & White internal PostScript dictionnary.
See below.
- -givecolordict
- This option must be unique on the command line. When used
as in 'l2p -givebwdict', l2p then gives on the standard output its Black
& White internal Postscript dictionnary. A PostScript dictionnary is a
set of mac- ros that will be used during interpretation of your PostScript
file. The macros in the internal PostScript dictionnaries of l2p allows
you to control which layer to output, how to plot rectangles, and specify
the colors of the rectangles. You get the standard diction- nary by a line
of the form 'l2p -givecolordict > dict.ps'. You can then edit it, in
order to reuse it with l2p, see the '-usedict' option below.
- -help
- gives you this man page that explains how to use l2p.
- -noheader
- prevents the border and various info, as the cellname and
the position of the page in the drawing, from being printed.
- -papersize=<x_low_left>x<y_low_left>x<width>x<height>
- specifies the paper area in centh of inch. By default,
50x50x726x1069 for a4 paper.
- -pages=<number_of_x_pages>x<number_of_y_pages>
- specifies the drawing area in pages. It can be useful,
instead of having to calculate the size in cenths of inch of the drawing,
to give it in numbers of pages. It takes care of the resizing of the paper
and whether there is a header.
- -tsize=<s>
-
Available sizes:6,8,10,12,14.The default value is 8.
- -nrname
-
No name at all will be displayed.
- -ncname
- The external connector's names won't be displayed.
- -nrfname
- The references's names won't be displayed.
- -niname
- The instances's names won't be displayed.
- -nsname
- The segments's names won't be displayed.
- -mfeed
- Manualfeed:if set,informs the printer that it will be fed
by the user himself,for each printing .
- -real
- uses real file (cif, gds). By default, uses symbolic layout
file (ap, cp).
- -resol=<x>
- is the resolution of the file in dots per inch (dpi). This
value has been introducted to limitate the size of the generated
PostScript files. Each rectangle whose width and height are smaller than
the resolution will not be printed. The default value is 72dpi. It should
only be changed in one specifical case : when you want to produce a plot
of several meter large. Usually, you must provide a PostScript file sized
for A4 paper with a much better resolution than 72dpi. You can then
increase that value to up to 1000dpi, but be aware that the size of the
file will probably be bigger than a 44Mb SyQuest cartridge that is used in
PAO for exchanging data files.
- -rflattencatal
- flattens the cell to the catalog level. see catal(5) for
more details on the use of the catalog file. Be careful, this option
requires a lot of memory...
- -rflattentrans
- flattens the cell to the transistor level before printing.
Be careful, this option requires a lot more memory...
- -rotate
- rotate the cell from 90 degree. This is useful if you have
a wide cell, and you want to have it printed in landscape mode.
- -scale=<f.f>
- forces the cell to be printed with a certain scale (a
floating-point number). This is very useful, when you are printing a whole
library of cells, and you want all cells to be printed to the same scale.
You can find at which scale a cell was printed by looking at the beginning
of the file : 'head n1_y-1x1.ps' will show you a PostScript comment
beginning by '%SCALE=3.78435' for example.
- -usedict=<filename>
- The output Postcript file contains a Postcript dictionnary
of macros.
There are two standard dictionnaries used by l2p for black and white or
color prints. This allows you to use a PostScript dictionnary different
from the two internally encoded into l2p. By modifying one of the standard
l2p dictionnary, you can choose which layer to output, how to fill the
rectangles (empty, hashed, filled), which color to choose, ... and lots of
other possibilities. The rest of the generated postscript file is mainly
orders of drawing rectangles. PostScript is a reverse polish notation
langage, that is easy to read for simple programs.
If you use this functionnality, and think that your dictionnaries are worth
it, please mail them to alliance-users@asim.lip6.fr, in order to submit
them for inclusion in future version of l2p (Thanks).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES:¶
- for symbolic file(s) :
-
setenv MBK_IN_PH ap
setenv MBK_WORK_LIB .
setenv MBK_CATA_LIB /labo/cells/scr
setenv MBK_CATAL_NAME CATAL
setenv RDS_TECHNO_NAME cmos_1.rds
- for real file(s) :
-
setenv RDS_IN cif
setenv MBK_CATAL_NAME CATAL_ROUT
setenv RDS_TECHNO_NAME prol12_1.rds
EXAMPLES:¶
- l2p -color n1_y
- will create a colored n1_y.ps file in the current
directory : the 'standard' way.
- l2p -real cell
- will create a cell.ps file in the current directory
from cell.cif or cell.gds, depending on the RDS_IN environment
variable.
- l2p -pages=3x2 na2_y
- size of the created drawing:3 horizontal pages,2 vertical
ones;
SEE ALSO¶
mbk(1), rds(1), MBK_IN_PH(3), MBK_CATA_LIB(3),
MBK_WORK_LIB(3), MBK_CATAL_NAME(3), RDS_TECHNO_NAME(3),
pageview(1), gs(1), ghostview(1), lpr(1).
DIAGNOSTICS¶
You will not be able to generate more than approximativly 30 pages at the same
time (because of the FOPEN_MAX of your environment). In this case, see the
option that is not implemented yet.
The generated
PostScript is Level 1 for black& white plots. When you
use color, it generates Level 1 with color extensions. It may not run with
strict Level 1 interpreters, although it runs here with our Apple Personnal
LaserWriter, Sun Sparcprinters, and Canon CLC-300-PS. It follows the Adobe
Document Structuring Conventions 1, and as there is a fake bitmap image inside
each generated files, you can re-use them in your word-processors, or
publishing software, because the PostScript is EPSF-1.2 compliant.
BUG REPORT¶
This tool is under development at the
ASIM department of the
LIP6
laboratory.
We need your feedback to improve documentation and tools.