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Page A-1
COMMANDS.DOC
The keys are listed in alphabetical order with their key number. All key name
and number combinations are unique. Since some of the commands are deep into
the key tree, we will list after some of them the path in the form used in
QUICK.DOC
5ALL
Resets the screen parameters so that subsequent redraws will display all (well
most) of the work area. The cursor moves to its present x,y position in the
new space. If data is entered before a redraw, it is entered in the new space
so beware! Best to redraw immediately after a change of screen area. We don't
immediately redraw because redraw takes a long time and you might change your
mind.
2ARC
Arc requests entry of three points counter clockwise. An arc is generated
which starts at the first point, passes counterclockwise through the second
point, and ends at the third point. The algorithm used is to draw
perpendiculars to chords between point 1 and 2 and between 2 and 3. The center
is placed at the intersection and the arc starts at point 1 and ends at point
3. The center is placed on the current grid at the expense of having the arc
pass through the points. This is because the find operation searches only on
the current grid. If the center was placed exactly, you would need to search
on a one-mil grid to find arcs and circles. If you want to place an accurate
arc, place it on a one-mil grid. But be warned, it could take thirty years to
find a worst placed object searching on a one-mil grid. So get very close
before starting such a search. Arc line width is determined by the current
setup.
3AUTO
Auto allows setting up the window seen by the screen of the whole working
space. It is usually used to go from a big view of the job to select a smaller
area. For use the cursor is placed at the upper left hand corner of the
desired viewing area. When AUTO is pressed, the screen prompt asks for a
screen width. When entered, The cursor immediately moves to its new position
in the altered view, but the screen is not redrawn. Beware! Data entered after
a view change and before a redraw will be entered in its position on the new
screen view. It probably will not be where you want it. We do not redraw
automatically to give you a chance to change your mind.
9BACK
The F9 key backs up one menu. It is one of the primary means of getting around
the menus. Except for two places where it produces a prompt, it terminates
the present operation and backs up one menu. In the two cases, leaving a
symbol and leaving a job, where work or time would be lost a prompt asks "are
you sure?". Answering anything but "y" will stop the backup. Backup (F9)
stops most long operations. In particular it stops a search operation and a
redraw. If a line has been started but not ended it ends the line.
4CENTER
Select lines drawn in the dot - long dash format used by draftsman to indicate
center lines. Centerlines are not presently supported on anything but the
Page A-2
screen and the DOS screen dump. No effect on pads, symbols, lettering, or
arcs.
5CHANGE
Change the entry in the redraw menu. When change is pressed, the current
screen view parameters are loaded into the redraw table at the currently
selected number. A prompt asks for the name for this screen view which it
enters. F10 will cause redraw at the just entered view, or UP DWN may be used
to select another view. 4SETUP can be used to get to the area selection menu
without redrawing each time if you can use the cursor position to select views.
1CIRCLE
The prompt asks for a radius. After the radius is entered, the FIND, DELETE,
Circles can also now be found, deleted, etc.. When a circle is found with a
different radius, the radius is changed to the found radius. The last radius
is remembered until arc entry is left. Circle line width, color, and level are
determined by the current setup.
3CREATE
Do something creative to a symbol. This path takes you to the creation of a
new symbol or the the addition or deletion of material from an old one. This
is also the path to kill (delete) a symbol and the path to make a symbol a
library.
3DASH
Select lines drawn dashed. Dashed lines are not supported presently on
anything but the screen and the DOS screen dump. No effect on pads, symbols,
lettering, or arcs.
2DELETE
Deletes a found object. No effect if nothing is currently found. The entire
object is redrawn in the background color. Note that this may black out data
that is still retained if two objects intersect.
2DOT
Lines are drawn dotted. No effect on pads, symbols, lettering, or arcs.
2DOWN
Decrements to the next lower numbered selection. Numbers wrap around after
reaching one. The selected number is displayed on the UP and DWN keys.
KP2 DOWN ARROW
Moves the cursor toward the bottom of the screen. When the cursor reaches the
screen bottom, it hangs there although the virtual cursor position as indicated
by the X= and Y= indications at the top of the screen continues to move. Data
is entered and found based on the X= , Y= cursor positions. Thus it is
possible, and sometimes desirable to enter items off the screen. This is
particularly handy for long interconnections where the position of the remote
end is known.
1DR@L
Page A-3
1DR@W
Pressing this key causes it to alternate between DR@W and DR@L. DR@L
causes all lines to be drawn at the minimum width regardless of the specified
line width. This results in a significantly faster redraw particularly when at
high magnification. DR@W causes the lines to be drawn at the specified width.
3EDARC
Moves immediately to the menu:
1FIND 2DELETE 3*MODFY 4SETUP 5REJECT
without selection of CIRCLE or ARC. This allows find and delete operations on
arcs without setting up one.
4EDAPER
Selecting 4EDAPER displays the following menu:
1 UP 2 DWN 3 4 5*APER
The key 2EDAPER gets an UP DOWN menu with key 5 showing *APER to
indicate that aperture is being selected. As the aperture is cycled it
changes the table entry on the selected setup and level. See 1EDSET.
Pushing the UP and DWN keys causes the aperture to cycle through the available
selection. The selection wraps around. The top of the screen displays the
current SETUP, LEVEL, COLOR, and APER; and their current values. Note that
SETUP and LEVEL only select table entry positions while COLOR and APER change
them. Since this table has so many entries, it is too big to allow full
disclosure of the present entry status without filling the screen and needing
constant redraws. We recommend that you list the setup table with the LSTSET
command and post it near your terminal. Most of the entries should be reserved
for frequently used operations. We recommend that you reserve one for special
purposes and never count on it being set for any particular combination.
A photoplotter can contain multiple apertures. An example might be a square
62 mil pad with rounded corners and a 15 mil drill spot in its center. This
item can be drawn all at once by positioning the aperture at a selected
location and flashing a light behind it. We call such an operation a Pad. The
same object might be moved while the light is on, causing a line to be drawn on
the film. We provide a selection of fifteen apertures most of which can be
used as either lines or pads. We would not recommend drawing a line with the
target aperture which is intended for registration marks, but we allow it. For
those not having access to our (or someone else's) photoplotter, one can think
of aperture changes as pen changes on a pen plotter. Since there is access to
the plot files it should be easy to write editing programs to edit the
aperture changes to whatever commands the available plotting device requires.
As inspiration and information is made available these conversion programs will
be included. The present aperture list includes round apertures from 5 mils
to 125 mils, several square apertures and a target. Subsequent plotting
programs allow one for one exchange of apertures so we would have no problem
(except cost) changing apertures if requested at plot time. Write us if you
have a special problem (like surface mount devices) and need custom apertures.
3EDCOLR
Page A-4
Selecting 4EDCOLR displays the following menu:
1 UP 2 DWN 3 4 5*EDCOLR
The key 2EDCOLR gets an UP DOWN menu with key 5 showing *COLOR to
indicate that color is being selected. As it is cycled, color changes the
table entry. Color is changed only on the selected setup and level. See
1EDSET.
Pushing the UP and DWN keys causes the color to cycle through the available
selection. The selection wraps around. The top of the screen displays the
current SETUP, LEVEL, COLOR, and APER; and their current values. Note that
SETUP and LEVEL only select table entry positions while COLOR and APER change
them. Since this table has so many entries, it is too big to allow full
disclosure of the present entry status without filling the screen and needing
constant redraws. We recommend that you list the setup table with the LSTSET
command and post it near your terminal. Most of the entries should be reserved
for frequently used operations. We recommend that you reserve one for special
purposes and never count on it being set for any particular combination.
1EDLAB
Go to the enter data menu to enter the label that has been set up.
2EDLEVL
Selecting 4EDLEVL displays the following menu:
1 UP 2 DWN 3 4 5*LEVEL
The key 2EDLEVL gets an UP DOWN menu with key 5 showing *LEVEL to
indicate that level is being selected. Level does not change the setup. It
only selects the level on the selected setup which will be changed by the color
and aperture selection. See 1EDSET.
Pushing the UP and DWN keys causes the level to cycle through the available
selection. The selection wraps around. The top of the screen displays the
current SETUP, LEVEL, COLOR, and APER; and their current values. Note that
SETUP and LEVEL only select table entry positions while COLOR and APER change
them. Since this table has so many entries, it is too big to allow full
disclosure of the present entry status without filling the screen and needing
constant redraws. We recomment that you list the setup table with the LSTSET
command and post it near your terminal. Most of the entries should be reserved
for frequently used operations. We recommend that you reserve one for special
purposes and never count on it being set for any particular combination.
It is convenient to think of this system as consisting of 12
transparent layers each 65536 points square stacked on a drawing board. A
point could mean anything, but in the USA it is convenient to think of points as
thousandths, at least for printed circuit layout purposes. Since scale factors
can be applied during the plotting process it is easy to consider the points as
fractional millimeters feet or even light years. The system allows display of
as few or as many layers as desired. In addition, one can draw objects on any
number of selected layers at once. Drawn objects can be different sizes on
different layers. One of the available colors can be attached to a layer
causing it to be shown. Drawing and showing a layer are independent
operations. We can draw on a layer that is not shown and vise versa. For
example we could draw a red 10 mil line on layer one and a green 15 mil line on
layer two at the same time. The result will be a white 15 mil line on the
Page A-5
display, however later redraws of single layers would show the lines in their
proper widths and colors.
1EDSET
Selecting 4EDSET displays the following menu:
1 UP 2 DWN 3 4 5*SETUP
The key 2EDSET gets an UP DOWN menu with key 5 showing *SETUP to
indicate that setup is being selected. Setup does not change anything. It
only selects the setup that will have its entries changed by subsequent level,
color, and aperture selections.
Pushing the UP and DWN keys causes the setup to cycle through the available
selection. The selection wraps around. The top of the screen displays the
current SETUP, LEVEL, COLOR, and APER; and their current values. Note that
SETUP and LEVEL only select table entry positions while COLOR and APER change
them. Since this table has so many entries, it is too big to allow full
disclosure of the present entry status without filling the screen and needing
constant redraws. We recommend that you list the setup table with the LSTSET
command and post it near your terminal. Most of the entries should be reserved
for frequently used operations. We recommend that you reserve one for special
purposes and never count on it being set for any particular combination.
8END
Ends the current operation. Usually a line. A number of other operations do
the equivalent of a line end if their operation would result in some confusion
about the data.
1ENTER
Go toward entering data. This is on the first menu and is the choice between
non data entering operations and data creation operations.
2FILE
Go toward some file operation. This is on the first menu and selects the file
system to load or to store data.
1FIND
Find the current object type. Only lines are found in line mode, pads in pad
mode, etc.. A square search is performed on the current grid, starting with
the present location of the cursor. Lines are found by any point on the line.
When a point on a line is found, the cursor moves to the line starting point
and the message displays "line found at " current x,y. The line is drawn
dashed. Pads are found by their center. Symbols are found by their tag. The
tag is the position of the cursor when the symbol origin was located when the
symbol was created. Symbol data is located relative to the tag position.
Labels are located at the lower left hand corner of their first letter. Arcs
are located at their center.
The search for an object starts at the current cursor location and continues in
a square search on the current grid. Note the difference between the current
grid and the M indication at the top of the screen. The M indication shows the
current step taken by the cursor when an arrow key is pressed or held. M is
always some multiple of the grid as selected by the 6SPEED and KP5 SPEED SHIFT
Page A-6
keys. If an object is not on the current grid it will not be found.
When an object is found you may then 2DELETE it or 5REJECT it to continue the
search. 9BACK will abort the search next time the search reaches the upper
left hand corner of its square search pattern.
2GETFIL
Get a file from the file system. You may load a job or a library. The major
difference between jobs and libraries is that the job carries with it all the
screen setup parameters, and data located in the job area. Libraries are
single symbols or collections of symbols. Note that it is usually advisable to
put your entire job in a symbol sine it is then more portable.
5GRID
Selects the current grid. Any integral grid is allowed. How about a
sixteenth (.0625) you ask? Sorry, to get a sixteenth you need to multiply
everything by two in your head or something. Nice for laying out connectors
with 0.156" spacing. But WARNING, CAUTION, LOOK OUT!!!!! Search only finds
things on the current grid. If you have used a funny grid and can't find
something, look for it on a 1 mil grid. Better get close to it. A search on a
1 mil grid to find an object in the least fortunate position could take
thirteen years if the data base is not too full.
4JOBFIL
Lists on the screen the job files on the default disk.
4KILL
Removes a symbol from the data base. When a symbol kill is attempted, the
system searches through the entire data base for uses of the symbol. This may
take a while. If any uses are found you are told which symbol they are used in
so that you can find and delete their use. If any symbol uses are found, kill
is not performed. You must go through and delete every use before a kill is
executed. This is necessary because nesting is allowed and deleting a symbol
which calls other symbols would create a mess.
4LABEL
Go to enter lettering. Be sure to see NOLAB/SHOLAB. You must have loaded an
alphabet library. If you don't have the alphabet library in place lettering
will be drawn as dots. If you have only a partial library in place,
unavailable letters will be drawn as a dot. If you are not going to do
lettering everything goes faster without the alphabet library in place,
particularly loads and saves. It is best to save the lettering for the end of
the job. Labels are also drawn slowly. This is because they are drawn line
segment by line segment. While this is slow, it has some advantages. See the
3MAKLAB command for some astounding things that can be done with labels.
KP4 LEFT ARROW
Moves the cursor toward the left of the screen. When the cursor reaches the
screen left side, it hangs there although the virtual cursor position as
indicated by the X= and Y= indications at the top of the screen continues to
move. Data is entered and found based on the X= , Y= cursor positions. Thus
it is possible, and sometimes desirable to enter items off the screen. This is
particularly handy for long interconnections where the position of the remote
end is known.
Page A-7
1LINE
Select line entry and edit.
3LIBFIL
Lists on the screen the library files available on the default disk.
2LIBSYM
Make a library from the open symbol. This is actually a very complicated
process. The symbol may call other symbols, and they in turn still others.
When 3OPRSYM is selected a redraw of the symbol is initiated, during which a
list is kept of all the symbols used in the open symbol. This enables creation
of a library containing all the symbols used in the open symbol.
1LIST
Lists the symbols used in a symbol. The symbol itself is included and is
considered to be on level zero. All the symbols used are named and the number
of times they are used at level one, level two, and levels greater than two are
listed in a table. If you use distinctive symbols for each type of part this
is a good way to get a parts count. Likewise if you use a symbol for component
pads, you will also be able to get a hole count.
If, as we do, you use many layers of symbols; it is easy to loose track of
where symbols are. Since you can only find symbols that are one level down
from the present, a table like this is useful for complicated jobs.
7LOCATE
Enter the currently selected type of object into the data base at the current
cursor position. For a line this produces a line start if none has been
started, or a line mid point otherwise. Line starts only generate a tick sound
to indicate that the line has started. Lines are not drawn until two points
are accumulated. For other objects the entry is made and the object is drawn.
Locate does nothing if you are not properly set up to make an entry. You are
not always told that nothing has happened though if nothing is drawn you might
suspect a problem.
1LOCLIN
Select entry of lines. This gets the menu that allows find, delete, etc..
2LOCPT
Select point mode. This gets the menu that allows find, delete, etc.. For the
time being this is only useful for the deletion of single points from an
existing line. Later we will make this menu more useful by allowing the
insertion of points in an existing line. Users will quickly discover why we
want to be able to do this.
1LOCSYM
Select entry of symbols. This gets the menu that allows find, delete, etc..
If nothing happens when you locate a symbol you have probably forgotten to name
one.
Page A-8
1LODJOB
Load a job from the default disk. This can take a while. About 3 minutes for
a full sized job with this demo program on a PC, much less with an AT as the
loading process is mostly compute limited. If you plan to work with really big
jobs on our full sized program you will want an AT. During the loading process
the job is assembled from scratch and everything is linked and relocated.
After a load operation "what you see is what you have". If the job loads
without complaint you can be pretty sure that everything is OK. Only one job
can be loaded and it must be loaded first. The setup files on the job
overwrite those of the setup files. This means that the aperture and view
tables on the saved job are restored with it, as well as the cursor position
and a few other things. If you want to preserve the setup parameters, save
your entire job as a symbol (you can only do this if you have created it as a
symbol - which we recommend) and load it as a library.
2LODLIB
Load a symbol from a library. If you are going to load a job you must do that
first. There is no limit to the number of libraries that can be loaded except
by the length of the symbol table which is 300 symbols in this demonstration
version. The first symbol in memory wins, and other symbols with the same name
are ignored. See "HOW TO REPLACE A JOB SYMBOL WITH A LIBRARY SYMBOL" in the
HOW TO section for a way around this. The system ignores duplicate names
since otherwise many replications of common symbols would occur.
2LROT=
Rotates individual letters in a string. Each time hit it steps by one wrapping
around to zero and rotates the letters 90 degrees counter-clockwise. By using
LROT=1 and SROT=3 you can produce an "hotel" sign type label.
5LSTKEY
Lists the labels assigned to the keyboard along with their sequential and hash
positions. Nothing prevents you from editing the keyboard labels. If you
don't like the way we draw a "G" for example then just open the symbol G$BOLD
and have it your way.
We hope to get wonderful alphabets to distribute to our users. How about
something in Gothic?
4LSTLAB
Lists the labels that you have created. These all start with the entered
string and end with $LABEL.
4LSTSET
Lists the sixteen setups. It takes two pages but we find it necessary to print
this and post it by our terminal. We can never remember if we have used odd
or even setups for level 1 or where we put the green 15 mil lines.
3LSTSYM
Lists the symbols. The labels and keyboard symbols are listed separately, see
above. You are given a rough measure of their size and their sequential and
hash positions.
Page A-9
3MAKLAB
When 3MAKLAB is pressed you are asked to enter a label. You may then type an
arbitrary string from the keyboard. This string is then taken apart character
by character and a search is made of the symbol table for (character)$BOLD. If
such a symbol is found, it is scaled and rotated according to the parameters
set by 2SETLAB and assembled into a new symbol named (arbitrary string)$LABEL
which is again rotated and assigned color and level from the current setup. If
some of the keystrokes in the arbitrary string entry are not found in the
symbol table, they are replaced by a dot. After this process is complete your
are put into the 1FIND 2DELETE ... menu where you can locate the string as
often as you want. A future entry of the same string will find it in the
symbol table and thus conserve space.
This scheme allows interesting translation possibilities. When "A" is entered
in a string, the system looks for the symbol A$BOLD. The system has no way of
knowing that A$BOLD represents an "A". There is nothing to prevent you from
editing the A$BOLD symbol to make it, for example, a Chinese character. Or a
small circuit board, or the drawing of a house or ...
We will welcome font libraries of other designs.
1MIR=
Mirrors labels. Cycles between MIR X, MIR Y, and MIROFF. You want to mirror
some of the labels so that when you plot the back side of the board with the
emulsion side up, the labels will be "right reading" when viewed through the
emulsion from the back side. STANDARD.DOC lists one way to do everything so it
will come out right. It is easy to find a combination which gets you a mirror
image of the board you want.
2NAME
Accepts a symbol name for later symbol entry. The name stays in memory as the
current symbol unless some other symbol is found. Then the found symbol
becomes the current symbol for entry. This is so a symbol can be moved by the
find, delete, locate sequence.
1NEW
Initiates creation of a new symbol. You will be asked for a symbol name.
Because of the lettering features, symbol names are different if the case of
any of their letters is different. If a symbol with the same name (and
identical case) is found in memory you get the "symbol already created must
open to edit" message.
2NOLAB
2SHOLAB
Since labels are drawn out of individual lines they can take a long time to
draw. Usually the labeling is not interesting on a drawing except when being
modified. This key alternates as pressed an causes subsequent redraws to show
or not show the labels as indicated.
5OPEN
Prompt asks for the symbol name. Remember case must match. If the symbol is
found in the symbol table, it is drown on a scale that attempts to fill the
screen. You may now select the type of entry to be made.
Page A-10
3OPRSYM
Redraws the open symbol while keeping track of the nested symbols used in the
open symbol. You are then given the opportunity to make a library of the
symbol, to list the symbol and its nestlings, or to change its name or replace
it with another symbol. Note that while you are allowed to abort the OPRSYM
redraw, the only way that you can get to the next menu is to allow the redraw
to run to completion. This is necessary to allow proper generation of the
symbol lists.
3ORIGIN
When a new symbol is named, you are asked to locate the origin. The origin can
be located anywhere in the work space. Data entered into a symbol is located
relative to the origin.
5OTHER
Select arc entry and edit. Later we will add other things through this menu,
thus the name.
2PAD
Select pad entry and edit.
5PALET
Pushing this key causes the display to alternate between the two available
medium resolution palettes.
3PLOT
Select creation of plotter output.
3PLTFIL
Create a plotter output file.
1PUTFIL
Select creation of a job or library save file.
10REDRAW
Function key 10 always initiates a redraw sequence. It always destroys
the current screen display, first by writing a menu over it, and then by the
redraw operation. Redraw causes the key display below and puts up on the
screen 15 preselected display areas. The distribution copy has some of these
labeled while others are blank. You will want to customize this menu to suit
your style and your job. The storage area contains +- 32,768 data points in X
and Y. It is usually desirable to display only a fraction of this space. By
using the SETUP key, which shows up on many of the menus, it is possible to
specify the x and y coordinates of the upper left hand screen corner and the
screen width. See "HOW TO SET UP REDRAWS" in the "HOW TO" section. Once you
have done this, REDRAW allows saving this setup with the name of your selection
- like "memory section". It is then possible to quickly switch from one
section of your layout to another by pushing redraw (F10) using the UP - DWN
keys to select a pre-stored selection then pushing SELECT (F3) to initiate a
Page A-11
redraw of the selected area.
Pushing redraw a second time after the selection menu is presented
causes a redraw at the current screen layout.
Redraw can take a long time.
4REGION
This key allows setting up the area of the 65536 x 65536 space that
will be displayed. Region allows selection of x and y offsets and the screen
width. ALL selects nearly the entire screen. AUTO asks for a screen width,
then scales the display for the entered width with the present cursor position
at the top left corner. SPACE asks you to specify the top left hand corner and
a screen width.
5REJECT
Rejects the result of a search operation. The search continues from the point
of the found object. F9 will stop the search and back up the menu.
4RENAME
Renames a symbol. See "HOW TO REPLACE A JOB SYMBOL WITH A LIBRARY SYMBOL" in
the HOW TO section.
3REPLAC
Replace a symbol with a different symbol. This is a global edit so be careful.
Remember "replace A with B whoops-replace B with A" can create an unsolvable
mess. See HOW TO above.
KP6 RIGHT ARROW
Moves the cursor toward the right of the screen. When the cursor reaches the
screen right side, it hangs there although the virtual cursor position as
indicated by the X= and Y= indications at the top of the screen continues to
move. Data is entered and found based on the X= , Y= cursor positions. Thus
it is possible, and sometimes desirable to enter items off the screen. This is
particularly handy for long interconnections where the position of the remote
end is known.
5ROT=
Pushing this key causes it to gain a label of 0 to 3. It is at zero initially.
Symbols entered with ROT= other than zero will be rotated in 90 degree
increments with 1 being 90 degrees counterclockwise.
1SAVJOB
Saves the entire data base as a job. You are asked to enter a job name. Two
files are created. (Jobname).PCD and (Jobname).PCS. Names are restricted to 8
characters per DOS rules. (Jobname).PCD contains all the setup parameters.
(Jobname).PCS contains all the job symbols, and one special symbol which is the
data in the job itself.
This is the normal way to save your work when you wish to continue and restore
everything like it was when you discontinued work. Everything is saved, all
the job date, the current screen layout, and even the cursor position.
Page A-12
2SAVLIB
Saves all the job symbols as a library. Note the difference between SAVLIB and
LIBSYM. SAVLIB saves all the symbols on the job as a library. Even unused and
abandoned ones. LIBSYM saves all the symbols in one given symbol as a library.
Only those used are saved. If you make the whole working job a symbol, LIBSYM
provides a nice way to condense the job removing all the accumulated junk.
5SCALE
Provides for scaling labels variable symbols. The alphabet we provide has been
drawn 0.125 high. SCALE allows multiplying this size over a range of 100 to
0.01.
4SCREN
SCREN is accessible through SETUP which appears many places on the key
tree. It provides a means for setting how and where items are displayed on the
screen. It introduces two layers of menus.
3SELECT
Causes a redraw with the area parameters that were in place when the
numbered selection was stored. When the redraw is complete, the menu is
restored to the menu in place when redraw was pressed.
2SETLAB
Accesses a menu which allows rotating letters, rotating an mirroring strings,
and scaling labels.
4SETUP
SETUP appears many places on the screen. It provides access to menues which
control data level entry, object display color and size, and screen size and
position in the data space.
1SET=
2SET=
3SET=
4SET=
Display the four preset SETUPs when in the STITCH mode. The keys display the
preset SETUPs. After a line is started in stitch mode, pushing a SET= key
which has a setup different from the current one will cause the via symbol to
be located and the line continued with the new setup parameters.
2SHOLAB
2NOLAB
Since labels are drawn out of individual lines they can take a long time to
draw. Usually the labeling is not interesting on a drawing except when being
modified. This key alternates as pressed an causes subsequent redraws to show
or not show the labels as indicated.
1SOLID
Pressing this key produces a beep to indicate something has happened
and subsequent lines are drawn solid.
Page A-13
1SPACE
Allows selection of the redraw display by manual input of the x,y coordinates
of the upper left hand screen corner and the screen width.
6SPEED
Selects cursor movement as the number of times the grid spacing that it moves
for each key press. The speed cycles in a 1,2,4,5,10,20,40,1... sequence.
KP5 SPEED SHIFT
Speed shift multiplies the current speed by 10. We operate with the SPEED set
to the current grid we are using for locating objects. Usually this is 0.025
or 0.100. This works well in a small area. When we have to move a big
distance we hit SPEED SHIFT and move until we get close, then we shift back.
We find it convenient to operate with one hand on the function keys for
operation selection, and one hand on the keypad for movement. Caps lock must
be on and num lock and scroll lock off for SPEED SHIFT to work. We have
resisted making monitor calls to find the state of these keys till they are
provided by the system.
3SROT=
Rotates an entire string (or variable symbol). When the key is pressed it
displays its value from an initial value of zero. Rotations are in 90 degree
steps from horizontal to the right.
5STITCH
Move to stitch mode. Stitch allows the entry of printed circuit traces while
moving between layers of a multi-layer board without the need to switch between
lines on different layers and pads. You are allowed to preset four setups and
a via symbol which are presumably used to switch between traces on a four
level board. These setups appear on function keys 1-4. Pushing any of these
four keys instantly switches to the indicated setup. You may now start and end
a line in the conventional way. In addition, pushing a setup key that is not
the currently active one, ends the current line, locates the via symbol at the
current cursor location, switches the setup to that of the key pressed, and
starts a line with the new setup. Note that in the usual generality of
symbols in this program, anything is allowed as a via symbol.
This allows fast insertion of traces which must move from layer to layer over
their length.
Note that there is no rule that stitch must be used to stitch. The via symbol
is only inserted if a setup is changed while a line is in progress. Thus
stitch can also be used for four quick setup changes while in line entry mode
if care is taken to only change setups when a line is not in progress.
5STSET
Switch to stitch setup mode. Tells you that pushing function keys 1-4 will
allow assigning setups to those keys. Push as many as you will need and enter
a setup. Then push VIASYM to assign a symbol to the via between board layers.
When you have things the way you want them use back (F9) to go back to the menu
where stitch is active. Stitch stays setup until you change it, though
presently the stitch setups are not saved from session to session.
Page A-14
3STYLE
Style presents a menu which allows selection of the way in which an
entered line is shown. This is intended for mechanical drawings reproduced on
the dot matrix printer. All photo and pen plotters may not respond to this
option.
3SYMBOL
Select entry of symbols or other symbol operations. Symbols may be entered
into symbols, but not into themselves. We do not yet protect for all possible
loop conditions, i.e. A calls B which calls C which calls A, but we do protect
for the more common cases. If you do succeed in creating such a loop we die
gracefully at level 20 and put you back into the main menu, where you should be
able to rescue your work.
5SYMLST
Lists the symbol contents as stored in memory. For guru's only.
1UP
Advances to the next higher numbered selection. Numbers wrap around on
reaching maximum. The selected position is displayed on the UP and DWN keys.
KP8 UP ARROW
Moves the cursor toward the top of the screen. When the cursor reaches the
screen top, it hangs there although the virtual cursor position as indicated by
the X= and Y= indications at the top of the screen continues to move. Data is
entered and found based on the X= , Y= cursor positions. Thus it is possible,
and sometimes desirable to enter items off the screen. This is particularly
handy for long interconnections where the position of the remote end is known.
5VARSYM
VARSYM asks for a symbol name then gives you the edit menu. Note that variable
symbols are "labels" and are found as such.
Variable symbols are an essentially useless but fun adjunct to the way we do
labels in this program. Keyboard label characters used to make labels are just
symbols, with all the characteristics of regular symbols. When you enter a
label, you are allowed to assign an arbitrary level, color, scale, and aperture
to it. The way we handle this is to separate the form of the label symbol from
the level, scale, aperture, and color that happened to be assigned to it when
it was created.
Any symbol can be used as a variable symbol. When entered, the symbol form is
scaled, rotated, colored, and drawn with the assigned apertures on the assigned
levels. Note that only its form is used. If the original symbol was a printed
circuit with different apertures on different levels, all this is ignored.
Obviously this is nonsense for printed circuits. It would, for example, allow
scaling a standard screw drawing which could then be placed on the desired
level in the desired color. We have used this for mechanical assembly drawings
where the ability to change a symbol's color allows distinguishing it for study
of clearances.
Page A-15
5VIASYM
Pushing this key allows entry of the name of the symbol to be used as a via
when in stitch mode.
5*APER
5*COLOR
5*LEVEL
5*SETUP
These labels appear in the setup menu to indicate the item that is being
changed.
2*MAKE
Nothing implemented. Here we plan to allow making some area of a job into a symbol.
3*MODFY
Nothing implemented. This appears on the edit menu. We plan to allow
insertion of line points and move and copy of lines and symbols.
1*PLOT
Nothing implemented. Provision for direct output to a plotter.
2*PRINT
Nothing implemented. We plan for output to a dot matrix printer. For the time
being use the shift-print screen function of DOS 2.0 and higher.
Page A-16