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Crawly Crypt Collection 1
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crawlyvol1.bin
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crm_demo
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platon
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readme.doc
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1986-10-15
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245 lines
PLATON DEMONSTRATION DISK
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Expressworks Ltd
75 Heath Lane
Upper Hale
Farnham
Surrey
GU9 0PX
Tel: (0252) 726255
Fax: (0252) 727125
INTRODUCTION:
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PLATON is the first fully professional PCB design and production package
for the Atari ST and TT. It covers the complete spectrum of PCB production
from initial concept to CNC output and mask cutting, and hence brings the
Atari into line with the PC and Mac, complementing DynaCADD to make the
Atari the perfect engineering computer.
PLATON FULL PROGRAM FEATURES:
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PLATON is a sophisticated vector orientated CAD program offering full
control over both layout and production stages. The easy to learn
graphical user interface (GUI) makes full use of drop-down menus, icons,
pop-up menus and keyboard shortcuts. Up to six 932mm x 832mm PCBs can be
simultaneously held in memory and worked on at selectable resolutions up
to a maximum of 1/2000th inch. A maximum of 8 layers, chosen from a
possible 100, can be displayed at the same time offering total flexibility
over screen views and final layouts.
A wide selection of solder pad and circuit track styles, complemented by
extensive symbol libraries comprising circuit elements, conventional ICs,
SMDs, plug connectors and other components, enables the designer to
concentrate on the creative process.
Drivers for GEM Metafile, most plotters, 9 and 24 pin, inkjet and laser
printers generate high quality output, which may be rotated and mirrored
at any scale from 0.1:1 to 10:1. Optional photoplotter and CNC interfaces
are available.
PLATON is available both separately, or as part of a complete system.
Expressworks can supply both Atari and IBM systems, and are dealers for
Roland plotters and cutting machines.
PLATON DEMO:
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This disk contains a cut-down version of the PLATON demo (the full version
including documentation is available from Expressworks for £10). We have
however endeavoured to provide a representative overview.
Due to limited space the following files were omitted:
-> The Symbol Libraries; with over 500 components we could only include a
single sample.
-> Separate help program.
-> Optional Output drivers.
INSTRUCTIONS:
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Obviously this quick introduction cannot cover topics in any depth. If you
are interested in studying a more complete handbook it is available with
the full demo version. For the impatient most of the important points are
covered briefly below. Alternatively, use the rolling demo for a guided
tour of the package.
PLATON ROLLING DEMO:
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PLATON is one of the first packages to use The Demonstrator. This program
takes control of the keyboard and mouse to fool PLATON into thinking that
the user is running it. To use The Demonstrator, turn off your hard disk
(if installed), insert the PLATON disk and boot up. The program will take
about thirty seconds to load, and then offer menus for the demo options.
These can be selected by pointing the mouse to the box at the left of the
desired text and pressing the left button. At all other times the demo
will disable the keyboard and mouse. To stop the demo, reset the computer
with a blank disk in the drive.
Note: Since The Demonstrator allows for the slower speed of a floppy disk,
there is no improvement in speed when running the rolling demo from
a hard disk. The interactive PLATON demo will benefit from a hard
disk (see below).
Note: We plan to upgrade the Demonstrator demo in the near future to
include more of the program features.
PLATON INTERACTIVE DEMO:
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Installation:
-> either copy the contents of the folder 'PLATON' onto any hard disk
partition, ideally into a new folder called PLATON, or
-> run the Demo from floppy.
To run PLATON, open the folder in which it is held, and double-click on
PLATON.PRG.
Drop down menus, Pop-up menus and Icons:
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Together these make up the user interface of PLATON:
-> The drop down menus are available from the Menu line. In these all of
the global functions and settings concerning the circuit board and Program
functions may be found. Output drivers may also be loaded.
-> The Pop-up menus:
* Selecting elements (Solder pads, circuit tracks, circles...) on the
circuit board (by right mouse clicking) causes a Pop-up menu to
appear, providing further processing options.
* Selecting Layer Icons provides a colour setting menu.
* Selecting the circuit board Icons (along the bottom of the screen)
displays a Pop-up menu. Board configuration, various information and
output drivers can all be accessed.
* Right mouse clicking the Title line in any open window accesses a
Pop-up menu with controls affecting the relevant circuit board.
* Clicking the right mouse button followed immediately by the left
mouse button in the work area causes the Edit Pop-up menu to appear.
* Some Pop-up menus contain an arrow at the right hand end of some
entries. Selecting these entries causes another Pop-up menu
containing further options to overlay the first (This also applies to
the Drop down menus).
-> The Icons:
* Selecting a Symbol-Icon (Solder pad, circuit track, text, circle,
rectangle) with the left mouse button activates the desired element.
Left mouse clicking within the active circuit board window adds the
element to the board. A single right mouse click on any Symbol Icon
causes a dialog box containing parameters for that element to be
displayed. Parameters can be adjusted as required.
* The Edit mode Icons (Polyline, 45 degrees and Split) control how
circuit tracks are drawn. Highlighting the Polyline Icon enables a
series of connected tracks to be drawn. The 45 degrees Icon ensures
tracks will be either horizontal, vertical or at 45 degrees. Using
the Split Icon it is possible to divide any existing track into two
parts.
* Using the Layer Icons the individual layers of the circuit board
(Solder layer, components layer, component plan, help layer, Contour
layer and solder pad layer) are selected.
* The Board Icons enable management of up to six active boards. Right
mouse clicking on any board Icon displays a Pop-up menu which enables
control over various Board parameters. Double clicking a board Icon
immediately opens a window for the board.
Mouse Button functions:
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-> The left mouse button performs the following functions:
* If the button is held down board elements and Icons can be moved, if
the Shift key is also pressed elements are copied.
* If no single element can be selected a frame around a group of
elements may be displayed.
* A single click places an element on the board or selects a previously
defined element or Icon.
* A double click deletes a board element or if on a board Icon opens a
window for the board.
-> The right mouse button performs the following functions:
* Pop-up menus or dialog boxes are called up.
* Redrawing of a board can be aborted.
-> Functions using both mouse buttons:
* Pressing first left then immediately right deletes elements or Icons.
* Pressing first right then immediately left in any window displays an
Edit Pop-up menu.
Element Selection:
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If NO Symbol Icons are active (Solder pads, circuit tracks, text etc)
Group mode is active. Elements can selected in the following ways:
* Taking into account the settings in the Block drop down menu,
elements can be selected by dragging a rubber band box around them.
* Using the Shift key in conjunction with a mouse click elements can be
toggled between selected and deselected.
* If no element is selected a right mouse click on an element will call
up the corresponding Pop-up menu.
If a Symbol Icon is selected elements cannot be directly selected. A right
mouse click on such elements displays a Pop-up menu which enables further
processing of the Symbol.
Important Key combinations:
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* Both Shift Keys aborts screen redraw (also right mouse button).
* Undo, reverses the last Edit event.
* Ctrl+Z, zoom control:
(1/10", 1/20", 1/40", 1/80", 1/160", 1/320", 1/640", 1/1280")
Background grid and cursor step settings are also adjusted to
sensible values.
* Ctrl+U, zoom out.
* Ctrl+C, copy selected elements into buffer.
* Ctrl+B, activate the Symbol library.
* Ctrl+X, cut selected elements into the buffer.
* Ctrl+E or Delete key, deletes selected elements.
* Ctrl+O, overview of board displayed.
* Ctrl+V, Import Block from buffer.
* Ctrl+Q, quit PLATON.
* Ctrl+1 or 0, switches Edit mode ON/OFF.
* Alt+T, exchange foreground and background layers.
* Alt+1 or 0, switches layer ON/OFF.
FUTURE UPDATES:
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-> The program at present only runs on monochrome monitors. It will soon
support all monitors, including large screen drivers.
-> Produce a Net list from a circuit plan and also check the design.
-> Hatching fill patterns.
-> Interactive and automatic Autorouting.
AVAILABILITY:
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PLATON is priced as follows:
PLATON: £175.00 All prices exclude VAT and
Drill/Mill Program: £95.00 carriage and are correct as
Outline Program: £195.00 of August 1991
Gerber & Drilldata: £69.00
Full Demo Version: £10.00
Discounts are available for government, education or bulk purchases.
The purchase price includes full software support from Expressworks Ltd.
PLATON is available from:
Expressworks Ltd
75 Heath Lane
Upper Hale
Farnham
Surrey
GU9 0PX
Tel: (0252) 726255
Fax: (0252) 727125
WARNING:
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This is a public domain disk and can be freely distributed provided that
none of the files are removed or altered. Expressworks cannot accept any
responsibility for loss or damage resulting from the use of the programs
contained here.