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Basic Information


 Introduction

                LASI (LAyout System for Individuals(ists))

                           (Pronounced "LAZY")

                               Version 4.2


  The LASI CAD System was originally written several years ago for the
  author's own professional use to do IC and semiconductor device layout on
  a personal computer. Since then it has been continuously improved, taking
  advantage if new hardware and software. It has also been used for
  hybrids, printed circuit boards, schematic diagrams and other precision
  drawing applications. LASI has become particularly valuable to students,
  schools, universities, or anyone who doesn't have the funding for more
  elaborate drawing systems.

  LASI version 4.2 has all the features of previous versions of LASI, but
  has been enhanced with a smart little memory manager that permits simpler
  drawing setup and more efficient use of memory to hold a drawing's data.

  LASI is intended to be friendly and intuitively obvious, which makes it
  easy to learn and operate by occasional users. Once the basics are
  understood, the commands usually require little additional explanation.
  Most commands operate on the drawing globally, so that there are no
  special editing procedures for different parts of a drawing. There are no
  hierarchical command structures with pull down menus. All commands are
  essentially random access through menus at the side of the display and
  may be easily aborted. Information is usually entered by mouse or
  keyboard. When a command is executed, the program is designed so that the
  results are displayed as soon as possible, to give good operator
  interaction.

  Drawings made using LASI can be translated into other drawing systems by
  utility programs. Presently, translation to and from CALMA Stream Format
  and to Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language (HP-GL) is available. LASI also
  has a drawing language of its own called TLC. Written in plain ASCII
  text, TLC can be used to interchange drawings or to write auxiliary
  programs that operate on LASI drawings.

  LASI is intended to be propagated by software alone. There is therefore
  no printed manual. This LASI Help and Information program LHI.EXE
  displays all the documentation, and individual topics can be printed if
  desired. If a printed manual is needed, a program MANUAL.EXE is supplied
  that builds a manual complete with index from any LASI help file (files
  with .HLP extension).


  You should read the remaining Basic Information topics. After that, you
  can work your way through the General Information topics.

  If you are in a hurry to run LASI, it is recommended that you read the
  Hardware General Information topic to see if your PC is capable of
  running LASI adequately, and then go to the Quick Start topic.

  If you are new to LASI you should use the demonstration IC layout as a
  tutorial, if it has been included on the distribution disk, or is
  available on the network where you downloaded LASI. By working with a
  simple layout, you will get a good idea of how LASI works.

  If you have been using LASI version 3.X or 4.0, you MUST read the
  Converting Versions topic. You should also read the System Log, to see
  what changes have been made since the last release.

 Installing LASI

  The following information outlines the installation procedures for
  installing LASI on any PC. If you are reading this, you probably have
  done the basic installation already. The information is given here so
  that you can verify that installation has been done correctly.

  The system files are distributed in compressed form. The distribution
  will be either a High-Density 5.25" or 3.5" floppy disk version
  consisting of a self-extracting executable file named LASI42.EXE, or a
  network version consisting of files compressed into three ZIP files
  LASI42?A.ZIP, LASI42?B.ZIP and LASI42?C.ZIP, where "?" represents the
  revision number digit (1-9).

  If distributed on floppy disk, an installation program INSTALL.EXE should
  have been included. If distributed on a network, a README.TXT file,
  containing installation instructions should have been included within
  each ZIP file.

  The system files are listed in the System Contents help topic. If for
  some reason you obtain LASI as individual files, you should check to see
  if you have a complete set of files. All files should have the SAME DATE
  to insure compatibility.

  LASI will be ready to run with just the basic installation. When you are
  more familiar with LASI's workings you can do the advanced installation.


  Installation procedure for networked ZIP compressed files:

  1. Make a subdirectory named "\LASI4" on your hard disk under the root
     directory.

  2. Using PKUNZIP or similar program, uncompress and copy the ZIP files
     LASI42?A.ZIP, LASI42?B.ZIP and LASI42?C.ZIP into the \LASI4
     subdirectory.

  3. Add the path "disk:\LASI4" to DOS using the "PATH" DOS Command, where
     "disk" is the hard disk's letter name.


  Installation procedure for self-extracting floppy disk version:

  1. Run the installation program INSTALL.EXE

    This will create a subdirectory named "\LASI4" on your hard disk, if it
    has not yet been created, and will extract and copy the system files to
    that subdirectory.

  2. If there is a demonstration present on the distribution disk, you can
     install it by running the associated installation program that should
     have been included. If you are new to LASI you should install the
     demonstration, otherwise you can skip it.

  3. Add the path "disk:\LASI4" to DOS using the "PATH" DOS Command, where
     "disk" is the hard disk's letter name.

  Hint:  It is usually easiest to put the \LASI4 path in your AUTOEXEC.BAT
    file.

 Quick Start

  If you are eager to try out LASI here is what to do:

  1. Install a mouse and its driver software if you havn't already.

    You must have an active mouse to operate LASI.

  2. Create a "drawing directory" on the hard disk where you installed the
     system files and make that directory your default directory.

    DO NOT make drawings in the \LASI4 directory.

  3. Copy the FORM.DBD file from the \LASI4 directory to the drawing
     directory.

    The FORM.DBD distributed with the system files is a "generic" version
    and should work with most hardware.

  4. Run LASI by simply typing "lasi".

    The main drawing program should come up in "System Mode". You can get
    help on any command by putting the mouse cursor on a command button and
    then pressing F1.

  You are now free to experiment on your own!

 Converting Versions


  Version 3.X to Version 4.0

  If you have not been using LASI version 3, or do not have drawings made
  using it, you can skip these next instructions.

  LASI version 4 has many new features over version 3. You should read the
  System Log topic for a listing of the major changes.

  1. Version 4 of LASI now keeps its files in the directory "\LASI4". It is
     important that the MS-DOS PATH be changed to include "\LASI4" and not
     "\LASI" as was previously used, since many of the new files have the
     same name as the old.

  2. As a protection, the file name extensions have been changed so that
     internal files are invisible to the wrong version. You need to convert
     your internal files (.BPV and .CEL) to version 4 files (.BP4 and
     .CL4). To do this quickly, the program 3TO4.COM has been supplied. To
     convert your files simply run 3TO4.COM while logged into a drawing
     directory. 3TO4.COM will act only on the files in that directory and
     will create new files and leave the old files unchanged.

  3. Converting back to version 3 can be done by using the TLC converter
     programs. However, any text made using LASI version 4 will be ignored.
     The NEW TLCIN.EXE must be used to make the TLC files, and the OLD
     TLC.EXE must be used to convert any TLC files to version 3 internal
     files.

  4. The file CONSTS.DBD used in version 3 has been replaced by the file
     CONSTS4.DBD. The new file contains more information in a different
     order than the old CONSTS.DBD file. You may leave the old file in your
     drawing directory so that you can use version 3 again for some reason.

  5. The CELLS.DBD file has been replaced by the CELLS4.DBD file This is
     really the same file, but the name has been changed to prevent the
     wrong  version of LASI from writing to it.

  6. FORM.DBD in version 4 contains new parameters. LASI is however smart
     enough to read for parameter titles so that version 3 can read through
     a version 4 FORM.DBD file and pick out only what it needs.


  Version 4.0 to Version 4.1

  If you have not been using LASI version 3 or 4.0, or do not have drawings
  made using either, you can skip these instructions.

  1. Version 4.1 of LASI allows basic cells to be taken from a common pool
     located on the same PC or from a Local Area Network. You may run LASI
     4.1 on any drawing done using LASI 4.0. However, the reverse is true
     only if you have no pooled cells. If there are pooled cells the
     results will be unpredictable, but generally not fatal. Read the
     General topics: Pooling, Pooling Old Cells, Attached Cells and the
     Command topic ATTACH.

  2. Version 4.1 also has 64 layers available instead of the previous 32.
     The  only change necessary is to modify the CONSTS4.DBD file. A
     converter program 40TO41.COM has been furnished to easily create the
     new file.

  3. The utility programs have been modified to work with 64 layers. They
     will work on old 4.0 drawings, but 4.0 utilities will only work on the
     first 32 layers of version 4.1 drawings.


  Version 4.1 to Version 4.2

  Version 4.2 modifies the CONSTS4.DBD file slightly to include separate
  text and path information.

  If you run LASI it will create a new file automatically with default
  parameters. You may also run the 41TO42.COM program in a drawing
  directory. This program rewrites the CONSTS4.DBD file to add the new
  parameters. If you happen to have an intermediate versions of 4.1 from
  somewhere, you should erase the CONSTS4.DBD file and allow LASI 4.2 to
  create a new one.

  LASI 4.2 no longer reads the FORM.DBD file in a drawing for the "box=",
  "path=", "vtx=", "cell=" and "rank=" parameters. These can be erased from
  the FORM.DBD file... unless you think you might go back to previous
  versions of LASI. Leaving these parameters in FORM.DBD is harmless. All
  the utility programs that come with LASI also no longer use these
  parameters, and, in time, their need will completely disappear.


  Missing CL4 Files

  Some drawings made with version 4.0 may not have CL4 files for cells with
  rank greater than 1 but containing no lesser cells. Version 4.2 requires
  that all cells with rank greater than 1 have CL4 files even though the
  cells have no lesser cells. Version 4.2 will not load a cell if the CL4
  file is missing.

  To remedy this situation, you need to provide a blank CL4 file. this can
  be done in several ways. You can create a dummy cell with rank >1 but no
  lesser cells. This will produce a CL4 file with only a single blank
  record. You can then copy the blank CL4 file under DOS as "CELLNAME.CL4",
  where "CELLNAME" is the name of the cell that needs a CL4 file.

  As an alternative, you can use the TLC-OUT and then the TLC-IN commands
  from LASI System Mode while in a drawing, or you can run TLCOUT.EXE and
  TLCIN.EXE from DOS. The TLCOUT.EXE program will read a cell without a CL4
  file and TLCIN.EXE will rewrite the cell with a CL4 file.

 Terms of Distribution

  The LASI System can be copied and distributed by anyone. For floppy
  distribution, the self-extracting executable LASI42.EXE, the installation
  program INSTALL.EXE and any optional files should be copied directly from
  the distribution disk.

  For the network distribution, the three files LASI42?A.ZIP, LASI42?B.ZIP
  and LASI42?C.ZIP should be uploaded. Any optional files may be included
  on the network separately. DO NOT put optional files into any of the
  three LASI42 ZIP files.

  If LASI is to be placed on a bulletin board or network, THE AUTHOR SHOULD
  BE INFORMED OF ITS LOCATION. LASI has been found all over the country,
  mostly in duplicates or old versions.

  Files should NOT be distributed individually, since all the files are
  intended to work with each other in the same distribution. Files should
  all have the SAME DATE.

  LASI42.EXE or the three ZIP files will fit on a single 5.25" or 3.5"
  High-Density floppy disk. Breaking the file set into individual files is
  strongly discouraged because of the possibility of losing files or mixing
  file dates.

  The three ZIP files MAY BE distributed on floppy disk, either on a single
  High-Density disk or on more than one Double-Density disk. Distributing
  in ZIP form assumes that the recipient has the means to decompress.

  A person distributing LASI is allowed to charge a fee that will cover
  their distribution costs (labor, floppy, packing, postage, etc.). Any
  fees are ultimately left to the spirit of LASI as being free for personal
  and educational use.

  Updates

  An attempt will be made to keep known users updated with the latest
  version by informing them that a new version is available, where (on a
  network) it is available, or by just sending out new floppy disks.

  If dangerous bugs are discovered an attempt will be made to notify or
  send corrected programs to known users.

  The author maintains a database of know users, but unknown secondary
  users should be kept updated by those who gave them the software.

  Updating secondary users is a responsibility that should be taken
  seriously. People have been found using ancient versions of the programs,
  which have since been debugged, greatly improved, or completely revised.

  To prevent continuously notifying or sending updates to anyone who really
  isn't using LASI, There is a CUTOFF PERIOD OF ONE YEAR, after which
  updates will have to be requested.

  As a general rule, to be sure that you have the most current software
  contact the author directly.


  Licensing


  The LASI System has been written over a period of several years, mostly
  for the author's own professional use, and therefore was not intended as
  profit-making software.

  For this reason, LASI is NOT SHAREWARE in the usual sense; that is,
  everybody is expected to pay if they use the software. LASI is free for
  educational use in order to foster IC design as a heuristic exercise and
  a true art. It is also free for non-profit applications by individuals.

  However, if LASI is used to MAKE A PROFIT, then a VOLUNTARY license fee
  of $99 PER COMPUTER on which it is installed is requested. This license
  is for a period of ONE YEAR and should be made payable to the author.

  When LASI is licensed, FREE UPDATES including any NEW PROGRAMS will be
  provided during the license period, and will continue to be provided if
  the license is renewed.

  This fee is not just to ease the conscience of someone making a profit
  and using LASI for free, but helps to pay for improving LASI with new
  hardware and software and sending out updates to everyone. The fee is not
  expected to be a compensation for the endless hours of coding and
  debugging that have gone into producing LASI.

 Terms of Liability

  The LASI System is constantly being revised and is distributed on an
  "as is" basis. Since the programs are quite complicated, software bugs
  may be found, often when someone does something that only rarely would be
  done. IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE FOUND A REAL BUG, REPORT IT TO THE AUTHOR.
  The bug will be fixed, and you will receive a corrected version.

  Neither the author nor any person distributing the LASI System assumes
  any responsibility for whomever uses the programs or for how the programs
  are used. Also, neither the author nor any person distributing the
  software assumes any liability for any losses monetary or otherwise
  incurred related to the use of the programs.

 Final Comment

  With the proper software, personal computers have easily become adequate
  for small to medium sized IC layout applications. LASI can give everyone
  a personal computer based work station. This is particularly true for
  students learning IC technology. In fact, it is the intention of the
  author to eventually develop LASI as a complete educational software
  system for use in IC design courses.

  Although it may be used that purpose, LASI was not really intended for
  doing routine IC or ASIC design. Instead, LASI was developed as a
  "fundamental" drawing system, which can generate arbitrary shapes that
  might be needed in any kind of application, new or old. It was also
  intended for people who think in a particular spatial way, as anyone
  working with it will soon realize.

  Actually, LASI was really intended to put some fun and relaxation into
  doing layout tasks by allowing a person to work when and where they want,
  and therefore, it is believed, do better more creative work.

  Anyone using LASI for fun or profit is encouraged to contact me with any
  suggestions or requests for additional utility or conversion programs.


                                        Dave Boyce

                                        Author of LASI:
                                        Dr. David E. Boyce
                                        143B Bergdorf Rd., RR1
                                        Parish, NY 13131, USA
                                        315-625-7291

General Information

 About LASI Programs

  Although the LASI uses mostly integer math, it does use some floating-
  point math during the drawing process. For this reason, the main drawing
  program is compiled in two different versions:

  1. For use with a coprocessor, it is compiled with inline coprocessor
     instructions, making LASI87.EXE.

  2. For use without a coprocessor, it is compiled with alternate floating-
     point math function calls, making LASIA.EXE.

  These main drawing programs are written in C and assembly language. The
  source code consists of 4 separate modules containing, briefly:

    1. The main(), System Mode command and utility functions (C)
    2. The Cell Mode command functions (C)
    3. The drawing, file and hardware functions (C)
    4. The elementary graphical functions (Assembly)

  For maximum speed, the elementary graphical functions are written in
  assembly language. The C modules are complied using Microsoft C/C++ 7.0
  in the Large Model, and the assembly is compiled using Microsoft Macro
  Assembler 6.1. The four object codes are linked together to build the
  main drawing programs.

  To start LASI you actually run the small C program LASI.EXE. This program
  determines if there is a coprocessor present, and then writes over itself
  with LASI87.EXE or LASIA.EXE.


  Some of the utility programs, such as TLCIN.EXE or TLCOUT.EXE are also
  written using C/C++ 7.0, while some of the simpler utility programs are
  written in Microsoft BASIC 7.1. All utility programs are compiled using
  alternate floating-point math function calls, so they will all run the
  same with or without a coprocessor.

 Advanced Installation

  Once you have mastered getting LASI up and running and probably know what
  you are doing, you can "customize" LASI to your particular hardware or
  drawing style. To do this you can set certain parameters in the FORM.DBD
  file as follows:

  1. If you have an appropriate line printer or plotter, set the FORM.DBD
     file's "hcopy=" and "plot=" parameters to allow hard copies and plots
     to be made. Use EDLIN.COM or MS-DOS 5's EDIT to change the FORM.DBD
     file, to prevent any word processor formatting characters from being
     inserted into the FORM.DBD file. Read the FORM File topic and the HCPY
     Command topic.

  2. If you have extended memory, install a RAM disk by putting the driver
     into your CONFIG.SYS file. Turn on the RAM disk provision by setting
     the "rdisk=" parameter in the FORM.DBD file to the letter of the RAM
     disk. Read the Using RAM Disk topic.

  3. Once you have been using LASI for some time you will have some
     favorite commands that you use often. You can write these into the
     FORM.DBD file under the "fkey=" parameter, and further customize LASI
     to your own way of working. Read the Key Assignment topic.

 Attached Cells

  A cell that is kept in a common cell pool that is shared among several
  drawings is called an ATTACHED cell. The attached cell will be draw
  normally, but will follow certain rules and will have some special
  properties:

  ■ Attached cells are protected and may NOT be changed using Cell Mode.

  ■ Attached cells must have the same physical scaling as the drawing.

  ■ Attached cells must fit within the memory available for allocation by
    the memory manager for boxes, paths and vertices.

  ■ Attached cells may NOT be renamed with the RENAM command.

  ■ Attached cells are searched for in the pool directory only, while
    normal cells are searched for in the drawing directory only. If a cell
    file (BP4) is not found, a "null" cell is drawn. LASI draws a null cell
    as a dotted outline. A null cell is different from a cell that has
    nothing in it in that there is no BP4 file for a null cell.

  ■ Attached cells may be added to the drawing directory in two ways:

  1. You can use the System Mode IMPORT command and give the imported cell
     the SAME NAME. This copies the cell's BP4 file to the drawing
     directory and turns the attached cell into a normal cell.

  2. You can use the IMPORT command and give the copied cell a NEW NAME.
     This is preferred if you are going to modify the cell and use it in a
     few places.


  ■ Attached cells may be smashed using the SMSH command. This effectively
    adds an attached cell's boxes and paths to the current cell.

  ■ Attached cells may be used in the MAKE command. They will be added to
    the new cell as would any other cell, but they will still be attached
    cells.

  ■ The commands OUTL, FULL, INFO and SHOW work on attached cells.

  ■ If you are using a RAM disk, the first time you draw a attached cell it
    will be copied to the RAM disk. It will still remain protected but will
    draw faster.

  ■ Attached cell names appear in red in the LIST command cell listing.


  Cells with rank greater than 1 may be attached, but only the boxes, poly
  and paths will be drawn and the cell will be forced to rank 1. The reason
  for this is that LASI presently uses pointers to cells in its cell
  placement data. These pointers would be different for different drawings.
  The TLC program must be used to install any cells containing other cells.
  More often, cells containing other cells are usually drawing specific and
  would not be shared with other drawings anyway.

 Archiving

  It is highly recommended that you keep current backups or archives of
  your drawings. You should use the TLC external data format. The TLC
  format is written in ASCII text, and is very forgiving. It may in fact be
  written or repaired using a text editor.

  To dump a complete drawing you only need to run TLCOUT.EXE in a drawing
  directory, or alternately, to dump only a certain cell, give it the name
  of the that cell and TLCOUT.EXE will make all the required cells. Backup
  TLC files may be written directly to a floppy disk if they will all fit,
  or they can be written to a hard disk and then to one or more floppy
  disks.

  Once TLC files are made, a complete drawing or individual cells can be
  reconstructed if necessary.

  It might be said that TLC is the true way of storing LASI drawings. The
  internal data files (BP4 and CL4 files) are really a convenience to
  reduce the startup time for LASI.

  Read the TLC Conversion topic.

 Backups

  LASI contains an amount of protection against drawing loss. It will write
  your latest drawing files to your hard disk at certain times so that if
  the computer is turned off or fails, or you simply make a mistake or
  change your mind, your drawing will survive.

  Whenever you exit Cell Mode all files are updated on the hard disk. This
  includes the BP4 and CL4 files for the particular cell and the CELLS4.DBD
  and CONSTS4.DBD files. This happens even if you are using a RAM disk for
  temporary file storage.

  There are two files CELLBKUP.BP4, CELLBKUP.CL4 that store your cell as it
  was when you enter Cell Mode. These may be used to return a cell to the
  same state that it was when you entered Cell Mode.

  Also, there are two files SORTBKUP.BP4 and SORTBKUP.CL4 that are updated
  when you use the SORT command. You may use these files to restore if you
  make a major mistake. These files are also updated by a timed automatic
  sort that protects your drawing even if you leave it unattended for a
  while and someone comes by and turns off the computer.

  Finally, there are two files DSBKUP.BP4 and DSBKUP.CL4 that are updated
  whenever you use the DEL or the SMSH command. You may recover from an
  accidental delete or smash using these files.

 Command Menus

  Most operations are done by selecting a command from a menu on the side
  of the screen. The mouse cursor will turn into a box around the command
  that will be chosen. Clicking the right mouse button activates the
  command.

  In Cell Mode there are two different menus. To flip between them, simply
  click the right mouse button with the cursor in the drawing window, not
  in the menu area.

  In Cell Mode the current resident command is shown at the top center of
  the screen.

  The colors usually mean something. Generally the cyan commands affect
  boxes and paths, the yellow affect cells, and the green both, with many
  exceptions. Commands intended to stand out are generally red. Some
  commands are colored just to look pretty or give good contrast.

 Command Types

  The commands that are found on the menus do many things. The commands all
  have help topics in Command Information.

  The System Mode commands either operate immediately or request additional
  information to be typed in. The commands may be aborted or continued to
  completion.

  Cell Mode commands may be grouped into four types:

  1. RESIDENT commands are commands that stay in place until you change to
     another resident command. There is always a default resident command
     when working on a drawing.

    Examples of resident commands are:  ADD, GET, PUT, CGET and CPY.

  2. ONE-TIME commands are commands that abort any other commands that may
     be in progress, but are not retained.

    Examples of ONE-TIME commands are:  SORT, FILL, LAYR, and OBJ.

  3. WINDOW commands are commands that change the window that is displayed.
     These commands are nestable within a resident command. For example,
     you can reposition the window an unlimited number of times while you
     still have the second point of a MOV pending. The command listed at
     the top of the display changes color to tell you that you are in a
     nested command that is asking for an input.

    The window commands are:  ARROWS, CNTR, DGRD, DRAW, FIT, GRID, OCTO,
    OPEN, RDRW, VIEW, WGRD, RSTR, SAVE, XPND and ZOOM.

  4. DOS commands are commands that run other programs with LASI as the
     shell. These commands can cause "out of memory" or "not available"
     errors if you don't have enough RAM available.

    The DOS commands are:  DOS, HCPY, PLOT, TLC-IN, TLC-OUT and help F1.

  In System Mode, information is requested at the left of the screen. In
  Cell Mode information is usually requested on the last line. Any default
  values, shown in parentheses, will be retained by pressing ENTER or ESC.
  Usually, ENTER continues the command and ESC aborts the command.

  Important:  Any command that is expecting a cursor input point can be
    cancelled by selecting the same command, a new command or by pressing
    ESC. Window commands can be cancelled within a resident command without
    cancelling the resident command.

 Common Problems

  When LASI is started it checks for the FORM.DBD file, the CONSTS4.DBD
  file, the CELLS4.DBD file and the Text Font File (usually TXT.DBD). It
  also checks the hardware for the mouse and the kind of video adapter you
  have. If there is a problem LASI should tell you. This may not be perfect
  and if you crash first suspect the CONSTS4.DBD file. It may be incorrect.
  Simply erase it from your drawing directory. LASI will make a new one.
  CONSTS4.DBD files made with older versions of LASI are not guaranteed to
  work with newer versions of LASI.

  If you crash or you get a "Not Available" message, when running programs
  such as TLCIN.EXE, TLCOUT.EXE  or LASI2PGL.EXE with the LASI drawing
  program as the shell, you probably have run out of conventional memory.

  LASI checks memory, and refuses to execute if it thinks that there is too
  little available, but it is not perfect because it really doesn't know
  how much memory a program needs. DOS eventually determines this.


  The LASI System is a very complex and evolving system. It is possible
  that situations will occur with different hardware and software
  environments that will cause difficulties. Once authentic problems are
  reported they are usually fixed. Consult the author or your source of
  this software for the latest version.

 Drawing Display

  When operating in Cell Mode the drawing area occupies most of the screen.
  The command menu appears on the right of the screen, and status
  information is displayed on the top and bottom of the screen.


      ┌─ Cell(Rank)── Command (Point)──── Cursor Position ──┬─────────┐
      │                                                     │         │
      │                                                     │         │
      │                                                     │         │
      │                                                     │         │
      │                                                     │         │
      │                 Drawing Area                        │  Menu   │
      │                                                     │  Area   │
      │                                                     │         │
      │                                                     │         │
      │                                                     │         │
      │   (Active Count etc.)                               │         │
      ├─ View(layers)── Open(layers)─────────── Indicators ─┤         │
      └─ wGrd ─── dGrd ─── Obj ─── Layr ─── Wdth ───────────┴─────────┘
          (Input and Messages)


  The top status line shows the name of the cell and its rank on the left.
  Near the center is the name of the current command and the point to be
  inputted. Commands usually display in cyan, but nested "window" commands
  display in red.

  The top line also shows the current position of the mouse cursor. The
  lowercase "w" or "u" prefixing X or Y indicates that the cursor is in the
  "working" or the "unit" grid.

  The upper bottom line shows the layers that are viewed and open for
  modification, and at the extreme right, the status of the cell outline
  name, the path center line and the text reference keyboard toggle
  switches. (Read Key Assignment and the OUTL, DRAW and TEXT Commands.)

  The upper bottom line may also display other information, such as the
  number of active objects or INFO command information.

  The lower bottom line normally displays the working and dotted grids, the
  name or type of object that will be added with the ADD command, the layer
  if the object is a box or path, and the width of the path.

  The lower bottom line also serves as an input line for various keyboard
  inputs, such as direct X and Y coordinate inputs or text string inputs.

  The bottom line also displays certain warning messages that may be sent
  to indicate a problem, for example, "RAM Disk Full or Unavailable ...",
  which can occur quite often.

  When the bottom two lines return to their normal status information, this
  indicates that a command has been successfully completed (or aborted) and
  LASI is waiting for a new command.

 Drawing Speed

  On a fairly slow computer, drawing a large number of cells can take a
  considerable amount of time. LASI has several features to allow you to
  work on larger drawings more effectively. These are as follows:

  1. Pressing the ESC key or clicking the right mouse button causes a
     drawing sequence to abort in two stages. The first stage forces cells
     to be drawn as lightly dashed outlines. The second stops the present
     cell's boxes and paths from being drawn. You don't have to draw
     completely if you only want to locate a certain area. Just find where
     the area is, abort further drawing and ZOOM in.

  2. Cells may be replaced by their outline, which draws almost instantly.
     Read the OUTL and FULL Command topics.

  3. Objects that are too small to draw may be skipped by setting the
     resolution properly. Read the SET Command topic.

  4. Objects that are out of a drawing window are remembered and are
     skipped for certain commands.

  5. The cell files may be (and should be) automatically transferred to a
     RAM disk. Read the RAM Disk topic.

  Note:  If you speed up drawing using first method, active box sides and
    active vertices are still drawn or marked, and active cells are still
    drawn as filled outlines. This is to indicate where an active object is
    located.

 Error Messages

  Most messages are self-evident and appear in the dialog area in System
  Mode, on the bottom line in Cell Mode, or on the top line in both modes
  when DOS calls are made. Some error messages are less obvious and may be
  explained as follows:

    "Out of Object Memory!" means that you have completely run out of
    memory avaiable to hold the objects of a cell. Use some method to get
    more conventional memory on your PC, or better, use more cell nesting
    to reduce the parts count in a cell.

    "Unable to Load File(s)!" means that you are not able to load a cell
    file, usually because you have too little memory space available. This
    also indicates that a cell file (BP4 or CL4) may be missing, or you are
    trying to load a pooled cell.

    "Box/Path/Vertex/Cell Limit!" means that you are trying to add an
    object that exceeds the maximum number for its type.

    "Not Available!" means that LASI will not act as a "shell" to execute
    other programs ("child" processes).

    "Rank Error!" means that you are trying to add a cell that has rank
    greater than or equal to the cell on which you ar working.

    "File Error!" means that a file error occurred at the DOS system level.
    Usually you tried to erase a file that did not exist, or you tried to
    rename a file that didn't exist or had a name conflict.

    "No Object!" means that you are trying to set an object to be added
    that cannot be found in the cell list.

    "Not Enough Space to Smash CELLNAME!" means that there isn't enough
    memory to hold the objects that would result if a cell is smashed.

    "RAM Disk Full or Unavailable ... Using Hard Disk!" means that you
    either have set a RAM disk in the FORM.DBD file that doesn't exist, or
    the RAM disk has run out of space for new files or new filenames. You
    should erase old files from your RAM disk or, if possible, reconfigure
    it in the DOS CONFIG.SYS file to provide more file space or a larger
    directory.

 File Types

  The LASI drawing program uses several files when it is run. These are:

  DBD (drawing basic data) files

    CELLS4.DBD is the master list of cells used by LASI to know which cells
    it has to use in a drawing. The position of a cell in the file is an
    index used by LASI to keep track of which cells are used in other
    cells.

    FORM.DBD contains the configuration information used by LASI when it
    starts. Read the FORM File topic.

    CONSTS4.DBD is a file that is maintained by LASI itself, and contains
    the information (or constants) that determine the immediate settings of
    many parameters. Although it is ASCII this file should not be edited.

    TXT.DBD is a generic Text Font File. This file is a binary file that
    contains patterns for the text characters. This file was generated by
    the MAKETXT.EXE utility and can only be modified using that utility.
    Otherwise, the user is free to make his own fonts following the
    directions under the topic Text Generation.


  Cell Data Files

    Cell data files are named with the name of a cell with a BP4 or a CL4
    extension.

    BP4 files are internal binary files that contain information on boxes,
    paths, text and vertices. These files are maintained by LASI and other
    utilities and are not to be externally edited.

    CL4 files are internal files that contain information on which cells
    are contained in other cells. Rank 1 cells do not produce these files.
    These files are not to be externally edited.

 FORM File

  The configuration information for each drawing is in the FORM.DBD file.
  This file MUST be in each drawing directory. You write it using a text
  editor in standard DOS text format. The FORM.DBD file is an IMPORTANT
  file because it is used by the LASI drawing program and most of the
  UTILITY PROGRAMS to configure to the particular drawing environment.

  The FORM parameters are keywords followed by "=" and then the FORM
  variable. These may be in any order, or be omitted. If a parameter is
  omitted a default parameter is used if possible.

  The present FORM parameters are:

    hdisk=C:,D:,etc.            (\LASI4 directory hard disk letter name)
    rdisk=D:,etc. or blank      (RAM disk letter name)
    fdisk=A: or B:              (floppy disk letter name)
    hcopy=XXXX                  (name of bitmap program to be used)
    plot=XXXX                   (name of plotter support program)
    text=XXXX                   (path\name of Text Font File)
    vmode=vga,ega,svga,mono,lcd (forces the display mode)
    pool=pool directory         (path\name of cell pool directory)
    fkey=command line           (progressively assigns F-keys)

  ■ "hdisk=" sets the letter name of the hard disk where the \LASI4
    directory is located and is used to find certain files.

  ■ "rdisk=" sets the letter name of a RAM disk that was created in memory.
    Read the Using RAM Disk topic for more information.

  ■ "fdisk=" variable sets the letter name of the default floppy drive
    where certain files are routinely imported and exported. Read the
    TLC-IN and TLC-OUT topics.

  ■ "hcopy=" is the name of the screen hardcopy program. Read the HCPY
    Command topic for information on these programs.

  Important:  If you don't have a printer on the computer leave the
    hardcopy parameter "hcopy=" blank. This will prevent the system from
    possibly hanging up if HCPY is pushed.

  ■ "plot=" is the name of the plotter program. At the present there is
    only one plotter program LASI2PGL.EXE.

  ■ "text=" is the path\name of the Text Font File. If this parameter is
    left blank or if it is left out of the FORM File altogether, the
    default "\LASI4\TXT.DBD" will be assumed. Note that this variable may
    contain a DOS path. This allows you to make your own Text Font Files
    and put them in any directory.

  ■ "vmode=" overrides the automatic sensing of VGA or EGA hardware. This
    can take multiple arguments separated by spaces. The arguments may be
    "ega", "vga", "svga", "mono" or "lcd".

    ∙ "vga" or "ega" force 640x480 or 640x350 16 color graphics mode.

    ∙ "svga" forces 800x600 16 color VESA standard graphics mode. You must
      have the hardware or the driver software that conforms to the VESA
      standard or you will probably crash.

    ∙ "mono" redefines the color palette to black, gray, white and bright
      white for use with monochrome monitors and laptops.

    ∙ "lcd" increases the thickness of the cursor so that it is more
      visible on a slowly changing LCD display.

    The arguments may also contain two floating point numbers separated by
    spaces that set the "mouse sensitivity" (or mickey multiplier) for the
    x and y axes respectively. These numbers default to 1 if omitted. Set
    these numbers to whatever feels best with your mouse.

      Example:  vmode=svga mono 1.5 .75

    Sets the display to 800x600 monochrome display mode, and changes the
    mouse sensitivity to 1.5 times normal in X and .75 times normal in Y.


  ■ "pool=" sets the directory where pooled cells are stored. If the pool
    directory is on a different disk than the drawing directory, precede
    the directory name with the disk letter. Omit "\" from the end of the
    pool directory name. If you don't have a pool directory leave this
    parameter blank or erase it from FORM.DBD altogether.

  ■ "fkey=" parameters progressively assign a command line to a function
    key, starting with F2 (F1 is always HELP.) through F10, SHIFT-F1
    through SHIFT-F10, CTRL-F1 through CTRL-F10 and ALT-F1 through ALT-F10.
    Read the F-keys topic for more details.


  FORM is a command on the menus. It lists the FORM parameters of the
  drawing directory where you are working.

 Hardcopy

  Hardcopies of the drawing display can be made by calling screen bitmap
  printing programs. These are small programs that are included with the
  LASI System. These hardcopy programs can send the bitmap data directly to
  a printing device or can produce a file for later printing.

  Any hardcopy program is installed by including its name in the "hcopy="
  parameter in the FORM.DBD file. Hardcopy programs are always kept in the
  \LASI4 directory. When LASI calls a hardcopy program, it attaches that
  path to the filename.

  Presently there are 2 hardcopy programs in the \LASI4 directory:

  1. DMHCPY.COM makes a black and white copy of the screen in standard
     Epson FX or LQ dot matrix format.

    There are 4 arguments (upper or lowercase) that may be appended to the
    "hcopy=dmhcpy" parameter in the FORM.DBD file:

      "F" which causes a bitmap data file to be produced

      "Q" which causes LQ format to be produced

      "H" which causes a heavier copy to be made by duplicating any dots
        printed

      "G" which turns on "generic" printer codes that will work with almost
        any IBM/Epson printer. Aspect ratios will be not be 1:1.

    These arguments may be in any order.

    For example, "hcopy=dmhcpy h q f" produces a file with heavy printing
    for an LQ type printer.

    If you are making a data file, a small window will open and close in
    the lower left of the screen requesting a file name.

    If you produce files in the Epson FX printer format. You can build
    single or multiple sheet fax files for transmission using an Intel
    SatisFAXion board. You can also translate the files into other formats
    using a converter such as HIJAAK.

    If you are operating in VGA graphics mode, the hardcopy that you get
    will have a correct 1:1 aspect ratio, that is, if you don't use the "G"
    argument.

  2. LJHCPY.COM makes a black and white copy on a LaserJet or a DeskJet
     type printer. The bitmap is produced at 75 dots/in. LJHCPY.COM
     produces a data file if a command line argument "F" (or "f") is
     appended to the "hcopy=ljhcpy" parameter in the FORM.DBD file. This
     data file may converted to other formats, or copied to a LaserJet for
     printing later.

  Read the HCPY Command topic.

 Hardware

  The LASI will run in some configuration on almost any IBM compatible
  computer with common basic hardware options. In fact, it is the
  philosophy of LASI not to require the latest, fastest or any special
  hardware. LASI will run on an old AT type computer (or even painfully
  slow on an XT type), but a faster computer is always an advantage. LASI
  will run quite nicely on a 386 or 486 "average" PC with clock speed of 25
  MHz or more.

  This is the minimum hardware required:

    1. 640K of conventional memory
    2. A hard disk
    3. VGA or EGA adaptor and color monitor (see below)
    4. A mouse
    5. A math coprocessor (see below)


  640K of Conventional Memory

    The LASI drawing program takes a minimum of about 240K. Drawing data is
    kept in conventional memory also, so if you don't have full memory, the
    size of your drawing will be excessively memory limited. You will also
    not be able to run certain programs from LASI.

    Using extended memory and MS-DOS 5 or 6 from Microsoft or DR-DOS 6.0
    from Digital Research will improve this situation because these
    operating systems move drivers to high memory.

    Read the Allocating Memory topic for more information on use of memory.


  Hard Disk

    While working on a drawing, the basic drawing files (or cell files)
    need to be swapped back and forth to the disk. The hard disk should be
    as fast as possible. Each cell may use one or two files for storage.
    One cell file can be as large as 384K, the other 64K. Files this large
    will be rare, if not impossible due to RAM limitations. However, for
    large drawings with many cells, a total of several megabytes of disk
    space may still be needed.


  EGA or VGA Adaptor with Color (or Monochrome) Monitor

    LASI uses some direct hardware access so the EGA or VGA board must be
    register compatible to the IBM standard. If you have VGA graphics, the
    VGA will default to VGA 640x480 16 color graphics mode. If you have EGA
    you will default to 640x350 graphics mode. You may override the
    automatic default by setting a "vmode=" parameter in the FORM File.

    If you have a VGA board and a monitor capable of 800x600 16 color
    graphics, you can run LASI in that mode by setting "vmode=svga" in the
    FORM File. You must have a board that is VESA (Video Electronics
    Standards Association) compatible with supplemental driver software
    (furnished by the board's maker), or the board must have a BIOS that is
    directly compatible with the VESA standard. Most new boards will meet
    one of these requirements.

    If you have a monochrome monitor with a gray scale VGA display, you can
    redefine the color palette to black, gray, white and bright white by
    adding "mono" to the "vmode=" parameter in the FORM File. You may have
    to trick your VGA board into thinking that it has a color monitor by
    grounding the ID bit 0 (pin 11 on the 15 pin D connector).

    Laptop computers with a VGA display will also run LASI. A possible
    problem when using a laptop is that the LCD display isn't fast enough
    to track the mouse cursor. To improve this, the cross shaped mouse
    cursor may be expanded to more pixels to improve the cursor's
    visibility if "lcd" is added to the "vmode="parameter.

    Because LASI writes directly to the hardware, you will get faster
    graphics if you use a 16-bit graphics board, instead of an 8-bit board.
    In ISA (AT) type computers of any CPU speed, the bus speed is usually
    still 8 MHz. This limits the drawing speed of LASI and most of any
    other graphical software, including Windows or OS/2.

    There are also some new bus architectures that raise the bus speed when
    servicing video, or have an independent high-speed bus, such as the
    VESA Local Bus (VL-Bus). If your graphics board can work at a higher
    speed or is VESA Local Bus compatable, your LASI drawing speed will
    greatly improve.

    If you are buying a computer to run LASI (or anything else), it is
    recommended you get one with a VESA Local Bus. Some manufacturers have
    their own proprietary bus; it is likely that these will die out and the
    VESA Bus will be standard. Note also that "accelerated" video boards
    are available, but are often designed to speed up Windows or specific
    CAD systems, like AutoCAD, using special driver software. These may not
    help LASI very much.


  Mouse

    Pretty much everything is done graphically by mouse. All mouse function
    calls conform to Microsoft Mouse Protocol. LASI does little more than
    look for button pushes and return screen location. The cursors are
    drawn directly, so LASI is very mouse tolerant. Any mouse that has at
    least two buttons, has driver software that works with EGA or VGA, and
    understands some basic Microsoft mouse driver function calls (numbers
    0-5, 10 and 11) should work with any of the LASI System programs.

    To use the mouse, first be sure that the mouse driver software that
    came with your mouse is installed according to your mouse's
    instructions, and that you know that the mouse works with most other
    programs. Using current Microsoft mouse driver software and a Microsoft
    compatible mouse is usually best.

    LASI reads "mickeys" directly (actual movement count) and moves the
    cursor accordingly. Certain mouse driver sensitivity switches (/H /V)
    won't work when this is done, but sensitivity can be sent in the
    FORM.DBD file. Read the FORM File topic.


  Math Coprocessor (80287, 80387, etc)

    Most of the math is done in integer form, which is handled by the CPU
    directly. A certain amount of floating point arithmetic is also done.
    If you run LASI.EXE, it will examine your hardware and overlay either
    LASI87.EXE or LASIA.EXE. If you try to run LASI87.EXE without a
    coprocessor, the program will return a system error. If you don't have
    a coprocessor and can't afford one, LASIA.EXE will always run, but it
    draws about half as fast in certain situations as LASI87.EXE and uses a
    little more memory.


  Optional but desirable:

    1. Extended memory
    2. A printer (dot matrix or laser)


  Extended Memory

    In addition to using less conventional memory if a newer DOS is used,
    drawing speed may be improved by using extended memory for a RAM disk.
    The amount of additional memory is dependent on the amount of data in
    the layout drawings that you make. Experience will determine how much
    memory you need. Read the Using RAM Disk topic.


  Printer

    Hard copies of the screen can be made directly from LASI. Making
    hardcopies is very handy to examine and keep track of your drawings.
    Hardcopy support is provided for Epson Generic, FX and LQ type printers
    and H-P LaserJet type printers. Most printers seem to conform to these
    standards. Read the HCPY Command topic. If your printer doesn't work
    contact the author to see if anything can be done about it, providing
    you have technical information available on your printer and you know
    that it is capable of bitmap graphics.

 Help on Help

  If you are reading this help topic you are probably running the LASI Help
  and Information program LHI.EXE. LHI is called from LASI by pressing F1.
  If the mouse cursor is on a COMMAND NAME the name will be passed to LHI
  and that command's help information will come up immediately.

  LHI.EXE will also accept optional DOS command line arguments as follows:

        lhi [disk\path\filename] [topic1 or topic2] [topic2]

  [Disk\path\filename] is the full name of the help file to read. The
  filename must contain the extension ".HLP" or the argument will be
  considered as a topic argument. Leaving this argument out causes a
  default to "\lasi4\lhi.hlp".

  The [topic1 or topic2] argument is the topic for the first search. This
  may be a primary topic such as "Command Information" or a secondary topic
  such as "Copy". If the topic is more than one word enclose it in double
  quotes ("") as DOS requires.

  The [topic2] argument is the subtopic of topic1. This is only necessary
  if topic2 appears as a subtopic of topic1 in more than one place in the
  help file. For example, if "Introduction" appears more than once, you
  must specify the primary topic as topic1 and then "Introduction" as
  topic2.

  All arguments may be upper or lower case.

 Key Assignment

  Some keys on the keyboard are permanently assigned:

    CTRL-END exits to DOS from Cell or System Mode.
    ENTER enters information and does a DRAW command.
    DIRECTION ARROWS move the drawing window in that direction.
    TAB toggles the cursor between a small cross and crosshairs.
    A toggles the cursor between working and unit grid.
    C toggles the path center line on and off. (retained)
    N toggles the outline name on and off.
    T toggles the text reference point on and off. (retained)
    X or Y opens a PKE entry.
    Z sets the measurement reference point.
    SPACE gives a measurement from the reference point.
    ALT while pressed changes the cursor between working and unit grid.

  ESC has multiple uses:

  1. Press ESC to abort most commands at any stage of completion.

  2. Press ESC to abort drawing at various stages. Read the Drawing Speed
     topic for details.

  3. Pressing ESC causes a default value to be retained in any input that
     has a default value shown in parentheses, even if a new value has been
     typed.

  4. ESC returns a NULL (no characters) to such questions as the name of a
     cell and therefore aborts the process.


  F1 always calls HELP.

  The remaining function keys are USER DEFINABLE.

  F2-F10, SHIFT-F1 through SHIFT-F10, CTRL-F1 through CTRL-F10 and ALT-F1
  through ALT-F10 may be defined by writing a command with any arguments
  into the FORM.DBD file.

  To assign the keys you simply write the command after an "fkey="
  parameter in the FORM.DBD file. Keys are assigned progressively and the
  exact assignment can be checked by the FORM command.

  A command must be a command from the Cell Mode menus and must be followed
  by any arguments separated by commas.

  Examples:   "fkey=view,1-4 10 12"
              makes those layers visible.

              "fkey=wmov,0,0,100,100,0,0,10,0"
              moves objects in the 0,0 to 100,100 rectangle
              10 physical units to the right.

  The command line may be upper or lower case and no longer than 80
  characters. Any coordinates are in physical units. Any text generated in
  this way will be created with case preserved.

  Commands assigned to function keys are executed on a ONE-TIME basis even
  though normally the command may be a resident type of command.

  Function keys work differently in System Mode, so no System Mode command
  may be assigned to a function key. Certain commands in Cell Mode work
  differently also and may no be assigned to function keys. These are LIST,
  CELL, SYS and UNDO.

  LASI should be smart enough to request additional arguments in the normal
  way if you list too few in the key assignment, or throw away any extras
  if you have too many. Coordinates are always requested in pairs.

 Local Area Network

  It should be possible to use the cell pooling feature of LASI 4.2 to
  provide a common pool of basic cells over a Local Area Network (LAN)
  consisting of several PCs or work stations.

  Put the network server disk directory prefix in the "pool=" parameter in
  the FORM.DBD file. LASI will then load an attached cell's BP4 file from
  the server. If you are using a RAM disk locally, the file will then be
  stored on the RAM disk the first time you draw it, and will remain there
  until you quit LASI.

  You can also make a permanent copy of a pooled cell from the network
  using the IMPORT command.

  For transferring cells with rank greater than 1, you must use TLCIN.EXE.
  In that case, the "fdisk=" parameter in FORM.DBD can be set to the server
  directory prefix with TLC files in that directory on the server. Any
  files transferred by TLC will become normal cells not attached cells.
  Care also must be taken not to write back to the server, since TLC works
  both ways.

 Managing Objects

  So that it can be accessed rapidly, the data for LASI drawing objects is
  kept in what is known as conventional memory, the memory up to 640K
  bytes. The LASI main program is loaded at some low address determined by
  the DOS system. The main program will use about 240K, and the remaining
  memory space can be used for object data.

  Conventional Memory Map:
                                    Object Data Area     small prgms.
          DOS+TSRs       LASI     (free in System Mode)  or more data
        ├───────────┼────────────┼────────────────────────┼──────┤
      0K <Minimum>    <≈240K >           <≈310K>          <64K> 640K


  LASI has to perform the following tasks to control object data:

  1. When LASI loads a cell, it has to clear the memory in the Object Data
     Area of any previous cell object data and load the object data for the
     new cell if it will fit, and fail gracefully if it will not.

  2. Since commands work globally, LASI has to keep the data for all the
     different types of objects immediately available in memory.

  3. If objects are added, LASI has to allocate more memory if necessary,
     and fail gracefully if none is available.

  4. While drawing cells that contain other nested cells, LASI must also
     swap in and out object data at different levels of nesting, and still
     retain necessary basic data.

  Doing all this is obviously not a trivial job, at least to do it
  efficiently. LASI 4.2 has a set of interacting functions that do all this
  and form what is usually called a "object manager". The manager works
  transparently, and may only be noticed on some slower computers when its
  additional layer of programming abstraction makes things run a little
  more slowly.

  Specifically, the object manager controls the memory used for box, path,
  vertex and cell object data records.

  LASI stores paths or polggons and their vertices as separate records, and
  therefore allocates space in memory for them separately. This is because
  there is no good relation between the number of paths you use and the
  number of vertices that you put into the paths. To be efficient, path
  data is packed together and vertex data is packed together. Read the
  Objects topic, and if curious, read the LASI42.DSS file for the data
  record format.

  Memory is allocated in 8K blocks, without regard to the type of object.
  You can therefore have one cell that has many paths with many vertices,
  and another cell that has many boxes, all in the same drawing, and LASI
  will accommodate. Memory will be adjusted to the objects that you use.

  There are limits on the number of a type of object that may be used in a
  single cell. These limits are as follows:

          Boxes     = 13104 max.
          Paths     = 10920 max.
          Vertices  = 32736 max.
          Cells     = 10920 max. (no dependence on level or rank)

  If you use any object up to its limit, you probably are not using cell
  nesting very efficiently. You will discover that using many objects in a
  single cell slows down some operations considerably.

  When drawing, you may add objects to a cell until the maximum limit for
  each type of object is reached, or you may simply run out of object
  memory altogether. In either case, a message will tell you what has
  happened, and the event should be harmless.

  You will also discover that there isn't enough conventional memory to
  reach maximum limits simultaneously. This should not be a problem because
  you should have broken up a cell into lesser cells long before you reach
  that situation.

  When you start LASI in System Mode, the maximim amount of available
  memory will be displayed in the Environment area. When in Cell Mode, the
  INFO command shows how much memory is still free. Unless you make cells
  with thousands of objects, you will probably not use much memory, and you
  won't have to worry about it.

  The actual memory available is dependent on the hardware and software
  configuration of your computer. It is possible that cells that "fit" on
  one computer will not "fit" on another. It is therefore important that
  you make as much memory initially available as possible. When to start a
  program that manages objects, either LASI or one of the utility programs,
  the available memory is shown. Use this number for comparison.

  DOS needs at least 64K available to load almost anything at first. (It
  can then give memory back.) If you fill your memory, you won't be able to
  call some other small programs from LASI, such as the screen hardcopiers,
  or even HELP. To make the most memory space available, you should
  minimize the "resident" programs (TSRs) and drivers that you install when
  booting up your computer, or you should move them to "high memory", 640K
  to 1024K.

  The newer DOS's you can load much of your resident software into high
  memory. Read the MS-DOS 5 or 6 topic.

  You can also gain quite a bit of memory by using one of the better memory
  managers such as QEMM-386 or 386MAX, which move TSRs and drivers into
  high memory more effectively than DOS 5. MS-DOS 6 has MEMMAKER which does
  the same as QEMM-386 and 386MAX and will probably do quite nicely.

 Measurements

  The position of the cursor in the drawing window is continuously read out
  at the top of the screen. The coordinates are either in working grid
  units or in the smallest possible grid unit, the unit grid. You may
  switch between these by pressing the A or ALT keys.

  There is no ruler, but distances can be measured graphically. The Z key
  zeroes the measurement system to the current cursor grid point. The
  current cursor grid point may be either in the working grid or the unit
  grid, depending on the resident command or if the cursor grid has been
  switched by the A or ALT keys.

  If the space bar is then pressed, a measurement from the zero point will
  be displayed at the bottom of the screen. The second point will be
  gridded to the present cursor grid.

 Mouse Cursor

  LASI is designed to be very mouse intensive. Positioning the cursor and
  clicking the mouse buttons chooses the commands and inputs most all the
  graphical information. The exceptions being when a literal or numerical
  input is required, or when a specially assigned key is used.

  The mouse cursor is usually a small cross that may have other figures
  added to it. When on a menu, a box will appear that indicates which
  command will be chosen. When using drawing commands dotted lines or a
  dotted rectangle will appear.

  The cursor can be toggled between the small cross and crosshair lines by
  pressing the TAB key. The cursor automatically turns back to the small
  cross if not on the drawing window.

  When a cursor input is expected, the point needed will be shown at the
  top of the screen after the command name. Most commands take one or two
  points.

  The cursor moves in discrete steps. When a command is chosen, the cursor
  is set to move either in the unit grid or in one of a number of preset
  working grids. The working grids are entered using the SET command, and
  are changed with the WGRD command. The cursor's grid type may change from
  command to command or during a command, but it may always be toggled from
  one type of grid to the other by pressing either the A or the ALT key on
  the keyboard.

  Certain cell commands use a DOUBLE CLICKING of the left mouse button to
  change the way that the command acts on cells. If you click twice
  rapidly, the cells that overlap the mouse cursor points will be affected.
  If you wait a bit between clicks, only the cells that have their areas
  fully enclosed by the mouse cursor window will be affected.

  The time between mouse clicks is set as the number of "ticks" using the
  SET command in Cell Mode. Each tick is about 1/20 sec. Adjust this to
  your own comfort. The number of ticks is saved and returned when you
  restart LASI.

  Hint:  If you want to turn off double clicking entirely, set the number
    of ticks to 0. If you always want double clicking actions, set the
    number of ticks to a large number, such as 32000.

 Objects

  A drawing is built of things called OBJECTS. In a drawing objects are
  placed in a hierarchy, the position of an object in this hierarchy is
  called its RANK.

  The lowest rank (0) objects are the basic constructions, BOXES, PATHS,
  POLYGONS and TEXT.

  The higher rank (1-15) objects are the CELLS, which are the basic
  structures of a drawing. Any cell can contain one or more objects of
  lesser rank.

  All the cells in a drawing are called the CELL COLLECTION.


  Boxes

    Boxes are objects that have the properties of four sides, each
    orthogonal to the adjacent, and a layer. Only the position of the sides
    and the layer may be changed.


  Paths

    Paths are a set of vertices in some order which display as a set of
    endwise merged rectangles, all with the same width, but usually
    different lengths.

    A path with a zero width is called a polygon (poly for short).

    A polygon is special case of a path, and the term "path" can be used to
    refer to either, except in the case where a zero width path is
    explicitly indicated.

    A polygon need not be closed. A line of zero width however usually does
    not reproduce anything useful in an integrated circuit, so polygons
    will usually be closed intentionally.

    Vertices may have their position changed, and the vertices of a path
    may be added or deleted. The width or layer of the path may be changed.

    Paths with a positive width are drawn with their ends flush with their
    end vertices, while paths with negative widths are drawn with their
    ends spaced out half the width from the vertices. Paths with negative
    width are discouraged and are provided only for CALMA compatibility.

    A path with width can have no more than 250 vertices. A polygon can
    have no more than 500 vertices.


  Text

    Text is a form of path that instead of displaying vertices, displays a
    string of text characters linearly. Text is stored as a special path,
    and many of the commands that affect paths work on text objects. Text
    can have a layer and a size which corresponds to a path's width.


  There are 64 layers available for boxes, paths and text, numbered 1-64.


  Cells

    All drawing is done on cells. A cell has a NAME by which it is called
    for drawing or for insertion into other cells. The name must be
    acceptable as a DOS filename, since cell files will be made using that
    name. A cell is named when it is created, but it may be renamed. A rank
    is also assigned when a cell is created and cannot be changed, although
    a cell can be copied to a different rank. The term "cellname" may be
    used to refer to the name of cells in general.

    Cell ranking is strictly enforced so that computer memory usage is
    better controlled and ambiguous constructions (i.e. cells in
    themselves) are avoided.

    In general, the overall layout drawing will be the highest ranking
    cell. There however may be many cells of that rank, for perhaps
    different versions of the same integrated circuit.

    Cells have a property known as AREA. The area of a cell is the region
    within the rectangle that fully encloses all the objects that make up
    the cell. A cell's OUTLINE is the perimeter of the area, or simply the
    enclosing rectangle. Cells may be drawn in full, or may be drawn as
    only their outline. Cells in a part of a drawing that is not currently
    being worked upon may be outlined to improve clarity and to speed up
    redrawing.

    When a cell is drawn as its outline it may be manipulated as though it
    was drawn fully. However, when cells are outlined, double clicking the
    mouse has no effect on the action of a command. An outlined cell must
    always be fully enclosed by the mouse cursor window to have any action.
    Read the Mouse Cursor General topic and the individual command topics.

 Operating Modes

  LASI runs from DOS in two operating modes, System Mode and Cell Mode:


                                           LIST   ┌<----------┐
           ┌─────────┐ "lasi"  ┌─────────┐ CELL ┌─────────┐   |
           │         │-------->│ System  │----->│  Cell   │   |
           │   DOS   │         │         │      │         │-->┘
           │         │<--------│  Mode   │<-----│  Mode   │
           └─────────┘  QUIT   └─────────┘  SYS └─────────┘
                |                                    |
                └---------------------------------->-┘
                          "lasi cellname"


  System Mode is a housekeeping mode which has commands for overall
  manipulation of cells and the control of certain drawing parameters.

  Cell Mode is the mode where actual drawing is done. When Cell Mode is
  entered a cell drawing is opened for creation or modification. Cell Mode
  has the following properties:

  ■ Cell Mode has up to 15 ranks.

  ■ The rank of Cell Mode is obtained from the cell being drawn.

  ■ Each Cell Mode rank keeps separate parameters, such as window size and
    position, in order to simplify moving between different ranks of cells
    while working on a drawing.

  ■ All Cell Modes are identical except for the ranking.

  ■ Both modes have a menu of commands on the side of the screen. The
    commands are explained under their own help topics.

  ■ When LASI is started it goes to System Mode.

  ■ Using the SYS command that appears in the Cell Mode menu is the normal
    way to reenter System Mode from Cell Mode.

  ■ Using the CELL and LIST commands which appear in both mode menus is
    normal way to enter Cell Mode and open another cell.

  Cell Mode may be entered directly from DOS (as shown above) by adding the
  name of a cell to the command line when starting LASI.

    Example: "lasi flipflop" when typed in DOS runs LASI and
              enters into the cell named "FLIPFLOP".

  Read the CELL, LIST and SYS commands.

 PKE Feature

  Parallel Keyboard Entry can be done any time a command is requesting a
  point normally inputted by the mouse. To start a PKE entry press either
  the X or Y keys. The coordinate pair will appear in the lower left corner
  of the screen.

  Pressing the X or Y key clears that coordinate to zero and a new value
  may then be typed into that coordinate. Coordinate values may contain a
  decimal point or a minus sign. Corrections may be made by pressing X or Y
  again, clearing the value to zero, or by using the BACKSPACE key.

  To enter the coordinate pair press ENTER.

  To abort a pending PKE entry, click on any menu button using the mouse,
  except any of the window commands, or press ESC.

  Note:  Some commands that require an incremental input and not an
    absolute position (MOV for example) accept only a single PKE distance
    entry instead of two mouse cursor inputs.

 Pooling

  In version 4.2 of LASI, rank 1 cells may be kept in a common "pool". This
  pool is a drawing directory that contains cells that might be used in
  many different layouts, such as logic elements or standard transistors.
  The basic cell BP4 file is taken either from the default drawing
  directory or the pool drawing directory.

  Cell Source Diagram:

                   ┌───────────┐ Attached Cell
              BP4  │   POOL    │----->-┐
              File └───────────┘       | Attach
                         |             | Command
                         |             |    ┌───────────┐
                         | IMPORT      ├--->│  Drawing  │
                         | Command     |    └───────────┘
                         V             |
                   ┌───────────┐       |
              BP4  │ Draw Dir. │----->-┘
              File └───────────┘ Normal Cell


  The pool directory is set with the "pool=" parameter in the FORM.DBD
  file. The pool variable is the name of the directory where pooled cells
  are stored.

    Example:  "pool=c:\ourpool" would be a line in FORM.DBD

  If the pool directory is on a different disk than the drawing directory,
  precede the directory name with the disk letter. Omit "\" from the end of
  the pool directory name.

  The cells are "attached" to a drawing using the ATTACH command in System
  Mode.

  The attached cells may be included in a drawing by first making them the
  object to be added with the OBJ command and then adding with the ADD
  command. Once added the attached cells may be manipulated like any other
  normal cell.

  Read the Attached Cells topic and the ATTACH and IMPORT Command topics.

 Pooling Old Cells

  It is fairly easy to replace cells made with previous versions of LASI
  with cells from a common pool. First, the cells to be replaced must be
  placed in the POOL directory cell collection. The easy way to do this is
  to use the TLC program to first produce TLC files and then use the TLC
  program to transfer the TLC files to internal form in the POOL directory.

  After you are sure that the cells are in the pool, you can run LASI
  version 4.2 in the DRAWING directory and use the ATTACH command on the
  cells to be taken from the pool.

  Once you have decided that all is correct, and you expect to never need
  the cell in the drawing directory again, you can simply erase the unused
  BP4 files from the DRAWING directory using DOS's file delete.

  Do NOT use the KILL command to erase cells, because this removes cells,
  normal or attached, completely from a drawing.

  If you happen to run the 4.0 version of LASI on a drawing containing
  attached cells, the results that you get when drawing will be somewhat
  unpredictable. Whatever is in the buffers at the time will be drawn in
  place of the attached cell. This does no harm to the drawing data unless
  you go into Cell Mode on one of the attached cells. Doing this will
  generate a BP4 file in the DRAWING directory, and the parameters of the
  cell in the cells list (CELLS4.DBD) will be rewritten.

  Fortunately, if you run LASI 4.2 again on the drawing data, the attached
  cell will be rerecognized and the pool cell will reappear. To correct any
  problem of wrong data in the cells list you can simply reATTACH the cell.
  You can also cautiously delete any false BP4 files that may have been
  placed in the DRAWING directory.

 Starting a Drawing

  This is an elaboration on Quick Start. If you have run LASI you already
  know how to get LASI up and working, here are more details that you would
  normally go through when really using LASI seriously.


  To start a drawing:

  1. Create a "drawing directory" as an independent directory.

    The drawing directory should be named for the drawing to be made. Each
    different drawing is kept on the hard disk by isolating it in its own
    directory. The drawing directory will contain certain .DBD files
    (drawing basic data) and the "internal" files (.BP4 and .CL4) for the
    cells that you create.

    NEVER make drawings in the \LASI4 directory.

  2. Copy a FORM.DBD file to the drawing directory.

    The FORM.DBD file customizes LASI to the specific hardware and software
    you are using. The FORM.DBD is local to a drawing directory so it can
    be different for each drawing. You may copy a FORM file from another
    drawing or use the generic one that comes with the system files. Read
    the FORM File topic for a description of the different parameters.

  3. Edit the FORM.DBD file if necessary.

    The FORM.DBD file is important since it configures your drawing to your
    hardware. You can usually use the default values in the original
    distribution FORM.DBD at first, but you eventually will need to change
    FORM.DBD using a editor such as EDLIN.COM or EDIT from MS-DOS 5 or 6.
    Once you establish a "normal" FORM.DBD file, you can just copy it from
    drawing to drawing.

  4. Make the drawing directory your default directory and run LASI.EXE.

    The program will start in System Mode. When you first begin a drawing
    you should check the scale using the SCALE command and decide if the
    parameters are what you want. The scale really only relates the
    physical units in which you do a drawing to the basic units in which
    the drawing is actually stored. If you do not use the appropriate
    scale, you may create cells that have too little resolution, or too
    much resolution, and the overall size of your drawing will be too
    small.

  Note:  The RESIZE.EXE utility program allows the resolution or basic
    units used to draw cells to be changed later, but it is better to set
    the correct scale in the beginning.

  5. If you are using the cell pooling feature of LASI 4.2 attach any
     pooled cells that you think you might need.

    You can always attach cells, but bringing in basic cells is a good
    place to start.

  6. Use the CELL command to go to Cell Mode and create new cells.

    Start by drawing the lowest rank cells that will be used as building
    blocks for higher rank more complex cells, and eventually the overall
    layout. Generally, repetitive structures should be made as individual
    cells and used to build other cells. However, too few boxes or paths
    can be a waste of a cell. With experience you will develop a feel of
    how to partition your cell structuring.

  Hint:  If you have a similar drawing in another directory and you have
    already defined the hardware and drawing parameters, you can copy the
    CONSTS4.DBD file into the new directory. This will save you the trouble
    of redefining things over again. The CELLS4.DBD file is NEVER copied
    from drawing to drawing since it serves as a cell reference list that
    is different with each drawing. For the same reason, you MAY NOT copy
    BP4 and CL4 files between drawings.

 Undoing

  Whenever you enter into Cell Mode or use the SORT, DEL or SMSH command, a
  backup copy of the drawing is stored on the hard disk. To retrieve the
  stored backup, you use the UNDO command.

  If you don't sort, and you leave LASI unattended, after a certain amount
  of time, LASI will automatically sort and backup cell drawing data on its
  own.

  Read the SORT, DEL, SMSH and UNDO Command topics.

 Universe

  The drawing area is 65536 units in each direction since positions are
  determined by a 16 bit integer. This drawing space might be called the
  drawing's universe.

  If objects are moved they may exceed the signed integer limits of -32768
  to 32767 basic units. Objects that move beyond the limits go through
  "integer infinity" and reappear from the opposite direction.

  If this happens, you will find that objects, particularly paths, can be
  very distorted. To correct this, move the objects back so that all points
  are in the same universe.

  Distortions can always be corrected by a linear move if done immediately.
  More than one "infinity" in sequence may not be correctable.

  Commands affected:  CPY, FLP, MOV, ORIG, WMOV, QMOV, CMOV, ROT, STEP

 Using MS-DOS 5 or 6

  Using DOSSHELL found in MS-DOS 5 or 6 is an easy way to setup drawings
  when using LASI. You can make each drawing a Program Item either by
  itself or as a part of a Program Group. Set the "Commands" property to
  "lasi.exe" and the "Startup Directory" to the drawing directory.

  The ability to MS-DOS 5 or 6 to load drivers into the upper memory area
  (640K to 1MB) on a 80386 or 80486 computer should be used to save
  conventional memory. This will give you more memory for a larger number
  of LASI objects. If you have some extended memory, even on a 80286
  computer, you can still gain more memory by installing HIMEM.SYS and
  putting "DOS=HIGH" in the CONFIG.SYS file.

  Using DOS's FASTOPEN.EXE can help the drawing speed by reducing the time
  that LASI takes to swap data in and out, either to RAM disk or hard disk.
  You should experiment to find which DOS features work best.

  MS-DOS 6 has a program MEMMAKER.EXE that finds places to move TSR
  programs out of conventional memory. This should be used if at all
  possible because it will automatically make more memory available to
  LASI.

  If you are using another DOS such as DR-DOS, similar advice applies.

 Using a RAM Disk

  Drawing speed can be greatly improved if a RAM disk is used. Cell files
  that normally would be kept on a hard disk can be placed on a RAM disk by
  using the MS-DOS VDISK.SYS or RAMDRIVE.SYS drivers, or similar software.
  LASI will automatically swap cell files to a RAM disk when it draws, and
  then restore them to the hard disk when it is finished.

  To use a RAM disk you must first create the RAM disk during DOS bootup
  time by adding the driver to your CONFIG.SYS file. The RAM disk should be
  located in extended (or expanded) memory.

  To have LASI recognize a RAM disk, the "rdisk=" parameter of the FORM.DBD
  file must be the letter name of the RAM disk. For example, if the RAM
  disk installs as disk E:, then "rdisk=E:" would be the parameter.

  If you have no RAM disk installed, set the "rdisk=" parameter to the
  letter name of your drawing directory disk, or simply leave the "rdisk="
  parameter blank, since the drawing directory is on the default disk
  drive.

  The RAM disk must be large enough to hold all the cell files in a
  drawing. Computers with a megabyte or more of additional memory above
  640K are needed for most real work. When creating the RAM disk the
  driver's parameters must be set to hold both the amount of memory and the
  number of files expected.

  When LASI is run, it presently does not erase the RAM disk files. Old
  files may therefore clutter your RAM disk. Since it is not too hard to
  erase the wrong disk, possibly your hard disk, it is recommended that you
  make a batch file (.BAT) to erase the RAM disk when beginning a new
  drawing, load a mouse driver, if needed, and then run LASI. Of course,
  whenever you turn off the computer power, the RAM disk is erased anyway.

  If you do run out of RAM disk space a warning will appear on the screen.
  LASI will try to preserve your drawing by switching to the hard disk if
  it finds that the RAM disk is full. Drawing will slow down noticeably in
  that case. In particular, if the basic objects (boxes, paths and text)
  are no longer swappable to the RAM disk, you will see the hard disk being
  accessed if you are drawing a cell that contains other cells. If this
  happens, you should exit LASI, increase your RAM disk space, if possible,
  and rerun LASI.

  Important:  If you do not use a RAM disk, run a disk organizing program
    such as DISK OPTIMIZER or SPEEDISK from Norton's Utilities on your hard
    disk often. If cell files become highly fragmented, the drawing time
    for LASI can become incredibly long. MS-DOS 6 now includes DEFRAG.EXE
    which is a cut-down version of SPEEDISK. Running any of these programs
    frequently can greatly improve drawing speed.

 Using a Disk Cache

  Installing a software disk caching driver can also speed up the redrawing
  of cells just as using a RAM disk. The disadvantages are that you will
  occasionally go to the hard disk if you lose a file from the RAM cache,
  and you will use more RAM in the DOS program area below 640K unless your
  cache uses high memory for its manager. The advantage is that you will
  not have to worry about running out of RAM disk space.

  Any disk cache driver, such as SMARTDRV from Microsoft, should work.
  Installing the disk cache in extended memory just as with a RAM disk is
  preferred, and the cache size should be as large as is needed to get a
  good hit ratio. If you run Windows, you probably have SMARTDRV already
  installed, in fact, SMARTDRV.EXE 4.0 that comes with Windows 3.1 is quite
  good.

  To use a cache set the "rdisk=" parameter in FORM.DBD to the same drive
  letter name as your drawing directory or leave it blank.

  Many of the newer hard disks have caches in their hardware already. You
  may find that the hardware cache is adequate and that a software cache is
  not necessary. The best thing to do is to experiment.

 Using MS-Windows

  LASI will run under Microsoft's Windows 3.1 as a DOS Application. Each
  drawing can be setup by first creating a "LASI" Program Group and
  installing it as a Program Item using the Program Manager. When creating
  the Item you should enter and appropriate "Description" and a "Command
  Line" as disk:\LASI4\LASI.EXE, where "disk" is the disk where LASI is
  installed. You should enter the particular drawing directory as the
  "Working Directory".

  Since LASI is a DOS program and is rather computationally intensive, it
  will run best in Standard Mode, where it will run as a single activity.
  It probably will not run well in 386 Enhanced Mode, where it may have to
  share time with other programs. It must always be run as a Full Screen
  program. It will also be memory limited to DOS's 640K.

  It helps to install HIMEM.SYS and use only part of any extended RAM for
  your RAM disk (use RAMDISK.SYS), leaving room for Windows to use part of
  extended memory for its own use.

  Installing the disk cache SMARTDRV.SYS can also improve disk speed so
  that a RAM disk may be unnecessary.  Read the Using RAM Disk topic.


  LASI is a DOS program with its own graphical interface. Although its
  displays may not be as elaborate as Windows displays, LASI functions
  quite a bit faster overall, particularly on slower computers. To those
  who are happily running LASI under DOS, running it under Windows seems to
  have little advantage; it in fact wastes memory. You might like to
  experiment however to see if there are any benefits in your own
  individual case.

Command Information


 Add

  ADD adds an object to the drawing.

  ■ The object to be added is set by the OBJ command and is indicated at
    the bottom of the screen.

  ■ A box requires two coordinate points at diagonally opposite corners.

  ■ A path (poly) takes a vertex from each coordinate input.

  ■ A path adds a new vertex after the first active vertex found in the
    order in which the path is drawn.

  ■ A cell is added with its origin at a single coordinate point.

  The cursor will indicate the adding action that will take place. For
  boxes, the box outline will be shown in dots. For paths, segments will be
  previewed as dotted lines. Cells add as a single point.

 aGet

  AGET (all get) is a combination of FGET and CGET.

  ■ This command acts on cells, boxes, paths and text in the same way as
    those commands.

  AGET is useful if you are MOVing, CPYing or FLPing large sections of a
  drawing because you can see just which object are active before the
  operation, and unlike WGET it will not distort paths.

 aPut

  APUT (all put) makes all boxes, paths and cells inactive.

  ■ This command is for making sure that all objects are inactive.

  APUT is a handy command to make objects inactive with a single mouse
  button click.

 Arc

  ARC calls the arc generator.

  Rules for making arcs:

  ■ An arc is generated starting at the first active vertex found on a
    path, and is swung around an arc center point to an end point.

  ■ The radius of the arc is a linear function of the angle and the
    difference in radius between the start and end points.

  ■ The center and end points are single coordinate input points.

  ■ The number of segments and the direction of generation (cw or ccw) must
    be entered when requested.

  ■ To start an arc from nothing you must first add a single active vertex
    and then call the generator. The arc takes its width and layer from the
    original path object or "arc seed".

  ■ Arc internal points are added on the nearest unit grid.

  ■ Arc end points are added on the nearest working grid.

  Hint:  If you are generating an arc with many vertices, you can speed up
    the process by pressing ESC or clicking the right mouse button, which
    causes drawing to be bypassed.

 Arrows

  Up, down, left and right arrows pan the drawing window.

  ■ The drawing window is moved by a certain fraction of its width in the
    arrow's direction.

  ■ The display is redrawn.

  The arrow keys on the keyboard perform this same function to be
  consistent with other CAD systems.

  Read DRAW.

 Attach

  ATTACH installs a cell from a common cell pool in a drawing's cell
  collection.

  ■ ATTACH will first search to find if a cell already exists in the
    drawing. If one is found you will be ask if you want to continue. If a
    cell is not found, it will be immediately added to the cell collection.

  ■ ATTACH will turn a normal cell into an attached cell, but the attached
    cell must exist in the pool directory.

  ■ Higher rank cells may be attached but you will only get the boxes, poly
    and paths of the cell, and the cell will changed to a rank 1 cell.

  ■ If the "pool=" parameter in FORM.DBD is missing or blank, the ATTACH
    command will not work.

  Read the Attached Cells General topic.

 Cap

  CAP calls the capacitance calculator.

  To measure capacitance:

  1. You first must enter the capacitance units/physical area unit. This
     will usually be in pF/um2.

  2. After you enter the capacitance per unit area, all paths with ANY
     active vertex will be measured automatically, and the total
     capacitance will be displayed. To compensate for corners, half the
     width is subtracted from each segment length.

  3. After all paths are measured, all boxes with ANY active sides will be
     measured automatically, and the total capacitance of the paths and
     boxes will be displayed.

  4. The command will then go into manual mode. Any polygons or areas in
     cells that should be included in the capacitance can then be manually
     measured.

  5. When in manual mode, at the command prompt "[/]", you must fill the
     area to be measured with rectangular cursor areas by clicking the left
     mouse button at diagonally opposite corners of the areas.

  6. An area's capacitance and the sum of previous capacitances will always
     be displayed at the bottom of the screen.

  7. To end measuring, click the mouse on any menu button except a window
     command, or press ESC.

  Note:  Measured areas are indicated by a lightly dotted fill. To measure
    an irregular area manually you simply click small rectangular areas
    until the total area is filled with minimum overlaps.

  This command may be used as an area parameter calculator. For example,
  you can calculate the area of an integrated circuit by setting the
  capacitance per area to 1.

 cCel

  CCEL changes any active cells into the specified cell.

  ■ This command will not work in a rank 1 cell.

  ■ Attempting to change to an unknown cell or a cell too high in rank will
    abort the command.

  Cancel CCEL by pressing ENTER only or ESC.

 Cell

  CELL exits Cell Mode or System Mode and (re)enters Cell Mode.

  From System Mode:

  ■ You will be asked for a cellname.

  ■ If a new cellname is not in the cell collection, the rank will also be
    requested and you will create a new cell.

  From Cell Mode:

  ■ The first active cell that is found in the drawing becomes the default
    cellname, and you will automatically exit and reenter Cell Mode with
    that cell.

  ■ If no default cellname is found, you will be asked for one.

  ■ If a new cellname is not in the cell collection, the rank will also be
    requested and you will create a new cell.

  In either mode, press ENTER only or ESC to the cellname or rank question
  and you will go to System Mode.

  Note:  You can also enter Cell Mode in two other ways:

  1. You can use the LIST command and click the left mouse button on the
     name of a cell.

  2. You can go directly to a cell from DOS by typing the cellname on the
     command line after "lasi" when starting the program.

 cGet

  CGET (cell get) makes cells active.

  ■ A cell can be made active in two ways:

  1. If the rectangular cursor window completely encloses the cell's area,
     the cell will become active.

  2. If the left mouse button is double clicked while making the cursor
     window, a cell will become active if the cells's area overlaps the
     cursor window. This does not work if the cell is drawn only as an
     outline.

  ■ An active cell turns bright white on all layers.

  ■ An active cell drawn as an outline turns bright white and is filled
    with dots.

  ■ There is no dependence on VIEW or OPEN.

  ■ If a cell is not found in the cursor window a cellname will be asked.

  CGET only works on the top level of cells and has no effect on boxes,
  paths or text.

 Clrs

  CLRS enters into the Layer Attribute Display and allows the color of a
  layer to be set.

  ■ The number of the layer is shown in the layer's color.

  To exit, press ESC to the "Color Layer" question.

 Clyr

  CLYR changes the layer of boxes, paths or text.

  ■ If the value entered is not 1 through 64, the layer will be reasked.

  ■ Boxes must have ALL sides active to change layer.

  ■ Paths must have ANY vertex active to change layer.

  ■ Text will change layer if active.

  Read LAYR and TLYR.

 cMov

  CMOV (cell move) moves cells directly.

  ■ A cell can be moved in two ways:

  1. A cell will be moved if the rectangular cursor window completely
     encloses the cell's area.

  2. If the left mouse button is double clicked while making the cursor
     window, the cell will be moved if the cell's area overlaps the cursor
     window. This does not work if the cell is drawn only as an outline.

  ■ The first two cursor points form the cursor window.

  ■ The next two cursor points determine the distance to be moved.

  ■ The move part of the command accepts a single PKE distance entry.

  CMOV only works on the top level of cells and has no effect on boxes and
  paths.

 Cntr

  CNTR centers the drawing window.

  ■ The new center is a single point input from the mouse or a PKE
    coordinate entry.

  ■ The display is redrawn.

  Read DRAW.

 Copy

  COPY allows NORMAL cells to be copied or appended to other NORMAL cells.

  Rules for COPYing:

  ■ The source cell must be a NORMAL cell (not attached) in the drawing
    cell collection.

  ■ If the destination cell has a NEW NAME, a new cell will be created.

  ■ If the destination cell already exists, the source cell will be
    APPENDED to the existing cell.

  ■ If either the source or destination cells are attached cells, the
    command will abort.

  Inter-rank copying is permitted. If the source cell contains cells that
  have rank equal to or greater than the destination cell, those cells will
  not be copied. Boxes, paths and text are always copied.

  Appended objects appear as active objects in the destination cell. This
  allows you to move the appended parts if they overlay any previous
  objects.

  If the source or destination cells are incorrect, or if copying will
  overflow the maximum number of any objects, the copy operation will be
  cancelled and a message will be shown.

  Since COPY may be used to append to existing cells, it may be used as a
  means to copy parts of one cell into another. This is done by first using
  the MAKE command to create a temporary cell. Read the MAKE Command Topic.

  Also read the IMPORT Command Topic.

 cPut

  CPUT (cell put) makes cells inactive.

  ■ This the inverse of CGET, and works the same way.

  ■ If a cell is not found in the cursor window a cellname will be asked.

  Read APUT.
 Cpy

  CPY copies active objects.

  ■ The displacement is determined by a 2-point coordinate input.

  ■ The original objects are made inactive and the copies are made active.

  ■ Boxes are copied if ALL sides are active.

  ■ Cells are copied if they are active.

  ■ Vertices of paths are copied only if they are active. To copy a path
    completely it must be fully active (use FGET). This feature allows you
    to copy sections of paths.

  ■ Text is copied if it is active.

  ■ CPY accepts a single PKE distance entry.

  Read STEP.

 Cut

  CUT breaks a path into two separate paths at an active vertex.

  ■ This command works if there is ONLY ONE active vertex.

  ■ The last vertex at the cut point of the newly created path is made
    active.

  Use this command to break paths and polygons into smaller segments to
  create new constructions, and to make shorter paths and polygons that
  will be more manageable for translation into other CAD systems.

 cWth

  CWTH changes the width of paths and the size of text.

  ■ Paths with ANY vertex active will change width.

  ■ Text that is active will change its size to the new width.

  Read WDTH and TWTH.

 Dash

  DASH enters into the Layer Attribute Display and allows the type of dash
  to be set for a layer.

  ■ The pattern of the dash number is shown by the sample lines.

  ■ The dash number of the layer is shown above the corresponding colored
    layer number.

  To exit, press ESC to the "Dash Layer" question.

 Del

  DEL deletes objects or parts of objects.

  ■ An object's layer must be VIEWed and OPENed to be deleted.

  ■ Boxes are deleted if ALL sides are active.

  ■ Active vertices of paths are deleted.

  ■ Text is deleted if it is active.

  ■ Paths with one or no vertices on any layer are deleted.

  ■ Cells that are active are deleted without regard to the layers that
    they contain and the setting of the VIEW and OPEN commands.

  Important:  Before any object is deleted, the hard disk files DSBKUP.BP4
    and DSBKUP.CL4 are updated. If you make a mistake and delete the wrong
    thing, you can use the UNDO command to restore the drawing.

 dGrd

  DGRD sets the dot grid.

  ■ The dot grid is in physical units.

  ■ The dot grid may be any acceptable size and can be toggled on and off
    with the GRID command.

  ■ If the grid is smaller than the resolution set by the SET command it
    will not be drawn.

  ■ The present dot grid will be shown at the bottom of the screen.

  Read SET.

 DOS

  DOS temporally runs other programs from the DOS command line.

  ■ At least 64K of memory must be available for this command to work.

  ■ The DOS command from System Mode makes more memory available than the
    DOS command from Cell Mode because System Mode deallocates drawing
    space. If you use too much memory you may get an "Not Available"
    message.

  ■ Certain DOS command line operations may be done, DIR for example.

  ■ Certain small programs may be run if they can load into available
    memory.

  DO NOT run LASI utility programs from this command since the drawing
  information may not be current on the hard disk.

 Draw

  DRAW erases the drawing window and redraws the current cell.

  ■ Drawing of boxes, paths and text takes place in ascending layer order.

  ■ Lesser cells are drawn starting at the lowest rank and are overlayed
    upward.

  ■ The boxes, paths and text of the current cell always overlay all layers
    of any lesser cells.

  ■ If during redraw a cell's objects exceed the memory available, or a
    cell's BP4 or CL4 files are not found, a dotted outline will be
    substituted for the cell.

  ■ Paths with widths near the unit grid limit may appear distorted. This
    is because all drawing points are set in the unit grid.

  ■ If you try to draw a path or poly with a vertex count exceeding the
    limits of 250 and 500 respectively, the path or poly may not draw
    completely or fill correctly, but drawing will fail gracefully.

  ■ Paths may be drawn with or without a dashed center line. To toggle the
    center line on and off press the C key. A "C" displayed in the lower
    right of the screen indicates that center lines are ON.

  Read the Drawing Speed General topic for useful information.

 fGet

  FGET (full get) makes a box or path fully active.

  ■ A box is made fully active if ANY side is made active.

  ■ A path is made fully active if ANY vertex is made active.

  ■ FGET is the same as GET for text.

  ■ This command allows the entire box or path to be operated upon by any
    subsequent command if only a part is accessible.

  If you want to delete a box or path completely use this command first.

 Fill

  FILL enters into the Layer Attribute Display and allows the type of fill
  to be set for a layer.

  ■ The pattern of the fill number is shown by the sample boxes.

  ■ The fill number of the layer is shown above the corresponding colored
    layer number.

  ■ Boxes, paths and closed polygons will be filled with the chosen fill
    pattern.

  ■ The fill of all layers may be temporally turned off by answering "off"
    to the "Fill Layer" question. Calling FILL again will turn the fill
    back on.

  To exit, press ESC to the "Fill Layer" question.

 Fit

  FIT sets the size of the drawing window so that it will show all of the
  objects in a cell.

  ■ There is no dependence in VIEW or OPEN.

  ■ The display is redrawn.

  ■ If there are no objects present, fit will expand the drawing window to
    the maximum size permitted or the whole "universe".

  Read DRAW and the Universe General Topic.

 Flp

  FLP flips objects.

  ■ Flipping in either X or Y determined by a 2-point coordinate input.

  ■ The larger dimension of the cursor input determines the flip axis.

  ■ The cursor will show the approximate flip axis.

  ■ Boxes flip if ALL sides are active.

  ■ ALL vertices of a path flip if ANY vertex is active.

  ■ Text will flip if active.

  Note:  FLP and ROT do no commute. That is, the order in which these
    commands are used is important. Objects FLPed and ROTed in different
    orders are not the same.

  Read ROT.

 Form

  FORM displays the settings in the FORM.DBD file.

  ■ The parameters and their variables are shown on the first page.

  ■ The function key assignments are shown on the next two pages or until
    there are no more assignments.

  ■ Press ESC or click the right mouse button to goto the next page.

  Read the FORM File topic in General Information.

 fPut

  FPUT (full put) makes boxes and paths fully inactive.

  ■ This is the inverse of FGET.

  ■ A box is made fully inactive if ANY side is made inactive.

  ■ A path is made fully inactive if ANY single vertex is made inactive.

  ■ FPUT is the same as PUT for text.

  Use this command to make fully inactive a box or path when only a part of
  the box or path is displayed.

 Full

  FULL removes cells from being drawn as an outline.

  ■ Cells are changed from being drawn as an outline if a cell's area is
    completely enclosed by the rectangular cursor window.

  ■ If a cell is not found in the cursor window a cellname will be asked.

  Read OUTL.

 Get

  GET makes single parts of boxes and paths active.

  ■ The layer must be VIEWed and OPENed.

  ■ Box sides are made active if they pass anywhere within the rectangular
    cursor window.

  ■ Path vertices are made active if they are within the cursor window.

  ■ Text is made active if its reference point is in the cursor window.

  When made active:

  ■ Box sides turn bright white.

  ■ Vertices are marked and segments of paths that will move as a unit turn
    bright white.

  ■ Text turns bright white.

  GET is the default command when LASI is started.

 Grid

  GRID toggles the dot grid on and off.

  ■ The menu button intensifies to indicate that the grid is on.

  ■ The dot grid will not be drawn if the spacing is less that the drawing
    resolution set using the SET command.

  Read SET and DGRD.

 Hcpy

  HCPY expands the screen and calls a hardcopy program that makes a bitmap
  copy of the screen on a printer or to a file.

  When HCPY is called the screen will redraw to full size. The system will
  wait for a key to be pressed:

  ■ Press ENTER if you want to add the name, date and time to the screen
    and start a hardcopy.

  ■ Press CTRL-ENTER if you want to make a hardcopy of the screen without
    the name, date and time.

  ■ Press ESC anytime if you want to abort hardcopying.

  Note:  At least 64K of remaining memory is necessary to run a hardcopy
    program. If there isn't, the hardcopy will not execute and you will
    return to LASI Cell Mode.

  Read the Hardcopy General topic.

 Info

  INFO identifies an active object or gives drawing information.

  ■ Objects are taken in the order: box/path/cell.

  ■ Only the first active object found is reported.

  ■ For a box the layer is shown.

  ■ For a path the layer and the width are shown.

  ■ For text the layer and size are shown.

  ■ For a cell the name, number, position and orientation are shown.

  ■ No active object gives a parts count of the current cell and tells the
    amount of memory that is still free.

  Read SHOW.

 Import

  IMPORT allows ATTACHED cells to be brought into a drawing as NORMAL
  cells.

  Rules for IMPORTing:

  ■ The source must be an ATTACHED cell in the drawing cell collection.

  ■ If the destination cell has the SAME NAME as the source cell, the cell
    becomes a NORMAL cell and replaces all occurrences of its use in all
    other cells.

  ■ If the destination cell has a NEW NAME, a NEW NORMAL cell will be
    created with the new name.

  ■ The destination will always become a rank 1 cell.

  ■ If the source cell is not attached, the destination cell is already
    present or is an attached cell with a different name, the command will
    be aborted.

  ■ Cells never export back to the pool.

  If imported to the SAME NAME, a BP4 file will be copied from the pool to
  the drawing directory. You would use this procedure if you want to
  replace all occurrences of an attached cell in other cells with a normal
  cell that may be modified. You can then RENAM the normalized cell, and
  ATTACH the original cell again to make other modified versions.

  If the destination has a NEW NAME, a new normal cell will be created and
  the attached cell will remain unaffected. You can then modify the new
  cell and use it where desired.

  Notice that the difference between these two procedures is that in the
  first procedure the attached cell is replaced automatically wherever it
  is used. In the second procedure you generate an independent cell and you
  must replace any occurrences of the attached cell individually.

  If the source or destination cells are incorrect, or if importing will
  overflow the memory available, the import operation will be cancelled and
  a message will be shown.

  Read the COPY Command topic.

 Join

  JOIN connects two paths head to tail to form a new single path.

  Rules for JOINing:

  ■ This command works only if there are exactly two active vertices which
    are the beginning and end of a path.

  ■ If the active vertices are beginning and end of the same path and the
    path is not already closed, a segment will be added to close the path
    and both vertices will be made inactive.

  ■ If the active vertices are beginning and end of different paths and the
    vertices are at the same location, the paths will be merged into a
    single path, one vertex will be deleted, and one vertex will be made
    inactive.

  ■ If the active vertices are beginning and end of different paths and the
    vertices are at different locations, a segment will be added, the paths
    will be merged into a single path, and both vertices will be made
    inactive.

  Use this command to condense paths to reduce data, and to make closed
  polygons out of open polygon segments.

 Kill

  KILL removes a cell from the drawing

  ■ Cells are removed from the drawing's cell collection.

  ■ KILLed cells are removed from any other cells.

  ■ The cell internal files at the DOS system level are erased.

  Important:  It is recommended that you keep an archive of your cells
    using the TLCOUT.EXE utility program. This is the only way that you can
    recover a cell that has been accidentally KILLed.

 Layr

  LAYR sets the layer of boxes or paths to be ADDed.

  ■ If the value entered is not 1 through 64, the layer will be reasked.

  Read CLYR.

 List

  LIST lists the cells in the cell collection.

  ■ This command appears in both System and Cell Modes.

  ■ The mouse will also be active and the cursor can be positioned on the
    name of any of the cells listed. If the left mouse button is clicked on
    the cellname, Cell Mode will be entered for that cell.

  ■ If the left mouse button is clicked in a location that will not select
    a cell, it will be ignored.

  ■ Pressing ESC or clicking the right mouse button will step to the next
    page or will exit to the present mode.

  ■ Attached cell names appear in red in the cell list.

  The list of cells has a history feature. The number that appears in front
  of a cellname indicates the inverse order in which the cells were last
  opened. That is, number 1 is the last cell you worked on, number 2 the
  second to last, and so on. This allows you to go through a sequence of
  deeply nested cells, and then randomly return to a higher ranked cell.

  Rules for cell history:

  ■ If a cell is opened again, previous events for that cell are purged
    from the history.

  ■ An asterisk indicates the current cell.

  Hint:  LIST is the fastest way to change from cell to cell because you
    don't have to type or even precisely remember a cellname.

 Make

  MAKE makes a new cell from the active cells, boxes, paths and text.

  Rules for MAKE:

  ■ Boxes, paths and text are copied if ANY part is active.

  ■ The rank of the new cell will be one higher than the highest rank of
    any active cells.

  ■ The name must not already be in the cell collection. If it is, the
    prompt will be reasked. No name at all or ESC will cancel MAKE.

  Note:  When MAKE makes a new cell it first determines the area or outline
    of the current cell on which you are working. It then uses this area as
    the area of the new cell. It also uses the current origin as the origin
    of the new cell. Normally, you will enter into Cell Mode with the new
    cell and reposition the origin with the ORIG command. When Cell Mode is
    then exited the correct area will be recalculated.

  Hint:  When MAKE is used to create a new cell, its name is at the end of
    the cell list. Use LIST to go to the new cell to make any changes.


  MAKE can be used to copy all or part of one cell to another cell. First
  make a temporary cell and then go to System Mode and COPY the temporary
  cell to the destination cell. When you enter the destination cell the you
  will find the temporary cell appended to it. You can later KILL the
  temporary cell. Notice that you are in effect placing all or part of a
  cell on a "clipboard" and then inserting the objects on the clipboard
  into another cell. This is a common procedure used with many types of
  data exchange.

 Mov

  MOV moves the active sides of boxes, active vertices, active text and
  active cells.

  ■ The distance is determined from a 2-point coordinate input.

  ■ The cursor will show the approximate move.

  ■ MOVs are always done in multiples of the working grid, unless you press
    the A or ALT keys to switch to the unit grid.

  ■ MOV accepts a single PKE distance entry.

  Read WMOV, QMOV and CMOV.

 Obj

  OBJ sets the name or type of object to be added.

  ■ Responding with "b" will make boxes and "p" will make paths.

  ■ For adding a cell give the NAME of the cell.

  Note:  Boxes, paths and cells are treated equally as far as adding is
    concerned. However, boxes, paths and text are "basic" objects while
    cells are compound objects. Generally, there are different commands for
    these different types of objects.

 Octo

  OCTO is a toggle that enables octagonal cursor mode on certain commands.

  ■ The menu button intensifies to indicate that octagonal mode is on.

  ■ When octagonal mode is on, the cursor movement vector is snapped to the
    nearest 45 degrees. The commands ADD (for paths), MOV, WMOV, QMOV, CMOV
    and CPY are affected.

  This command is used to restrict drawing so that only 45 and 90 degree
  angles are allowed, which preserves drawing neatness and conforms to
  certain physical artwork generation requirements.

 Open

  OPEN sets the layers that can have their boxes, paths and text made
  active.

  ■ Boxes, paths and text that are not OPENed are blocked from the GET,
    FGET, WMOV, QMOV, PBEG and PEND commands.

  ■ Cell commands like CGET, CPUT or CMOV are not affected.

  VIEW and OPEN accept layer inputs that can be single layers in any order,
  or a dash (-) can be used to indicate all inclusive layers between the
  end layers. A dash alone will give all layers from 1 to 64.

 Orig

  ORIG relocates the coordinates of all objects in a cell drawing so that
  the single cursor input point is the 0,0 position.

  ■ This command allows objects to be constructed almost anywhere on the
    drawing window and then be repositioned as desired.

  ■ The working grid is the default grid, but may be changed to the unit
    grid with the A or ALT keys.

  Set you cell origin as soon as you make a cell, or you may have to
  relocate the cell each time it is used in higher ranking cells.

 Outl

  OUTL sets cells to draw as an outline.

  ■ A cell can be turned into an outline in two ways:

  1. Cells are changed to outlines if a cell's area is completely enclosed
     by the rectangular cursor window.

  2. If the mouse is double clicked while making the cursor window, cells
     will be outlined if the cell's area overlaps the cursor window.

  ■ An outlined cell will be drawn as a white rectangle with the name of
    the cell in text in the lower left corner. An active cell in outline
    will be drawn as a bright white rectangle filled with dots.

  ■ The cell's name can be toggled on and off by pressing the N key. An "N"
    displayed in the lower right of the screen indicates that names are ON.

  ■ If a cell is not found in the cursor window a cellname will be asked.

  You can greatly speed up an overall redraw by setting the cells in an
  region where you are not currently working to outline. When a cell is set
  to outline, retrieval of the cell's files from a disk is unnecessary and
  drawing the internal parts of a cell is skipped.

  Read FULL.

 OvSz

  OVSZ expands the sides of boxes, paths and closed poly by a certain
  distance.

  Rules for OVSZing:

  ■ A negative distance shrinks the sides.

  ■ Only active box sides are oversized.

  ■ All sides of paths or closed polygons are oversized if ANY vertex is
    active.

  ■ The oversizing algorithm used must identify a polygon as having a
    rotational angle of +/-360 deg. If this cannot be done, the poly will
    be unchanged.

  ■ If a poly contains adjacent sides that are folded back 180 deg on each
    other, the results will be undefined since the direction of folding
    cannot be identified.

  Note:  Acute angles on closed poly are not oversized correctly. You need
    to insert an additional vertex at an acute angle to prevent the peak of
    an acute angle from extending beyond the oversize distance.

  Read PSIZ.

 pBeg

  PBEG makes the first vertex of a path active.

  ■ This command works if ANY vertex of a path falls within the rectangular
    cursor window.

  ■ PBEG is useful when the JOIN command is to be used.

  Read PEND.

 pEnd

  PEND makes the last vertex of a path active.

  ■ This command works if ANY vertex of a path falls within the rectangular
    cursor window.

  ■ This command is useful both to find the end of a path and to reopen a
    closed path.

  Read PBEG.

 Plot

  PLOT calls the plotting program.

  ■ A plot will be made of the last cell as it was shown in the drawing
    window.

  ■ The drawing window center X,Y and width, and the cellname are passed to
    the plotting program.

  ■ The plotting program is named in the FORM "plot=" parameter.

  ■ Presently, the only plotting program is LASI2PGL.EXE.

  It is possible that you will not have enough contiguous memory available
  to run a plot program from LASI. If this happens, the program will not
  execute and you will return to LASI. To remedy this situation, either add
  more RAM, if possible, and remove or move to high memory any unnecessary
  resident programs (TSRs), if they are being kept in conventional memory .
  If this fails, run the plotting program by itself.  Read the HPGL
  Conversion help category for how to do this.

 pRev

  PREV reverses the order of the vertices in a path.

  ■ ALL paths that have ANY active vertex will be reversed.

  ■ The original active vertex remains active.

  Reversing the order allows vertices to be added to either the beginning
  or end of a path. It also allows paths to be JOINed properly.

 pSiz

  PSIZ changes the size of a path while still preserving its shape.

  ■ The multiplier is 1 for no change, and can be any number that will not
    cause the path to overflow the drawing area.

  ■ The geometric center of the path is kept constant.

  ■ If a small path is resized or if it is made too small, it may change
    shape due to the limited resolution of the unit grid.

  ■ PSIZ acts on paths that have ANY vertex active.

  Use PSIZ to make different sizes of complex polygon figures such as
  symbols or lettering.

  Read OVSZ.

 Put

  PUT makes single parts of boxes and paths inactive.

  ■ This is the inverse of GET and works the same way.

  Read FPUT and APUT.

 qMov

  QMOV (quick move) functions like the sequence GET, MOV, PUT.

  ■ This command works on box sides that pass through the cursor window,
    and on vertices or text reference points that are enclosed by the
    cursor window.

  ■ Box and path layers must be VIEWed and OPENed.

  ■ The move part of this command accepts a single PKE distance entry.

  QMOV is useful for making small vertex movements and small box side
  movements when the path or box is only partly accessible.

  Read WMOV.

 Quit

  QUIT exits from the LASI drawing system to DOS.

  ■ All current information about the drawing is saved on the hard disk in
    the drawing directory.

  ■ The condition of DOS when LASI was entered is restored.

  The drawing may be reentered by running LASI.EXE again. However, the
  cells that may have been stored on a RAM disk will be unknown to LASI and
  will have to be relearned by drawing them once.

  CTRL-END has the same effect as QUIT.

 ReNam

  RENAM changes the name of a cell.

  ■ Cellnames must conform to DOS filename rules.

  ■ This command will not work if the new name is the name of a cell that
    already exists in the cell collection or is a reserved name such as "b"
    or "p".

  To give a cell another cell's name in a cell collection, you must first
  RENAM or KILL the original cell and then RENAM the cell.

 Res

  RES calls the resistance calculator.

  To measure resistance:

  1. You first must enter the sheet resistance in resistance units/square.
     This will usually be ohms/square.

  2. You will next be asked for the End Compensation. This is the number of
     squares to be added or subtracted to compensate for any effects of
     resistor heads. This depends on how you draw your resistors and can be
     a fractional number.

  3. After you enter the sheet resistance, if a path with ANY active vertex
     is found, the path will be automatically traced from beginning to end
     and the total resistance will be displayed. To compensate for corners,
     half the width is always subtracted from each segment length.

  4. After a SINGLE path is measured the command will enter manual mode.

  5. If no path has been found, you will have to manually enter the
     resistor width, otherwise, the path width is taken as the resistor
     width.

  6. In manual mode, at the "<-->" command prompt, the width of the
     resistor must be measured by a 2-point coordinate input or a single
     PKE distance entry.

  7. At the command prompt "R-->", you can then calculate resistance by
     making 2-point coordinate distance measurements along the length of a
     resistor. The distance will be displayed by a dashed line, and the
     incremental resistance and the total resistance will be displayed at
     the bottom of the screen.

  8. To end measuring, click the mouse on any menu button except a window
     command, or press ESC.

  Note:  To automatically measure a path, it must be a path in the present
    cell. Paths that are visible but are part of a cell within the present
    cell must still be manually measured.

  This command can be used as a ratio parameter calculator. For example, to
  measure a MOS gate size, set the sheet resistance to 1. Measure the gate
  width as the resistor width and the gate length as the resistor length.

 rDrw

  RDRW redraws the drawing with the layers in descending order.

  ■ The drawing order rules for lesser cells of DRAW apply to RDRW.

  This command is useful if you want to overlay fills so that objects that
  would normally be covered by objects on higher layers remain visible.

  Read DRAW.

 Rot

  ROT rotates objects.

  ■ Rotation is around a single cursor input point.

  ■ Boxes, text and cells rotate +/-90, 180 deg.

  ■ Paths rotate through any angle.

  ■ Boxes rotate if ALL sides are active.

  ■ ALL vertices of a path rotate if ANY vertex is active.

  ■ Text and cells rotate if they are active.

  Note:  Sometimes a rotated path may not be exactly identical to an
    original if it has been rotated and then rotated back. This is caused
    by rounding coordinates to the unit grid each time a rotation takes
    place.

  Read FLP.

 Rstr

  RSTR restores a drawing window.

  ■ RSTR does not accept keyboard entries in the usual way, that is,
    terminated by ENTER. It requires only a number key to be pressed.

  ■ Only the keys 0-9 will execute the command, otherwise the window number
    will be reasked.

  ■ Window 0 is always the previous window.

  ■ Windows 1-9 should have been saved using the SAVE command.

  ■ The restored drawing window is immediately redrawn.

  ■ Press ESC to abort RSTR.

  Note:  RSTR has a LAST WINDOW FEATURE. Whenever a window is changed, the
    previous window remembered. Reclicking the right mouse button will
    cause the original window to be restored.

 Save

  SAVE saves a drawing window.

  ■ The windows are numbered 1-9.

  ■ SAVE does not accept keyboard entries in the usual way, that is,
    terminated by ENTER. It requires only a number key to be pressed.

  ■ Only the keys 1-9 are acceptable window numbers, otherwise, the window
    number will be reasked.

  ■ Press ESC to abort SAVE.

  The windows saved are global, that is they are independent of the Cell
  Mode rank that you are in. The windows are stored in the CONSTS4.DBD file
  when you quit LASI, and are returned when you rerun the program.

 Scale

  SCALE is used to set the name of the physical scale units of the drawing
  and the number of basic units per physical unit.

  Rules for setting scales:

  ■ The scale units name can be anything, but for integrated circuits "um"
    and "mil" are preferred because some utility programs use these units.

  ■ Only the first 5 characters will be accepted for the scale name.

  ■ The number of basic units per physical unit will usually be an integer
    greater than 1, but fractional scales are permitted.

  The scale that is set by this command really only relates the basic units
  in which a drawing is internally done to the inputs that you give to
  certain questions and to dimensions that you see externally. All inputs
  and outputs are converted by the scale to and from basic units.

  When setting up a scale, you should determine the maximum size that your
  drawing could be and then set your scale so that the maximum number of
  basic units (65536) is slightly larger than that size. For example, a
  typical integrated circuit will fit in 16 mm, which would result from
  using a scale of 4 basic units/micron, or .25um drawing resolution.

 Set

  SET allows you to change certain parameters and the actions of certain
  commands.

  Presently 5 parameters can be set:

  1. The resolution of the drawing can be set.

       Resolution = size of drawing window / minimum size of figure.

  Resolution affects the following:

  ∙ Boxes are not drawn if both dimensions are less than the minimum size.

  ∙ Paths or poly are not drawn if the distance from the minimum vertex to
    the maximum vertex in both dimensions is less than the minimum size.

  ∙ Paths are drawn as lines if their width is less than the minimum size.

  ∙ Text is not drawn if its size (height) is less than the minimum size.

  ∙ The dot grid is not draw if its spacing is less than the minimum size.

  Note:  Normally, a resolution of 200-500 is about right for standard VGA.
    Usually there is no need to make the resolution greater than the number
    of pixels across the drawing window. Occasionally, some small figures
    may disappear if the resolution is too low. If this is a problem set
    the resolution higher.

  2. The text spacing ratio can be set. This is the fraction of the size of
     text characters with which the characters are spaced. The value is
     clamped between .5 and 2.

  3. The number of "ticks" that determine the mouse button double click
     interval can be set. The number is an integer and is clamped between 0
     and 32767.

  4. The Auto Sort Time, the time before an automatic SORT and backup takes
     place can be set. The time can be from 1 to 32767 minutes.

  5. The number of working grids that you intend to use can be set so that
     you won't have to step through extra working grids with the WGRD
     command.

  6. The size of the working grids in physical units can be set. You must
     enter all the grids, but pressing ENTER or ESC keeps the default value
     in the parentheses.

  Press ESC to exit SET anywhere in the sequence.

 Show

  SHOW gives information about an object.

  In System Mode, SHOW gives the following information about a cell:

  ■ The cell's rank, number in the cell collection and if it is attached.

  ■ The cell's outline boundaries as found in the cell collection list.

  ■ The number of cells, boxes, paths and vertices in the cell.

  ■ A listing of the named cell's lesser cells.

  ■ The number of boxes and paths (including text) on the layers.

  In Cell Mode, SHOW gives information on the first active object that it
  finds in the order. box/path/cell:

  ■ For a box, the positions of the sides and the layer are shown.

  ■ For a path, the vertex positions, the layer, the width and an active
    vertex mark "*" are shown.

  ■ For text, the reference point, the layer, the size and the characters
    will be shown.

  ■ For a cell, the information is similar to the System Mode SHOW, but
    also includes the position and orientation of the cell.

  ■ No active object gives a parts count of the current cell.

  Press ESC or click the right mouse button to continue or exit from SHOW.

 Smsh

  SMSH smashes any active cells, text or boxes into their component objects
  and adds them to the current cell. The original active objects are
  deleted.

  Rules for SMSHing:

  ■ Cells are smashed down one rank at a time. You may have to do multiple
    smashes if you want to reduce higher rank cells all the way to boxes,
    paths and text.

  ■ Text is smashed into poly objects that replace the original text. These
    poly are the same as any other poly, and may be rotated to any angle or
    given width to make paths. Smashing text can increase the number of
    paths and vertices considerably if you are not careful.

  ■ Boxes must have all sides active. A box will be replaced by a five
    vertex polygon with the same dimensions.

  Note:  If you try to SMSH any object that will cause any of your object
    limits to be exceeded, or if you run out of memory, the object will not
    be smashed but will remain intact and active. You will get a message
    for each object component that cannot be added. If you are smashing
    text or boxes you may get a partial poly conversion, but the original
    object will remain.

  Important:  Before any object is smashed, the hard disk files DSBKUP.BP4
    and DSBKUP.CL4 are updated. If you make a mistake and smash the wrong
    thing, you can use the UNDO command to restore the drawing.

 Sort

  SORT cleans, sorts and stores a backup of the drawing.

  ■ Boxes which have two or more sides superimposed are deleted.

  ■ Sequential vertices with the same coordinates are deleted.

  ■ Paths with one or no vertices are deleted.

  ■ Any cells that may for some reason have rank greater or equal to the
    current cell will be deleted.

  ■ Boxes, paths and text are sorted in ascending order of their layers and
    their Y-position.

  ■ Cells are sorted according to their Y-position and their order in the
    CELLS4.DBD file.

  ■ BP4 and CL4 files of the current cell are updated on the hard disk.

  ■ The backup files SORTBKUP.BP4 and SORTBKUP.CL4 are updated on the hard
    disk. If the UNDO command is used, these may be used to restore the
    cell to what it was when the last sort was done.

  ■ You may stop a long sort by pressing the SPACE bar. Eventually, when
    objects are in good order, sorting will be fast.

  Note:  The SORT command will be executed automatically if you do not
    click either mouse button before the Auto Sort Time times out. This
    feature protects your drawing if you leave it unattended.

  Hint:  Sorting should be done periodically while working on a drawing.
    This not only cleans any defective objects, but also improves drawing
    speed by ordering the cells.

 Step

  STEP steps active objects into an Nx by Ny two-dimensional array.

  ■ Nx and Ny are presently limited to 1024 max.

  ■ Stepping distances in X and Y are determined by a 2-point coordinate
    input. This may also be entered as a single PKE distance entry.

  ■ The original active objects are copied repeatedly just as though the
    CPY command was used. The final copied objects remain active, while all
    previous copies become inactive.

  ■ Stepping can be ended by pressing the SPACE bar.

  Note:  Care should be used with this command because you can easily fill
    up your cell's object capacity if you don't watch your numbers. If this
    happens press SPACE to end stepping.

 Sys

  SYS exits directly from Cell Mode to System Mode.

  ■ All active objects are made inactive.

  ■ The current cell is saved on the hard disk in the drawing directory.

  Note:  Any cells that may have been put on a RAM disk remain known to
    LASI when you go to System Mode. You lose these only when you QUIT.

 Text

  TEXT generates a text object.

  To generate text you must provide the following:

  1. The reference point, a single coordinate input point, which is the
     lower left corner of the character field where the first text
     character is to be placed.

  2. The text character string of up to 40 characters terminated by ENTER.

  The string of text should appear in the drawing made from polygons. The
  layer and size of the characters will be taken from the current TLYR and
  TWTH settings. The CLYR and CWTH commands may be used to change the text
  layer and size.

  Text Properties:

  ■ Text is always left justified and appears on a single line. There is no
    text editor, so you must delete and rewrite any text.

  ■ You can make the text active using the GET or FGET commands.

  ■ You may copy, rotate, flip and move the text using the CPY, ROT, FLP
    and the several types of move commands.

  ■ Text size will always be in integral multiples of 15 basic units. This
    is to prevent distortion of the characters.

  ■ A text object is seen by LASI as a single point, the reference point.
    To operate on a text object, the reference point must fall within any
    cursor window.

  ■ The T key toggles the reference point between visible (a small diamond,
    same color as text) and invisible. A "T" displayed in the lower right
    of the screen indicates that reference points are visible.

  Hint:  To make text characters that are to appear permanently on any IC
    masks, first make text of the appropriate size and then SMSH the text.
    Since any characters must have a width that will reproduce on the
    masks, you will first have to give the smashed poly some width with the
    CWTH command, and then modify the paths using the MOV, CUT, JOIN, etc.
    commands to make the characters look better.

  Read the Text Generation help category for more information.

 TLC-In
 TLC-Out

  TLC-IN and TLC-OUT are commands that call the TLCIN.EXE and TLCOUT.EXE
  programs which convert internal cell data TO and FROM transportable (TLC)
  format. "In" means convert TLC files FROM some source TO internal form in
  your present drawing. "Out" means convert FROM internal form in your
  present drawing TO some destination in TLC format.

  With either command, the default source or destination disk drive is the
  floppy drive that is in the "fdisk=" parameter in the FORM.DBD file. Any
  acceptable drive or path may be entered in place of that drive.

  If you want to refer to TLC files in the current drawing directory enter
  a period "." to the drive question.

  You may specify up to 10 cellnames separated by spaces.

  TLC-OUT without any cellname(s) dumps to the destination disk ALL drawing
  cells as TLC files along with the CELLS.REF file.

  TLC-IN without any cellname(s) retrieves ALL cells by reading the
  CELLS.REF file on the Source disk and translating TLC files into internal
  file form (BP4 & CL4 files).

  These commands have considerable power since you can also specify the
  name of any system disk device as the source or destination. You can also
  give a path as part the disk specification, so that cell files can be
  TAKEN FROM or SENT TO other directories other than your drawing
  directory.

  Unless you are familiar with the use of DOS paths and remember just where
  you put things, you can get into trouble this way by mixing up the cells
  in different drawings.


  Note:  These commands really only run TLCIN.EXE or TLCOUT.EXE as a child
  process from LASI. It is possible that you might run out of memory, and
  the program will return a "Not Available" or other error message. If this
  happens, you must run TLCIN.EXE or TLCOUT.EXE alone in memory. Read the
  TLC Conversion help category for instructions on running the TLC
  converters.
 tLyr

  TLYR sets the layer of text to be ADDed.

  ■ If the value entered is not 1 through 64, the layer will be reasked.

  Read LAYR and CLYR.

 tWth

  TWTH sets the width (size) of text to be ADDed.

  ■ If a pathwidth is entered that is unacceptable, then the prompt will be
    repeated with the value in the default parentheses.

  ■ The width will be snapped to multiples of 15 basic units, the allowed
    text sizes.

  Read WDTH and CWTH.

 Undo

  UNDO aborts the current Cell Mode cell.

  ■ This command will restore either the original cell that existed when
    the mode was entered or the cell as it was when the last SORT, DEL or
    SMSH command was done.

  ■ Answering anything other than "o", "s" or "d" to the "Restore ..."
    question cancels the UNDO command.

  Read the SORT, DEL and SMSH topics.

 View

  VIEW sets the layers that will be drawn on the display.

  ■ Boxes, paths and text that are not VIEWed are blocked from the GET,
    FGET, WMOV, QMOV, PBEG and PEND commands.

  ■ Any active boxes or vertices will be drawn as bright white line
    segments or as bright white vertex marks regardless of the VIEW
    setting. This allows you to see where any active object are located,
    which still will be affected by MOV, CPY, ROT, FLP or DEL commands.

  VIEW and OPEN accept layer inputs that can be single layers in any order,
  or a dash (-) can be used to indicate all inclusive layers between the
  end layers. A dash alone will give all layers from 1 to 64.

  Read OPEN.

 Wdth

  WDTH sets the width of paths to be ADDed.

  ■ The present range of acceptable widths is 2 to 1024 basic units.

  ■ If a pathwidth is entered that is unacceptable, then the prompt will be
    repeated with the value in the default parentheses.

  ■ A width of 0 is also acceptable. This produces paths of zero width or
    polygons (poly).

  A positive width causes the end of a path to be flush with its
  coordinate. A negative width produces a path whose end extends half the
  width beyond the coordinate. This is for CALMA compatibility. Use of
  negative widths is generally discouraged.

  Read CWTH.

 wGet

  WGET (window get) is a combination of GET and CGET.

  ■ Cells, boxes, paths and text are affected the same way as those
    commands.

  WGET is useful if you are MOVing large sections of a drawing because you
  can see just which object are active before the operation. WGET makes
  active single sides of boxes and single vertices of paths, which are then
  pulled with active cells when MOVing is done.

  Read AGET.

 wGrd

  WGRD steps through the list of working grids.

  ■ The working grids should have been entered using the SET command.

  ■ The present working grid will be shown at the bottom of the screen.

  Note:  WGRD when assigned to a function key accepts a numerical argument.
    For example, a parameter in the FORM.DBD file "fkey=wgrd,10" assigns a
    function key so that when the key is pressed the working grid is set to
    10 physical units. However, if "fkey=wgrd" is the parameter, you will
    be prompted for a working grid to be set.

  Read SET and the FORM File General topic.

 wMov

  WMOV (window move) moves boxes, paths and cells.

  ■ The sides of boxes or vertices of paths are moved if they are enclosed
    within the rectangular cursor window.

  ■ Cells are also moved, but only if the cursor window completely encloses
    the cell's area. The cell may be drawn fully or be in outline.

  ■ The first two coordinate points form the cursor window.

  ■ The next two coordinate points determine the distance to be moved.

  ■ A box side must be completely enclosed by the cursor window.

  ■ Box and path layers must be VIEWed and OPENed.

  ■ The move part of this command accepts a single PKE distance entry.

  WMOV is useful for stretching large sections of drawings orthogonally,
  for selectively doing box side movements and for quickly doing small
  vertex movements.

 Xpnd

  XPND expands the width of the drawing window.

  ■ The new window width is multiplied by 2.

  ■ The display is redrawn.

  Continuously XPNDing will eventually cause the window to expand to the
  maximum size permitted or the whole "universe".

  Read DRAW and the Universe General topic.

 Zoom

  ZOOM reduces the drawing window size.

  ■ The new drawing window will be the best fit of the rectangular cursor
    window.

  ■ The display is redrawn with the new drawing window.

  ■ ZOOM works over a 1000:1 range.

  Hint:  To ZOOM to a minimum window at a certain position, click the mouse
    on that same position twice. This will zoom to the default minimum
    window size centered at the cursor position.

  Read DRAW.

TLC Conversion

 Introduction

  TLC (Transportable LASI Cells) is a form of LASI cell data that is used
  for drawing cell data storage and interchange. TLC files are ASCII
  sequential files written in a well documented form. TLC files are easily
  readable by programming languages including BASIC and C. TLC is
  convenient for writing special programs to be used with LASI such as
  drawing transformation utilities or translators from other drawing
  systems. (CIF2TLC.EXE, TLC2CIF.EXE and CSF2TLC.EXE are examples.)

  Each TLC file contains the information needed to construct a single cell.
  The file contains information on the boxes, paths, text and cells in a
  cell. It does not contain information on how to make any cells that may
  be used within a cell. To build a complete drawing you need a COMPLETE
  set of TLC files.

  By way of definition, cell files in TLC are called EXTERNAL files, while
  cell files used by LASI directly (BP4 and CL4) are called INTERNAL files.
  TLC files have the extension .TLC in DOS. Internal files are designed for
  the computers convenience, while external files are designed for human
  convenience.

  The program TLCIN.EXE converts external TLC files to internal BP4 and CL4
  files. The program TLCOUT.EXE converts internal files to external TLC
  files.

  Using TLC is the ONLY WAY that cells can be installed in a LASI drawing
  from an external source. This is because the internal files use a pointer
  system of referring to a cell to save memory space. This pointer is the
  position in the CELLS4.DBD file of a cell's information, which cannot be
  changed without changing all cell references. The programs TLCIN.EXE and
  TLCOUT.EXE take referencing into account and adjust accordingly.

  Since each cell has its own TLC file, and a TLC file may not really
  contain all the information to construct a cell if it has lesser cells
  within it, the TLC files for the lesser cells will have to be present for
  conversion to internal form using TLCIN.EXE. When converting to external
  form, the TLCOUT.EXE converter program is smart enough to make the TLC
  files of any lesser cells automatically.

  When conversion from external to internal is being done, the lesser cells
  will also be made in internal form if they are not already present in the
  drawing cell collection. You may optionally also replace any cells that
  are already there with new ones.

 Conversion Errors

  It is possible that files may be missing, incorrect or there may not be
  enough memory when converting. TLCIN.EXE and TLCOUT.EXE will try to
  construct a drawing as best as possible by making a FALSE CELL. A false
  cell is a cell containing only the name of the cell enclosed in double
  angle brackets in text on layer 64. The rank of a false cell will always
  be 1, so that it will always appear in other cells. If a false cell is
  made, TLC will indicate the error, and continue as well as it can.

  Since it has rank 1, the false cell will contain no other cells. However,
  if the error is corrected, and TLCIN or TLCOUT is used to overwrite the
  false cell, normal cell nesting will be constructed. The false cell may
  be thought of as a token or placeholder for the missing cell where it is
  used in other cells. TLC will always try to replace the token cell with
  the actual cell in the drawing cell collection once the correct
  information is available to make the actual cell.

 Pooled Cells

  When converting internal files to TLC files, TLCOUT.EXE will look for an
  ATTACHED cell that may be used in a drawing in the POOL directory as
  listed in the FORM.DBD file. If it doesn't find it, it will produce a
  token TLC file consisting of the name of the cell in text. It will not
  look for an attached cell in the drawing directory.

  When converting from TLC form, TLCIN.EXE will put ALL cells in the
  DRAWING directory since it has no knowledge (nor should it) of any cells
  that may have come from a pool. Keep this in mind if you are converting
  into a drawing.

 Conversion Options

  The TLCOUT.EXE program has 2 Conversion Options:

  1. Convert ALL Cells to TLC:
     ALL Cells are converted from the source to the destination. This is
     the standard drawing dump to TLC form.

  2. Convert NAMED Cells to TLC:
     NAMED cells are converted to TLC from the source to the destination.
     Cells that are needed to construct a cell of greater rank are also
     converted as an option.


  The TLCIN.EXE program has 2 Conversion Options:

  1. Convert ALL Cells from TLC:
     This requires that the CELLS.REF file exist at the source. The names
     of all the cells at the source are simply read from the CELLS.REF file
     in that location and are converted as if they had been named
     individually in Option 2 below. If the CELLS.REF file is missing at
     the source then Option 2 only may be used.

  2. Convert NAMED Cells from TLC:
     NAMED cells are converted to internal files. The CELLS4.DBD file at
     the destination is augmented with the NAMED cell. If lesser cells are
     needed they are also converted from the source TLC into internal files
     at the destination. If the cells are not present at the destination
     they will be converted automatically. If the lesser cells are present
     at the destination you will have the option to replace them with new
     ones. Therefore, to fully reconstruct a cell from TLC, all lesser
     cells must be present either in the source or destination cell
     collections in TLC or internal form.

  When converting back from TLC form, the TLCIN program knows if a cell is
  in the destination by reading the CELLS4.DBD file. TLCIN will replace the
  named cell but will OPTIONALLY replace lesser cells, the cells within the
  named cell. If any cells do not exist in the drawing cell collection they
  will be made.

  If the CELLS4.DBD file is not present at the destination, then one will
  be created.

  To convert a complete layout drawing from TLC using TLCIN, you start with
  a blank directory, and name the main drawing cell to be converted, or use
  the CELLS.REF file as above. The TLCIN program then reconstructs the
  whole drawing by making all lesser cells first, and then the named main
  cell.

  In all options the CONSTS4.DBD file of the source or destination
  directory is left unaffected. If a drawing is reconstructed from TLC, you
  must load your favorite CONSTS4.DBD file, or let LASI provide a default
  one when it starts up.

 Running TLCIN.EXE or TLCOUT.EXE

  When running either TLC program you pass parameters as arguments on the
  DOS command line. Arguments are separated by one or more spaces.

  The FIRST is the SOURCE path, the disk name or "." for the current
  directory.

  The SECOND is the DESTINATION path, the disk name or "." for the current
  directory.

  The NEXT parameters are needed only if the NAMED cell option is used, and
  is a list of up to 10 cellnames to be converted.

  Hint:  Run the TLCIN or TLCOUT  without any arguments to get HELP.

  Important:  If you use POOLED cells and run TLCOUT, the FORM.DBD file
    must be present in the source directory. TLCOUT.EXE needs this
    information to find the cells.


  Things to remember when converting:

    The first TWO parameters MUST be present on the command line or you
    will get the help message.

    For either option 1 above, the file CELLS4.DBD or CELLS.REF must be in
    the source directory.

    If there are no NAME parameters, option 1 is assumed.

 The CELLS.REF File

  As TLC makes it, the CELLS.REF file is a copy of CELLS4.DBD.

  You may change the CELLS.REF file to convert modified lists of cells into
  Internal form.

  To remove a cell, delete the cell's name and the data line that follows
  it in the CELLS.REF file.

  To add a cell, insert the cell's name on a single line and then the
  cell's rank on the next line. You don't need any additional data on the
  second line.

  The entry on the first line of the CELLS.REF file is the number of cells
  in the file. If you add or delete cells, you should adjust this number.
  When TLC converts to Internal form using CELLS.REF, it counts either to
  the number of cells it reads on the first line or to the end of the file,
  whichever comes first.

  Do all this with a text editor that produces standard DOS text files.

 TLC Format

  Cell files in TLC have a record structure. There are presently five kinds
  of records: Header, Cell, Box, Path and Text.

  The records for the objects in the cell are preceded by an "equals code"
  consisting of two characters: the first being "=" and the second being
  "H", "C", "B", "P" an "T" for Header, Cell, Box, Path or Text
  respectively. The TLC program then looks for the type of object to be
  made and acts accordingly. If at some time in the future, other objects
  are added to LASI, similar code will be used.

  If a data error is encountered during translation, it is possible that
  one or two objects may be incorrectly reconstructed from TLC. The equals
  code will try to resynchronize the data and correct translation will then
  resume. The Header record contains an object count and this is compared
  to the actual number of objects made, and miscounts are indicated by the
  TLC program.

  All records, including the Header, may be written in any order in a TLC
  file.

 Records in Detail

  Header Record:      <nl>= carriage return + linefeed    <sp>= space

      1= =H<nl>
      2= Name of Cell (DOS file name)<nl>
      3= Version of LASI (literal)<nl>
      4= Version of TLC (literal)<nl>
      5= Basic Units per Physical Unit<nl>
      6= Name of Physical Unit (literal)<nl>
      7= Date of Cell Conversion (literal)<nl>
      8= Time of Cell Conversion (literal)<nl>
      9= Rank of Cell<sp>
      10= Left Outline Boundary in basic units<sp>
      11= Bottom Boundary in basic units<sp>
      12= Right Boundary in basic units<sp>
      13= Top Boundary in basic units<nl>
      14= Number of Boxes<sp>
      15= Number of Paths<sp>
      16= Number of Vertices<sp>
      17= Number of Cells<nl>

      Note:  Versions must begin with a numeric character

  Cell Record Entries:

      1= =C<nl>
      2= Name of Lesser Cell<nl>
      3= Orientation (see below)<sp>
      4= X Position in basic units<sp>
      5= Y Position in basic units<sp>
      6= reserved (presently zero)<nl>

      Property Number: (0-15)
        16 bit integer, all bits 0 except:

          Bit 4,
            0= draw cell fully
            1= draw cell outline

        Orientation:
          Bit 3,
            0= cell not flipped
            1= cell is flipped in X before rotation

          Bits 2 and 1,
            0,0 = no rotation
            0,1 = 90 deg rotation CCW
            1,0 = 180 deg rotation CCW
            1,1 = 270 deg rotation CCW

  Box Record Entries:

      1= =B<nl>
      2= Layer of Box<sp>
      3= X of Lower Left Corner in basic units<sp>
      4= Y of Lower Left Corner in basic units<sp>
      5= X of Upper Right Corner in basic units<sp>
      6= Y of Upper Right Corner in basic units<nl>

  Path/Poly Record Entries:

      1= =P<nl>
      2= Layer of Path/Poly<sp>
      3= Width in basic units<sp>
      4= No. of Vertices in path/poly<nl>
      5= Vertices in basic units in the form:
      X1<sp>Y1<sp>X2<sp>Y2<sp>X3<sp>Y3<sp>X4<sp>Y4<sp>X5<sp>Y5<nl>
      .......Xn-1<sp>Yn-1<sp>Xn<sp>Yn<nl>

      (Groups of 5 coordinates separated by <sp> ended by <nl>,
      always with <nl> after Last Coordinate Pair)

  Text Record Entries:

      1= =T<nl>
      2= Layer of Text<sp>
      3= Size in basic units<sp>
      4= No. of Vertices used by text (includes Ref Point)<sp>
      5= Orientation 0-7 (same as cells)<nl>
      6= X Ref Point in basic units<sp>
      7= Y Ref Point in basic units<nl>
      8= ASCII character text string<nl> (u/l case, up to 32 characters)

CSF Conversion

 Introduction

  LASI drawings are not very useful if they cannot be transformed into the
  more commonly used CAD system formats. The most common is GDSII CALMA
  Stream Format. Although CALMA drawing systems for ICs have become
  somewhat obsolete, the data format survives, and newer CAD systems such
  as CADENCE or MENTOR can usually convert it. LASI can be converted to
  CALMA Stream Format (CSF) exactly, and from CSF with some limitations.

  LASI has a drawing structure that is very similar to the CALMA drawing
  system, with the exception that LASI has box objects and is more limited
  in its data capacity and cell nesting depth. In LASI, cells are similar
  to CALMA structures, except that a definite rank is given to a cell. In
  LASI there are no CALMA boundary figures, instead there are zero width
  paths called poly. LASI drawings transform easily into CALMA because a
  box can be made into a boundary, a poly can become a boundary also, a
  path can transform directly into a path, and cells can easily become
  structures, partly due to their ranked orderly nesting.

  Since LASI drawings are more or less a subset of CALMA, conversion to
  CALMA is easy. More difficult is conversion from CALMA to LASI because
  there are things in CALMA (like arrays) that don't exist in LASI (yet).
  Conversion is possible in most cases if certain restrictions are used in
  the original CALMA drawing (such as limiting the structure nesting or
  using only small arrays).

 Conversion Programs

  The LASI2CSF.EXE program converts a LASI drawing into a binary file which
  is in CALMA Stream Format (CSF). This format is used as the standard for
  preserving and interchanging CALMA drawings. The file generated by
  LASI2CSF.EXE may be sent directly to a CALMA, may be put onto magtape if
  sent to some larger computer that has magtape capability, or may be put
  on a floppy disk (in DOS format) for reading by work stations with that
  capability.

  The CSF2TLC.EXE program will read back a CSF file and will construct a
  LASI drawing in TLC form as best as possible. A drawing first done on
  LASI will reconstruct exactly if returned from a CALMA without having
  been modified in some non-compatible way. Drawings made originally on
  CALMA may occasionally convert differently, since LASI presently doesn't
  have such things as datatypes, texttypes, arrays or layer 0.

  CSF2TLC produces TLC files for good reason. There can be essentially an
  infinite number of TLC files, so that a CSF file with almost any number
  of structures can be converted to TLC files. The TLC files can then be
  selectively converted into LASI drawings if necessary due to any LASI
  object allocation limitations.

  Note that CALMA Stream Files used by LASI2CSF.EXE and CSF2TLC.EXE have
  the extension ".CSF". This is a convention that not always standard. You
  may have to rename you file extensions.

 Running LASI2CSF.EXE

  1. LASI2CSF.EXE must be present in the \LASI4 directory with a "PATH"
     opened to it by execution of the DOS PATH command. You MUST run the
     program with the current DOS directory the directory of the drawing to
     be converted.

  2. LASI2CSF will ask for the CALMA drawing name. This is the name that
     the drawing would have on the CALMA. This may be defaulted by just
     pressing ENTER.

  3. LASI2CSF reads the CELLS4.DBD file, the CONSTS4.DBD file and the
     FORM.DBD file in the current directory. CONSTS4.DBD sets the scales
     that appear in the starting dialog as default values. The FORM.DBD
     file tells LASI2CSF where to find any "pooled" cells.

  4. LASI2CSF asks for the "Disk\Path\Name" of the CSF file. The extension
     ".CSF" will be added, so don't include it in the name of the CSF file.
     If a name is unacceptable, it will be reasked until an acceptable one
     is given.

  5. If you have previously run LASI2CSF, there will be a setup file in the
     drawing directory named LASI2CSF.SET. If this is found, you will be
     asked if you want to use the information. This can save time if you do
     conversions often on a drawing. If you choose to use the default setup
     data, steps 6-10 below will be skipped.

  6. LASI2CSF will then ask for scale information. When converting to CALMA
     you must know what physical units you used and how many LASI units per
     physical unit you used in the LASI drawing. You must tell LASI2CSF how
     many CALMA units you want per physical unit. You may default to 1000
     basic units/micron and produce an exact 56-bit floating point
     representation in the CSF file. This seems to be necessary for CADENCE
     conversion, and perhaps other CAD systems.

  Important: If you have a problem with exact representation report it to
    the author.

  7. Since LASI has layers 1-64 but CALMA has layers 0-63, you will be
     asked if you want to relocate LASI layer 64 to any CALMA layer. You
     can then relocate that layer back to LASI layer 64 if you convert back
     from CALMA.

  8. CALMA uses several parameters to construct text. The most important
     are Texttype and Font, which may be used to identify the text. You can
     relate these to each of four LASI text sizes. The parameters that LASI
     can set are in order:

      ■ Texttype, which can be 0-63.

      ■ Font, which can be 0-3.

      ■ Magnification, which can be used to change text size if the other
        parameters produce text of the same size.

      ■ Text Width, which is usually 0, but may have to be set so that
        certain CAD systems will accept the text.

      ■ Vertical Justification, which may be set to top, center and bottom.
        LASI text is always left-bottom justified so normally you will set
        this to bottom or "B".

  9. Certain CAD systems use filenames in lowercase. You can have the names
     of cells or structures converted to lowercase in the CSF file.

  10. If the LASI drawing contains an open polygon, it may be an
     intentional zero width path, or it may be a mistake where a polygon
     has not been closed. You can optionally close any open polygons or you
     can have them translated as a path with zero width.

  11. When converting to CALMA, you will be given the choice of converting
     only certain cells to CALMA structures. This is useful when you have
     most of your structures already in the CALMA. If you chose to select
     certain cells to be converted, you will be given a choice of also
     converting the lesser cells that are used in the specified cells. A
     list will be displayed during conversion that will show just what
     cells are being converted to the CSF file.

 Running CSF2TLC.EXE

  1. When converting from CALMA to LASI path and filename questions similar
     to those when running LASI2CSF.EXE will be asked.

  2. If you have previously run CSF2TLC, there will be a setup file in the
     drawing directory named CSF2TLC.SET. If this is found, you will be
     asked if you want to use the information. This can save time if you do
     conversions often on a drawing. If you choose to use the default setup
     data, steps 3-8 below will be skipped.

  3. When converting from CALMA the physical units will automatically be
     microns, but you may specify the LASI basic units.

  4. You will be asked if you want to use the "2048"VAX filter. If the
     binary file has been run through a VAX on magtape, it might contain
     two extra characters at beginning of a VAX file record. You can tell
     CSF2TLC to drop two characters every 2048 characters. If errors occur
     try this option.

  5. You will then be asked for the layers and the datatypes to be
     converted. You respond to this question with the notation similar to
     the VIEW, OPEN, etc. commands in LASI, with numbers separated by
     spaces or dashes.  A space separates individual layers and a dash
     means "include all layers between".

  6. You will be given the option of converting CALMA 4-sided rectangular
     boundaries to LASI boxes. If the rectangular boundaries are not to be
     modified, boxes are better for LASI.

  7. There is an option to convert any text found in the stream file to
     LASI text. The Texttype number (0-63) or the Font number (0-3) in a
     CALMA text record may be related to a LASI text size. A texttype is
     always present in a CALMA text record, but font may also be used by
     other CAD systems. If a texttype of 0-63 is related to a LASI text
     size, it will be used first, regardless of the font set. If you want
     to use font, enter "-" as the texttype to use. If neither texttype nor
     font is designated, a default minimum set of parameters will be used.

    Additionally you may use some of the other CALMA text parameters by
    setting them to "y" or "n":

      ■ If magnification information is present, it may be used.

      ■ If orientation (+/-90, 180 deg) is present, it may be used.

      ■ If vertical justification information is present, it may be used.

    Any multiple line CALMA text will be broken into separate LASI text
    lines, and any horizontal justification will be changed to left
    justification.

    The text that you get may not look exactly the same as the original
    text since LASI uses its own character patterns.

  8. You will be asked if you want to relocate CALMA layer 0 to any LASI
     layer (1-64). Any CALMA layer 0 will default to LASI layer 64.


  9. Like LASI2CSF, CSF2TLC request options on just which cells or
     structures you want to be converted. You may name specific cells or
     structures to be converted if a few are wanted. If the named
     structures contain other structures that have not been named, CSF2TLC
     will find these and try to convert them also. You may therefore name
     only your top structure and CSF2TLC will find the rest.

  10. LASI cellnames must be legal names for DOS files. The names of the
     CALMA structures may not conform to DOS standards and must be changed.
     CSF2TLC will try to find acceptable names, but you may also manually
     change any illegal names.

  11. You will be asked if you want CSF2TLC to replace any TLC files that
     it finds already in the directory. Otherwise, CSF2TLC will keep any
     old TLC files that it finds and will only create the new ones that it
     needs.

  In most questions, the default entry will appear in the parentheses if
  one is available. Pressing ENTER defaults.

 CSF2TLC Operations

  CSF2TLC first scans the CSF file to determine a hierarchy of cells. It
  also tries to convert CALMA structure names to names that are DOS
  acceptable. If a name is found that is a reserved word such as "PRN", or
  the name contains characters that are illegal in DOS such as "*", you
  will be asked for a substitute name. If you have told CSF2TLC not to try
  to rename, any names with greater than 8 characters will call for a
  substitute also.

  CSF2TLC will search the current directory for the TLC cell file of a cell
  that might not exist as a structure in the CSF file, but still be used in
  other structures in the CSF file. This allows the TLC file of a cell to
  be reconstructed without the lesser cells being present as structures in
  the CSF file. The only requirement is that the TLC files of its lesser
  cells exist already in the drawing directory.

  After the scanning has been done to establish hierarchy and the presence
  of TLC files, a list of the cellnames, their rank, the presence of the
  structure in the CSF file, the presence of a TLC file in the directory
  and the structure name is printed.

  If the TLC file is already present it is retained even though the
  structure may exist in the CSF file. To have a new TLC file generated,
  the old TLC file must be deleted from the current directory, or the
  option of replacing all TLC files must be used when running CSF2TLC.

  If the lesser cell exist neither as a structure in the CSF file nor as a
  TLC file in the drawing directory, then the name of the expected cell is
  inserted into the TLC file being made and a warning message is given.

 Possible Problems

  On conversion from CALMA to LASI, if any structures are missing and a TLC
  file is not present, there is no way to tell if the missing structures or
  TLC files contain other missing structures or cells.

  Presently, arrays of objects do not exist in LASI. Therefore, when
  converting from CALMA, CSF2TLC makes arrays by copying cells. This can
  fill the LASI cell capacity if you don't watch out.

  When CSF2TLC encounters text in a CSF file, it ignores justification and
  breaks down any multi-line CALMA text into single line LASI text objects.
  This means that your translated text may not be located in the same
  place. You should also use only single line left justified text on the
  CALMA or other drawing system if you intend to bring it into LASI.

  Some features of CALMA are presently simply ignored, such as stretched
  components, and nodes.

  If you abort while CSF2TLC is making a TLC file you will probably get an
  incomplete file. Erase it.

HPGL Conversion

 Introduction

  LASI drawings can be quit large and complex. It is necessary to produce
  large plots to examine drawings for errors, or just for display. LASI
  therefore must be able to produce plots. The most commonly used plotting
  language is Hewlett-Packard's HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language),
  which is used by all H-P and many other makes of plotters. By using the
  LASI2PGL.EXE program, LASI drawings can be converted directly into HPGL,
  either as a file, or as a direct drive for a plotter from one of the
  personal computer's serial ports.

 Configuration Files

  Before you run LASI2PGL on anything you must make a configuration data
  file. Run LASI2PGL.EXE and answer "y" to the Configure (y or n) prompt.

  The program stores plotting configurations in ".PCF" files. The title of
  a configuration must conform to DOS file naming rules. These files remain
  in the drawing directory.

  Some of the questions asked will be defaulted from the program
  initialization or the previous configuration file. Pressing ENTER to any
  question will default to the value show in parentheses. Otherwise enter
  the new value.

  Some of the questions will be obvious and some may need explanation:

  1. Configuration will ask if your plotter has a center or lower-left
     (bottom-left) hardware origin. Most small plotters have a lower-left
     origin, while larger plotters use a center origin. Read your plotter
     manual for this information.

  2. The borders that you must specify are the distance at the edges of a
     sheet of paper that the plotter can't use, i.e. roller track, etc.
     Read your plotter manual for this distance. The size of your paper
     less these borders is the useful size of your paper.

  3. You can set the location and size of the plotting area on the paper by
     specifying the left, bottom, right and top edges. You can use this to
     make multiple drawings on a single sheet of paper.

  4. If you use hardwired handshaking to keep the plotter buffer from being
     overflowed by plotting data, you will be asked if you want to use the
     DSR (data set ready) line or the CTS (clear to send) line to detect
     that the plotter buffer is full. On an AT type of PC these lines are
     pins 6 and 8 respectively on a 9-pin serial port. The Hewlett-Packard
     plotters normally indicate a full buffer by dropping the DTR (pin 20
     on the 25-pin RS-232 connector) line. This line can be connected to
     either CTS or DSR, but DSR is preferred.

  5. LASI2PGL will ask you if you want to use your plotter's polygon mode
     commands. These are the commands PM, EP and FP which are available on
     the better plotters (see your plotter manual). These commands allow
     you to fill closed polygon areas. If this mode is used paths will be
     expanded into a closed polygon area.

  6. If you want to have paths standout in the drawing, answer that you
     want path center lines drawn. Paths will be drawn with a dashed line
     along their center.

  7. LASI2PGL will draw any cells that are displayed in LASI Cell Mode as
     an outline either in outline or in full detail. The configuration may
     set to always draw fully if desired. You may also set the pen to be
     used for outlines.

  8. Each layer has three attributes, Pen, Line and Fill. You may assign
     attributes randomly, by giving a layer number 1 to 64 to the "Layer?"
     question. Pressing ENTER only will end the assignment process. Note
     also that the layer number is displayed in the color you used in the
     drawing.

  9. When assigning pens to layers note that you may enter up to 8
     different pens. Your plotter might not support that many, so assign
     them accordingly.

  10. You may assign different line types to make dashed lines. The types
     are numbered 0-6 and correspond to the line types described in the H-P
     plotter manual that comes with an H-P plotter. If a line is to be
     drawn solid, set the layer by pressing only ENTER.  A dash "-" will
     indicate a solid line on that layer.

  11. You may set the fill type attribute to be used on a layer. These
     presently are left crosshatch, right crosshatch, horizontal, vertical
     and nothing (indicated by "L","R","H","V" and "-"). Boxes will always
     be filled, but you must use the plotter's polygon mode to fill polygon
     areas.

  12. If a layer has had its Fill set as above, and a line type has also
     been set, the line type is used as the fill line type. The perimeter
     of a filled area is drawn solid and not with the line type set for
     that layer. The spacing of the dashes and fill lines will be
     calculated from the fill spacing configuration parameter.

  13. After you are satisfied with the configuration, you may store it with
     the same title or any other title. You can save time by copying
     configurations, make changes, and then storing under a new title.

 Running LASI2PGL.EXE

  LASI2PGL.EXE reads BP4 and CL4 internal files in the local drawing
  directory.

  You must be logged into the drawing directory of the cell to be plotted.

  To drive a plotter directly, the plotter must be connected to one of the
  computer's serial ports, COM1, COM2, COM3 or COM4.


  There are 3 ways to run LASI2PGL:

  1. Run by typing "lasi2hp", which allows you to configure and then run a
     plot, or to simply make configuration files.

  2. Run by typing "lasi2hp cellname", where "cellname" is the cell that
     you want to plot. In this case configuration must be done previously,
     and the plot will be fitted to the full size of the cell.

  3. Run by typing "lasi2hp cellname x-center y-center width", where "x-
     center" and "y-center" are the coordinates of where you want the plot
     to be centered, and "width" is the horizontal width of the plot window
     (all in physical units). This is how LASI passes the drawing window to
     be plotted when the PLOT button is pushed in the LASI System Mode
     menu.

  In each case you will be asked for the configuration title and whether
  your plotter or disk is ready.

  When making a plotting file you may specify a name, path or disk for the
  output file. Entering nothing makes a file with the plotted cell's name
  in the local drawing directory.

  Hint:  If LASI2PGL asks for a new scale. You might want to give a scale
    slightly smaller than the maximum scale indicated. This may eliminate
    some part of a drawing being cut off due to aspect ratio differences
    between your paper and the area to be drawn.

 Other Uses

  Since the plot file that LASI2PGL makes is in standard HPGL language. The
  file can be changed to other formats using a converter such as HIJAAK. It
  can also be converted directly by WordPerfect 5.1 and other desktop
  publishers into drawings that can be inserted into WordPerfect (or other
  DTP) written text. Drawings made by LASI can therefore be placed directly
  into reports, theses, dissertations, etc. that are written using common
  wordprocessors that can do graphics converted from HPGL.

  The HPGL can be converted into LaserJet format to print high quality
  diagrams. Also, conversion to FAX format is possible so that you can send
  high quality fax diagrams using any of the available fax boards.

Text Generation

 Introduction

  Text is generated by LASI version 4 by storing strings of ASCII
  characters as though they were paths. A reference point is stored as the
  first vertex, and then subsequent vertices contain up to 4 ASCII
  character bytes. When a string of text is drawn, it is expanded much like
  a path, except that the characters are drawn in sequence from predefined
  polygon patterns. A string of text can be thought of as a single path
  segment, where the character field height is equal to the path width and
  the length is determined by the number of characters.

  Each character is defined in the Text Font File. (TXT.DBD is the generic
  file supplied with the system.) This file may have any name other that
  TXT.DBD, but this name must be installed the FORM.DBD file using the
  "text=" parameter. Otherwise the default "TXT.DBD" is assumed. Read the
  FORM File General topic.

  The Text Font File is a binary file which contains a single record of 128
  bytes for each of 96 characters. The characters may be drawn and modified
  by the user using LASI itself. The information in this file is loaded
  into memory when LASI is started, so that drawing of text can be done
  without slow disk access.

  When entering text, the position is requested and the width and layer are
  taken from the current text width (TWTH) and text layer (TLYR) settings.
  The text string is then simply typed in and terminated by ENTER. Like
  paths, text layer, size, orientation and position can be changed using
  the same commands that are used for paths.

 The Text Font File

  The Text Font File is ninety-six 128 byte records long. Each record
  corresponds to an ASCII character starting at decimal 32 (space) and
  ending at decimal 127 (delete, non-printing). When a character is typed
  under LASI, the correct record is found and the information is used to
  make path objects in the drawing. The records are randomly written by the
  MAKETXT.EXE program by typing the desired character and then giving the
  name of the cell which contains the character drawing.

  The vertices of the path pattern are written in a single byte of a record
  in the form of the X-coordinate as the upper 4 bits and the Y-coordinate
  as the lower 4 bits (nibbles). The coordinates may then be only the
  numbers 0-15. The coordinate combination (15,15) is however prohibited
  because it is used to indicate the end of a path.

  A record therefore contains vertex coordinate bytes from 0-254, with 255
  decimal (or FF in Hex) bytes marking the end of a path. The remaining
  bytes in a record are always filled with FF bytes to prevent further
  paths being made as the record is read.

  The maximum number of vertices that a record can hold is dependent on the
  number of independent paths, but can be determined from:

              total no. vertices = 128 - total no. paths


  There can be any character drawing in the pattern file corresponding to a
  given typed character. In fact, different Text Font Files (with different
  names) can be kept for different uses, and they can be conveniently
  "turned on" by naming them in the FORM File.

 The Character Field

  Characters start as little cells containing a drawing of a character. The
  data format of the character drawing is quite different from a cell and
  will be describe later. A character is drawn as a rank 1 cell using paths
  (of 0 width) on a 16x16 (0-15) field of basic drawing units. The lower
  left corner of the field is position 0,0. The vertices of the paths fall
  on the basic unit grid points. The vertices may be on any grid point
  except 15,15.


                                              15
                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x 15  (15,15 not used)
                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . .
                . . . . . . . / . \ . . . . . .
                . . . . . . / . . . \ . . . . .
                . . . . . / . . . . . \ . . . .
                . . . . / . . . . . . . \ . . .
                . . . / . . . . . . . . . \ . .  ^
                . . . | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | . .  |
                . . . | . . . . . . . . . | . .  Y
                . . . | . . . . . . . . . | . .
                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
     (origin) 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                0
                            X -->

        Character Drawing Field in basic units (Letter A Shown)


  Once a character cell is drawn, the program MAKETXT.EXE is used to
  install the character in the Text Font File.

 Usefulness of Text

  Text is usually used to mark your drawings with information such as the
  names of cells or component names and values. Text will be translated
  with the other drawing data into text in other drawing systems. Text may
  also be used as a pattern for putting writing on IC masks by smashing the
  text using the SMSH command and giving the resulting polygons some width.

  Text objects have a very useful property. Text can be considered as a
  NODE with a NAME. You can therefore use text to mark connection points to
  cells or subassemblies. You can then search for those points by NAME and
  obtain a physical location on a drawing. This can be used to do automatic
  cell placement and interconnection. This means that you can do schematic
  capture, or do actual layout from wiring lists used by programs like
  PSpice.

  Inversely, you can also write programs that locate NODES by position in
  LASI layouts or schematic drawings and associate TEXT with the NODE. You
  can therefore produce wiring lists for PSpice directly from drawings that
  contain node names and device names written ON the drawing.

  Since the internal form of LASI data is generally proprietary, you would
  write programs in C or BASIC that operate on TLC files.

System Contents

 LASI System Files

  LASI.EXE        LASI boot program
  LASI87.EXE      Main drawing program for coprocessor
  LASIA.EXE       Main drawing program without coprocessor
  LASI2CSF.EXE    LASI to CALMA Stream converter
  LASIDRC.EXE     The LASI Layer Logic design rule checker
  CSF2TLC.EXE     CALMA Stream to TLC converter
  LHI.EXE         LASI help and information reader
  LASI2PGL.EXE    Hewlett-Packard plotter utility
  MAKETXT.EXE     Text Font File maker
  MANUAL.EXE      Manual printer
  TLCIN.EXE       Transportable cell file "in" converter
  TLCOUT.EXE      Transprorable cell file "out" converter

  CELLSORT.EXE    Cell sorting utility
  CMDLAYER.EXE    Drawing global layer copy/move/delete utility
  RESIZE.EXE      Resizing utility
  SNAP.EXE        Cell grid snapping utility
  TILT.EXE        Drawing tilting 3-D presentation utility
  UNDUP.EXE       Drawing duplicate object remover utility

  TLC2CIF.EXE     LASI TLC format to CIF format converter
  CIF2TLC.EXE     CIF format to LASI TLC format converter

  3TO4.COM        LASI vers 3 to vers 4 converter
  40TO41.COM      LASI 4.0 to 4.1 CONSTS file converter
  41TO42.COM      LASI 4.1 to 4.2 CONSTS file converter
  DMHCPY.COM      Screen hardcopy for dot matrix FX or LQ type printers
  LJHCPY.COM      Screen hardcopy for LaserJet type printers

  FORM.DBD        Generic configuration file
  TXT.DBD         Generic Text Font File

  LHI.HLP         LASI help and information text file
  LASIDRC.HLP     LASI Layer Logic help text file

  INSTALL.EXE     Install program for self-extracting ZIP LASI42.EXE
  DEMO.EXE        Self-extracting ZIP layout demonstration file
  README.TXT      Instructions for ZIP file installation
  DEMO.CHK        Sample check file for LASIDRC program
  LASIDSS.TXT     Internal file data structure standard

  Optional:       (May be included or available on request)
  CHARS.EXE       Self-extracting text character cell collection

System Log

 System Update Log for Version 4

  Changes in Version 4.0:

  The LASI drawing programs have been completely rewritten in a combination
  of C and Assembly Language. Many new features have been added:

  1. Text objects, which retain the ASCII character identity and which use
     much less memory than the previous text that was generated from poly
     objects. The new text is treated as a modified poly object and may be
     rotated and reflected using the same commands. Since it keeps its
     ASCII identity, the new text may be translated as true text into other
     drawing systems.

  2. New internal data format, which uses less memory and loads faster. A
     conversion program 3TO4.COM is supplied to change the old format into
     the new format.

  3. VGA 640x480 pixel display mode support, with automatic VGA sensing,
     but an optional EGA 640x350 display mode.

  4. User definable function keys that allow any command formerly needing
     mouse or keyboard input to be executed by simply pressing a function
     button. (40 keys, F1-10, SHIFT F1-10, CTRL F1-10, ALT F1-10)

  5. An oversize command OVSZ that replaces the BPEXP.EXE program
     previously supplied, that allows boxes, poly and paths to be expanded
     or compressed by a constant distance.

  6. Different dashed line patterns that are assigned as an attribute to
     each drawing layer.

  7. A drawing cell collection that can now hold 500 different cells in
     place of 255 as with previous versions.

  8. New hardcopy programs that work with VGA or EGA automatically.

  9. A WGRD command that when assigned to a function key accepts working
     grid size arguments.

  10. A CMOV command that moves cells only.

  11. Improved RES and CAP commands with automatic measuring.

  12. Different text fonts may now be included in the FORM File.

  13. The cursor can now be toggled between a small cross and crosshairs.

  14. LASI.EXE now works only with a coprocessor. Another version LASIA.EXE
     is supplied for non-coprocessor computers.

  15. TLC.EXE now generates token files for missing or incorrect cells.

  16. outlined cells now have their name in the lower left corner

  17. OUTL and FULL commands now work directly, not only on active cells,
     and these commands are now resident commands.

  18. A cells history feature has been added that allows you to retrace a
     series of nested cells.

  19. The JOIN command now closes open polygons.

  20. The working and unit cursor grids can be toggled by pressing the A
     key or the ALT key.

  21. The effect of the cursor window on certain cell commands can be
     changed by double clicking the mouse.

  22. The CALMA conversion programs LASI2CSF.EXE and CSF2TLC.EXE now have
     more elaborate text conversion facilities.

  23. The SMSH command now works on text and boxes.

  24. The CALMA Stream converter now allows open polygons to be converted
     optionally to closed boundaries or zero width paths.


  Changes in Version 4.1:

  1. Rank 1 cells can now be taken from a common "pool" directory and be
     used in any drawing. Using this feature several PCs can be NETWORKED
     together with common access to basic cells.

  2. The ATTACH and IMPORT commands have been added to be used with cells
     from the "pool".

  3. Missing cell files (BP4 and CL4) now cause a dotted outline to be
     drawn.

  4. VESA compatible VGA 800x600 16 color graphics mode is now supported.

  5. A monochrome gray scale mode has been added for VGA monochrome
     monitors and laptop computers with VGA displays.

  6. There are now 64 layers (1-64) available.

  7. The design rule checking program LASIDRC.EXE is now included.

  8. The help program LHI.EXE can now do searches for individual topics.

  9. The mouse now uses direct movement information so that the cursor
     should work properly in all display modes regardless of the mouse
     driver you use.

  10. Most commands now abort if ESC is pressed.

  11. A sort and backup of a drawing is done after a certain amount of time
     if LASI is left unattended.

  12. A backup of a cell drawing is made if any deleting or smashing is
     done.

  13. The OCTO command nolonger cancels any command in progress.

  14. Help on a command may now called directly by putting the mouse cursor
     on a command button and pressing F1.

  15. The program MANUAL.EXE has been added that prints a manual.

  16. The T key now toggles the text reference point on and off.

  17. The CPYLAYER.EXE, MOVLAYER.EXE and DELLAYER.EXE utility programs have
     been condensed into a single CMDLAYER.EXE utility program.

  18. There are now indicators on the display for the N,C and T toggle
     keys.

  19. The TILT.EXE utility program now replaces paths with a polygon
     boundary so that it can correctly tilt the image.

  20. The LASIDRC.EXE program has had its inter-layer and coverage tests
     enhanced so that they can check for intersections and incomplete
     coverage.

  21. The two versions of the drawing program (now called LASI87.EXE and
     LASIA.EXE) are now run through the boot program LASI.EXE which
     determines if a coprocessor is present.

  22. All line printer outputs from any utility prograns are now always
     directed to LPT1 and produce CR-LF character sequences for new lines.

  23. The number of active paths is now listed on the display.

  24. The "vmode=" parameter in the FORM.DBD file now accepts multiple
     arguments for more versatile display configurations.

  Changes in Version 4.2

  1. All object data memory is controlled by a "object manager" which is
     used by LASI itself and many of the utility programs.

  2. The parameters in the FORM file to allocate memory for objects are no
     longer needed.

  3. The connection between the number of cells and the rank depth has been
     eliminated.

  4. Certain cell editing commands now operate on cells by NAME.

  5. The TLC.EXE program has been replace by two new programs TLCIN.EXE and
     TLCOUT.EXE which work faster and are object managed.

  6. The design rule checker LASIDRC.EXE has been replaced by a new version
     that that is a generalized programmable version of the old design rule
     checker.

  7. The ABRT command is now called UNDO.

  8. The TLYR and TWTH commands have been added to set text and path layers
     and widths independently.

  9. The CTRL-END key combination now saves all files and causes an exit to
     DOS from Cell or System Modes.

  10. Typed inputs now have a field box that limits the number of
     characters that can be entered.

Suggestion Box

 Suggestions from Users of LASI

  Unlike commercial software, that may be designed by committee, LASI
  receives feedback from its users. Since LASI is rather democratic (within
  limits), people are encouraged to contribute ideas of their own, or, even
  better, to write programs for themselves that do useful things. Contact
  the author with your ideas or requests.

  These are some of the ideas for LASI improvements or for special programs
  that operate in the LASI drawing environment, listed somewhat in order of
  priority. Some are fairly ambitious. These changes and new programs are
  more or less in progress. Expect to see these in future releases of LASI.


  1. Schematic/Layout Network Generation - a utility program that takes
     schematics or layouts drawn using LASI and produces a circuit network
     definition list for PSpice, HSpice or other Spice circuit analysis
     programs. This should have good use in determining if there are any
     errors in a layout, since the derived Spice model will not function
     correctly. This may also have a good use in education, because it will
     allow "heuristic processing" of ICs without the mask and processing
     costs. This is not a "schematic capture" but a true "layout capture".
     It however should produce similar net lists from layout or schematic.

  2. Arrays of Cells - In many situations such as MOS power devices or
     imaging arrays, a large number of repetitions of a cell may be used.
     This would be better handled by using an extended cell object which
     consists of a 2-dimensional array of a single cell.

  3. Use of XMS or EMS Memory - the memory management in LASI 4.2 can be
     modified to swap blocks of data to extended (XMS) or expanded (EMS)
     memory to increase its data capacity. Experience tends to indicate
     that large amounts of "flat" data are not really necessary, since a
     hierarchical drawing structure is a more efficient way to handle large
     numbers of objects. Using EMS or XMS can cause certain complications
     like "lost" memory areas if correct procedures are not followed, and
     slower drawing operations. EMS or XMS will be added only if there is a
     strong need for it.

  4. A 32-bit LASI - another version of the LASI drawing program that uses
     32-bit position information instead of 16-bit. This would give almost
     unlimited precision, but would cause more memory usage and slightly
     slower operation. The additional memory required for the object
     position data may make EMS or XMS necessary. A better way may be to
     develop the next major version of LASI, running in protected mode
     under OS/2 or Windows NT, if one or both of these operating systems
     become popular and enough people have the hardware to run them.

  5. Automatic Placement and Interconnect - a utility program that takes
     connection information from lists used by simulation programs (Spice)
     and uses the node property of LASI text to place and interconnect
     cells. This will probably only work well on standardized ICs such as
     ASICs and some simpler analog and digital circuits. The program would
     however produce a starting point from which "human layout techniques"
     would be used to complete an IC.

