PC Electronics Plus 3

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ PC Electronics Plus 3 / PC Electronics Plus 3.iso / bmdemo10 / read.me < prev

Wrap

Text File | 1995-03-07 | 34.4 KB | 659 lines

What the files are READ.ME (23 Feb 95) ================== \BMDEMO BM.EXE Use this file to fire up the demo BM*.EXE Parts of the demo READ.ME This file CONFIG.B* Configuration files \BMDEMO\PCB Note : all files starting with 2-6 are only suitable for loading into the viewer for version 2.6. Files starting 2-4 may be loaded into either 2.4 or 2.6. 2-4DEM1A.PCB Small unplaced PCB indicative of starting position when entering from BoardCapture 2-4DEM1B.PCB Placed version of above 2-4DEM2A.PCB Slightly larger unplaced PCB 2-4DEM2B.PCB Placed version of above 2-4DEM2C.PCB Manually routed version of above. 2-6DEM2D.PCB Version of above with GND net routed using the ground plane facility. 2-6DEM3A.PCB Small ground plane sample 2-6DEM4A.PCB Medium sized double-sided PCB with copper planes on each side in addition to the existing tracking. This is also a good example of the use of thermal bridges which allow for example digital components to be placed inside the analogue region (or vice versa). Look around the periphery of the isolation barriers for examples. See also the use of a star earth return point. 2-6DEM5A.PCB Large 6 layer PCB with 2 internal copper planes 2-6DEM6A.PCB Large 8 layer PCB also with 2 internal copper planes. This is probably close to the most complex PCB that can reasonably be designed on BoardMaker. \BMDEMO\SCH DEMO1A.SCH Small single-paged schematic for BoardCapture DEMO1B.SCH The same schematic as above on four pages using I/O ports DEMO1C.SCH The same schematic again but this time using hierarchy. When accessing this diagram, try entering the {Traversal editor} from the {File} menu and then try the {Mark Net} or {Net Info} functions from the {Net} menu. DEMO2A.SCH A medium sized seven page schematic for BoardCapture. \BMDEMO\NET DEMO*.NET Sample netlists for BoardMaker. These are useful when assessing the complexity of writing unsupported netlist conversion tools. Note however that netlists from BoardCapture, OrCad, Tango, Mentor, Cadstar, Schema, Vutrax & Protel are already directly supported. \BMDEMO\LIB GENERAL.LIB Very small miscellaneous library for BoardCapture. SAMPLE.LIB Small sample library for BoardCapture. At the time of writing this document, BoardCapture was being shipped with a library containing over 600 unique symbols. Further symbols are being included in the libraries all the time and it is anticipated that they will be very much larger in forthcoming revisions. GENERAL.LL Very small miscellaneous library for BoardMaker. DEMO.LL Small sample library for BoardMaker. At the time of writing this document, BoardMaker was being shipped with a library containing over 700 generic symbols covering many tens of thousands of parts. GENERAL.SL Small sample library for BoardMaker's drawing editor. This old tool can largely be ignored as described below. \BMDEMO\OLDSCH SAMPLE.SCH One simple sample for the old drawing editor part of BoardMaker. Please note that BoardMaker's schematic editor should not be confused with BoardCapture, the schematic capture software. The former has no understanding of schematics whatsoever and is purely a documentary tool that is in the process of being phased out. BoardCapture however is a fully featured schematic capture program which does understand connectivity and produces the netlists for BoardMaker2 to read in. BoardMaker - common information =============================== Interface --------- BoardMaker's graphical user interface is designed to provide a friendly environment for the occasional user (pop down menus etc), while offering a high speed approach for the power user (hot keys, mouse repeat etc). All editing modes have context sensitive single keystrokes which enable users to make changes with the minimum of mouse clicks or movement. Menus ----- All the menus can be accessed by using CTRL and the first letter of the menu eg. [CTRL][F] for file menu. Within each menu, the single key equivalent for a particular option will be highlighted if available. If the highlighted letter is red, then the key alone will select the option and if the highlighted letter is blue, then the SHIFTed key should be used. Menus can also be accessed by placing the cursor over the menu text and pressing the left hand mouse button. Mouse ----- Only Microsoft or compatible mouse drivers will work with BoardMaker. In most circumstances, pressing the left hand mouse button is equivalent to pressing the [Return] key and the right hand button is equivalent to pressing the [Esc] key. For users who have 3 button mice, it may be possible to use the middle button for panning. Note however that this is not part of the Microsoft specification and this function may not work. Information & status banner --------------------------- At the bottom of the screen there is a banner split into two sections. To the left is the status banner, to the right, the information banner. The status banner has a display such as : A 5.325, 6.175IN Pad /180 45° Zoom4 The first character is "A" if the subsequent coordinates are absolute (measured from the lower left corner of the workarea) or "R" if the coordinates are relative to the user origin. The coordinates are given X,Y and are in inches "IN" or millimetres "MM". The next element in the status banner indicates the current mode (see below). In the example above, Pad mode is selected ie. the user is editing a pad. This is followed by an indication of the current grid setting, angle assist option and zoom level. All these settings are user selectable (see "Quick tour" below). The information banner is normally only active when a mode has been entered. It will then contain data about the currently selected item. Operating modes --------------- To edit an existing object, use the functions from the {Edit} menu, this will place the program in "edit mode". When edit mode has been entered, the {Options} menu will become active and will give a list of the context sensitive options available for the selected mode. The actual edit mode entered will appear on the information banner at the bottom of the screen. When adding a new item, from the {Add} menu, the program is automatically placed in edit mode allowing access to the editing functions. Information on BoardMaker v2.42D ================================ Limitations ----------- V2.42D is a demonstration of an early version of BoardMaker first released in October 1991. Most of the core functionality of BoardMaker was available in this release. However, some of the most powerful features added subsequently can only be examined using the v2.62 viewer (see below for details). Functions not available in this demo include the SAVE, CREATE SYMBOL and some of the OUTPUT functions. Printing to dot matrix, bubblejet (24 pin) and laser/deskjet is available for compatibility testing. An early version of BoardRouter is included in the demo Quick Tour ---------- Loading a file -------------- Enter the {PCB Editor} from the main menu. Move the cursor to the {File} menu and click on the left hand mouse button. Select {Load File} and when the prompt appears asking for a file name, just press [Return]. This will bring up a list of available files. Note that in the {File} menu, the text to the right of the options indicate that the {Load File} function can be directly invoked using the keystroke [Alt][L]. On the demonstration disk, only files beginning with 2-4XXXXXX can be loaded. Files named 2-6XXXXXX can only be loaded into the 2.62 viewer. Select 2-4DEM2C and a zoomed out view of a routed PCB will appear in the workarea. Moving around the drawing ------------------------- To zoom in towards the PCB move the cursor to the area of interest and press [Z] or select {Zoom} from the {Tools} menu, move the cursor and press the left hand mouse button. Similarly to zoom out from the PCB use [U] (unzoom) and to recentre the screen without changing the zoom level use [P] (pan). BoardMaker supports 7 zoom levels, with zoom level 1 being the highest magnification. Zoom levels can be accessed directly by pressing the numeric keys at the top of the keyboard [1] through [7]. In the {Tools} menu there is an option {Autopan} which toggles the autopan option on and off. When this option is on (high tone), trying to move the cursor past the edge of the screen will cause the diagram to recentre about the cursor. In the later version (2.62), the autopan is less sensitive and the screen movement less severe. Starting a new design --------------------- 1. Press [Alt][N] to clear the workarea. 2. Zoom into the centre of the workarea at zoom level 2 by moving the cursor and pressing [2]. 3. Select {Symbol} from the {Add} menu, move the cursor to the desired location and press the left hand mouse button. When prompted for a symbol name, just press [Return]. This will bring up a list of available libraries and the contents of the currently selected library. Scroll the menu down and select the symbol called DIP14_3 by pressing [Return]. A preview screen will now appear, but for now just press [Return] again to confirm the selection. A 14 pin DIP package should now appear. 4. Select the {Options} menu by pressing [Ctrl][O]. Select {Repeat}. Move the cursor to a new position within the workarea and press [Return]. A second DIP package should now appear with the designator IC2. Note that single key equivalent for {Repeat} is [R] which is highlighted in red in the {Options} menu. 5. Move the cursor and press [Return] or click the left hand mouse button. Note that the symbol is repositioned. 6. Note also that the cursor has changed shape and that the word "Symbol" appears in the status banner and there is some data in the information banner - in this case "IC2(DIP14_3)". 7. Press [Esc] or the right hand mouse button and the symbol will be fixed into position and the current mode will be exited. 8. Select {Track} from the {Add} menu, move the cursor to pin 1 of IC1 (the square pad) and click the left hand mouse button. 9. A hollow rubberbanded track is now attached to the cursor. Note that the cursor is snapping to a grid. Select a different grid by pressing [G] and picking 1/40th" from the menu. 10. Move the cursor a small distance upwards from pin 1 and press the left hand mouse button. This will fix into position a short segment of track and the rubberbanded track will now start from the end of the new segment. Press the [Spacebar] to change layer and BoardMaker will automatically add a via at the junction and the colour of the rubberbanded track will change. 11. Press [Spacebar] again without securing a second segment of track and then move the cursor to the right and press [Return] to place the second segment. Note that the via is automatically removed now that it is no longer required. 12. Move the mouse and click the left hand mouse button to route the track to pin 1 of IC2. Press [Esc] when the last segment has been attached to the destination pin. 13. Start a new track at pin 2 of IC1 by moving the cursor and simply pressing [Return]. BoardMaker will repeat the last operation - in this case {Add}{Track}. 14. Continue to explore the options within track mode by selecting them from the {Options} menu. Nets and hilighting ------------------- Normally of course, BoardMaker is used in conjunction with a schematic design package such as BoardCapture. In this case the design will start from a unplaced PCB prepared by the net import functions of BoardMaker. For example, try loading the file called 2-4DEM1A.PCB. At the bottom of the screen are a heap of unplaced components that have been mapped from the import netlist process. Selecting {Net}{Show Net}{All nets} displays the "rats nest". This gives a visual display of the connections that need to be achieved to route the PCB described by the schematic. 1. Load 2-4DEM1B.PCB. This is the same PCB as 2-4DEM1A.PCB with all the components already laid out. 2. Zoom to zoom level 3 and locate the component R11, which is just left of middle, and zoom in at level 2. 3. Notice that there is a "net line" running from the higher pin of R11 to the left pin of LED1. The net line indicates that this connection has not yet been routed. Add a track segment to connect these two pins(nodes) together. 4. Press {Esc} to exit edit mode and select {Tools}{Hilight} and click over the top of the track or one of the component pads. The track and pads will highlighted and a message will appear indicating there are no design rule violations. At this point the net line will disappear to indicate a successful route. 5. The rest of the board can be routed in this manner or BoardRouter invoked to automate the routing process. Rather than highlighting each individual connection, the design rule checker can be selected after complete or partial routing to check all the net based design rules. Again any route causing a design rule violation or if incompletely routed will be displayed with a rats nest connection (net line). 6. Reload the design and then select {Net}{BoardRouter}. This performs a {Full DRC} and then switches control to BoardRouter. 7. Now select {Route}{Board} to start the automatic routing process. This can be halted at any time by pressing [Esc]. If left uninterrupted the board should be completed with 100% routing. 8. Pressing [ALT][X] exits from BoardRouter. Note that in the demo version it is not possible to save the routes created. Tracks, Pads and Colours ------------------------ When placing track segments in BoardMaker the width of the segment can be selected from 8 defined sizes using {Options}{Segment width} when editing a track. Similarly for pads, 16 sizes are available. These widths can be user defined. Selecting {Config} displays the configuration screen, and then selecting the {Track and pad sizes} option brings up the sizes table. By using the + and - keys the sizes can be altered. Note that these are global changes for the design. All tracks or pads of the selected width number will be changed. Layer colours can be modified by selecting {Config}{Layer selection}. Placing the cursor over the colour bar for the layer of interest and clicking the left mouse button sets the colour for that layer. On version 2.62, colours can be toggled on and off quickly with a single keystroke. See enhancements below for details. Block ----- The block functions allow large-scale manipulation of the layout, including copy, repeat, shift, delete, and fill. To select a group of items for a block, select {Block} from the {Tools} menu, move the cursor to one corner of the block and press the left mouse button. The cursor now changes into a rubberbanding rectangle one corner of which has been fixed by the first operation. Press the left hand mouse button to fix the second corner. By default, the first corner selected will be the block origin for operations such as shift or copy. While in block mode, the block origin can be changed by using the {Option}{Block Origin} function. The {Option}{Flood fill} function creates either a solid or cross- hatched copper fill area. Note that this function has been superseded in the latest version by the powerful {Plane} menu functions. See below for details. It is possible to select which items will and will not be involved in block operations by using the options in the {Config}{Block Options} menu prior to selecting the block. Another option in this menu selects the grid and track width to be used for the {Flood fill} operation. Information on BoardMaker v2.62V ================================ Copper planes ------------- One of the main features pioneered since version 2.42 has been the copper plane facility. This allows the user to quickly generate areas of copper without having to use the older flood fill facility which used a lot of memory, produced a coarse plain with respect to obstacles and was difficult to modify in retrospect. The new function uses very little memory to generate large polygonal areas of copper which can be used to route up to eight nets per layer including for example power or ground. Other tracks routed through a copper plane will automatically be given a clear area around them to ensure proper isolation (trace ploughing). This novel feature can often reduce the number of layers required to route a design. For example a PCB which needs 8 routing layers plus 2 power/ground layers might now be routed on just 8 layers with power and ground being assigned to layers which are also used for routing. See the example file 2-6DEM6A.PCB for a real world example and look at layers 4 and 5. The program allows design rules to be assigned to each plane layer as well as the existing net-based design rules. These design rules are automatically obeyed and a plane design rule checker is supplied to detect areas of plane which are isolated from each other. To our knowledge this powerful checking feature is unique to BoardMaker. Plane viewer ------------ BoardMaker has a plane viewer tool built in, so that copper planes can be visualised on screen. Within the viewer, it is possible to add plane cuts. Users designing power circuits who need maximal copper for their tracks can work entirely in the viewer by cutting away gaps to leave "tracks" (negative designing). 1. Load in the file 2-6DEMO1. 2. Zoom to level 1 3. Select {Component}{Find} press [Return] and select {C4}. The cursor will be positioned over the component C4. 4. Press [ALT][1], which will hide the tracks on layer 1. Pressing [ALT][1] again will restore the layer to its previous colour. 5. The hollow tracks placed diagonally over the pads are plane breaks, and the hollow pads dotted around the workarea are plane cuts. 6. To see the effect of these plane features press [SHIFT][1] to enter the plane viewer for layer 1. [Esc] exits from this mode. Notice how the plane breaks are actually copper tracks that connect nodes to the copper plane. These are normally automatically generated, but can be manually created and manipulated if required. The plane cuts allow areas of copper plane to be cut away. Also notice that the normal track segments are separated from the plane by the automatic "trace ploughing" mechanism. Input/Output ------------ BoardMaker now includes an output driver for DXF. This allows PCB data to be transferred to mechanical CAD packages. The laser/deskjet driver has been enhanced to allow x1, x2 or x4 magnification and will also generate true images of the power plane. The PostScript driver has also been similarly uprated. BoardMaker 2.62 now reads Cadstar netlists. Existing supported formats include BoardCapture, OrCad, Tango, Mentor, Schema, Vutrax, Protel and Zuken-Redac. Other functions --------------- The new {Component} menu includes "find" and "get". The latter is most useful during placement of a PCB. Components can also be fixed into position and this is sometimes important when performing top- down modifications to a PCB. The general edit function first introduced with BoardCapture has now been mirrored in BoardMaker. Pressing the spacebar over an item will automatically select the correct editing mode for the item. Also, when editing tracks, pads or text, the width can be changed quickly using the [+] and [-] keys. A single keystroke is now available to toggle layers on and off. The keystroke is [Alt][#] where # is the layer number. This is useful when working with busy or multilayer boards. Additionally, for multilayer work, two extra colours have been added to the colour selection menu. BoardCapture - common information ================================= BoardCapture allows the user complete freedom to lay out their circuits in any style. The program caters for single pages up to A1 in size and also allows multi-paged or hierarchical designs to be created. Symbols too can be designed to suit any standard (IEEE etc) although a comprehensive set of fundamental components is supplied. Many of the functions which are tedious in other schematic design tools have been automated in BoardCapture. For example : - Unconnected pins on symbols or lose wires are clearly indicated with hollow boxes which disappear when the connection is made. - Junction boxes are placed automatically to show that wires are connected together. - Wires that touch buses automatically make a connection to the bus. - Buses automatically pick up their names from the wires connected to them, can contain control signals and indices do not have to begin at 0. Eg. AD[5..15],ALE,DBE. - Module ports on buses or wires automatically pick up their names from the buses or wires to which they are attached. - Components can be annotated on the fly - Power and ground connections can be changed on a per component basis allowing for example a CMOS part (with VDD & VSS) to be loaded into a design with the power and ground nets called VCC and GND. Once loaded, the component's VSS signal can be reconnected to GND etc. - A traversal editor is supplied to allow a hierarchical or multi- paged designs to be assembled and then examined. This editor allows connections that span several sheets to be highlighted. Many of the control mechanisms are similar to BoardMaker like the context-sensitive {Options} menu. However, the windowing system has been substantially improved. Information on BoardCapture v1.10D ================================== Please refer to the BoardMaker Quick Tour (above) for a full explanation of moving around the workarea. Note that the autopan facility has been superseded by smooth-scrolling, although the autopan can be re-enabled in the {File}{Config} menu if preferred. Creating a new drawing ---------------------- 1. Select {File}{New} to clear the editor. 2. Select {Add}{Symbol} and click on the library marked SAMPLE in the top left hand scrollbar. The lower scrollbar will now display a list of the contents of the library. Select the symbol called A4_LANDSCAPE and note that an iconized image of the symbol is displayed. Press [OK] to confirm the selection. 3. Position the symbol somewhere in the centre of the workarea and press the left hand mouse button to fix it into position. 4. Select {Component}{Symbol Attributes} and move near the information box on the (drawing template) symbol just added and press [Return]. A window will appear and data such as the company name and the drawing title can be modified. At the time of symbol creation, any number of additional user-defined attributes can be defined and in version 1.22, these attributes can be used to embellish the output from the partslist generator. Note that symbols cannot be created using this demonstration software. 5. Select {Add}{Symbol} again and note that this time, a preliminary window is brought up to allow the user to quickly add symbols that are already in use on the drawing. This can be done by double clicking on the symbol name from the list. This time however, press the [NEW] button to select a different component. 6. From the load symbol window, select the SAMPLE library from the top left hand scrollbar and then select the 7438_2IP_NAND_OC and press the [OK] button to confirm the selection. 7. Select a position on the workarea and fix the component by pressing the left hand mouse button. 8. Without moving the cursor, press the [Ins] key (copy) and place a second copy of the symbol. Similarly place a few more. 9. Move to the first symbol and press the [Del] key (delete). This will delete the symbol. Note that in BoardCapture, delete is a function in its own right and not an option within edit mode as it is with BoardMaker. 10. Try selecting {Edit}{Undo} and the {Edit}{Redo}. 11. Now move to one of the pins on one of the symbols and press [W] to add a new wire. Note that the wire rubberbands with the cursor. Route the wire to another pin by moving the cursor and pressing the left hand mouse button at each required corner. Note that both the wire and pin boxes disappear when a connection has been completed. 12. Add another wire starting somewhere in the middle of one of the first wire segments. Note that the original net is highlighted and that a junction box appears as required. Route another pin to this net and then route yet another (separate) pair of pins together. 13. Select {Net}{Name/Rename net} and click on one of the wires then key in a name for the wire and press [Return]. Press [G] to change the snap grid for the wire name to 1/80th and then locate the wire name near the wire and press [Return]. 14. Move the cursor near a wire and press [Alt][V]. The program will give the name of the wire if it has one followed by a list of the connections to it on this page. Note that cross-page or hierarchical connections would not be given in the main editor. See hierarchy below for details of the traversal editor. 15. Select {Component}{Toggle annotation} and click onto one of the components. Note that the component has now been given a designator (ie. it is annotated). Note also that in the case of a multi-gate component, the designators are suffixed by the gate name eg. U1A, U1B etc. When components have been annotated, the pin numbers will be displayed. 16. Repeat the annotation process for the other components by simply moving to the component and pressing the left hand mouse button (repeat last operation). Now try the [Alt][V] command again noting that the symbols are now referred to by their designators. 17. Move to an annotated component and press [Alt][C] to bring up the Component Control menu. This menu has three main regions. The upper left scrolling region gives gate details and location. The lower left region gives global pin information and the lower right hand corner contains attribute information. Although the exact details are beyond the scope of this document, this menu allows the gates within a component to be manipulated, global pins to be reassigned to new nets (most commonly used for power and ground connections) and attributes to be assigned to each component. These attributes include details of how the component will be linked to a physical footprint for subsequent PCB layout. 18. Place a new symbol from the SAMPLE library called 8048_SINGLE_CHIP_MICROCONTROLLER and add a wire to the top left hand pin extending horizontally 4 or so grid spaces out from the chip. Press [Return] to fix the wire segment and then [Esc] to leave add wire mode. Now press [Ins] (copy) over the wire to duplicate it and place the copy directly below the first wire on the next pin down. Continue placing copies until each pin of the data bus has an emanating wire. This can be done quickly by just pressing the left hand mouse button over the wire (repeat last operation). 19. Move to the top wire and press [Alt][R] to name it. Give it the name D7- (the minus means auto-decrement). Clicking on each lower wire in turn will then name the wires. Omit to name the very lowest wire D0. 20. Select {Add}{Bus} and place a bus vertically down the lose ends of the wires. Note that the wire pin boxes disappear. 21. Select {Net}{Name Bus} and click on the bus. Note that the name is ??? because automatic bus naming is disabled. Rotate the name by pressing [A] for anti-clockwise and place it by pressing [Return]. 22. Now select {File}{Config}{Bus Naming} and toggle the dynamic bus naming option button ON. Press [OK] and note that the bus name is generated automatically from the wires entering the bus. 23. Now name the lowest wire of the data bus D0 and note that the bus is automatically renamed. 24. Add a further wire to the bus and name it ~DBE and note that the bus can accommodate control signals as well. Linking to BoardMaker2 ---------------------- After creating the circuit diagram, it is necessary to add the mapping information to each component in order that schematic symbols can be matched with PCB layout symbols. This is best achieved using the {Component}{Mapping Control} menu which is now available in V1.22. In this menu, all the components can be mapped at the same time. In V1.10 the components need to be mapped individually using the {Component} {Component control} menu. Hierarchy --------- 1. Select {Load} from the {File} menu and select DEMO1C. 2. Select {Traverse} from the {File} menu and BoardCapture switches into the traversal editor (hierarchy navigator). 3. Move the cursor somewhere inside the sheet called PROCESSOR and press [Alt][E] to enter (descend into) the sheet. Note that the bottom banner now indicates that the current group is no longer the root group MAIN GROUP and that the current page is page 1 of 1 in a group called PROCESSOR. 4. Move the cursor to the wire called DISP2 which is connected to pin 22 of U1, the microprocessor and then press [Alt][V]. Note that the software reports not only the connection to U1 pin 22 which is visible on the current page but also indicates the other end of the connection T3 pin 1. 5. Leaving the cursor over the same wire DISP2, press [Alt][M] to highlight the wire. Note that this is a toggle option and also that multiple wires can be simultaneously highlighted. 6. Press [Alt][F] to find the other end of the connection and type T3 into the component name box in the find component window. Press the [OK] button and note that the group called DISPLAY is loaded and the cursor is left at the location of the transistor T3. Note also that the wire connected to pin 1 (the base), called DISP2 is highlighted. 7. Press [Alt][G] and double click on the line MAIN GROUP to return to the root group and note that the wire between the PROCESSOR sheet and the DISPLAY sheet is also highlighted. 8. Press [Alt][X] to exit the traversal editor. Advanced hierarchy ------------------ 1. Select {Load} from the {File} menu and select DEMO1C. 2. Enter traverse mode by pressing [Alt][T] and descend into the sheet called COMMS by moving the cursor to the sheet and pressing [Alt][E] to enter the sheet. 3. Note that the wire entering U4A pin 1 is called COMCLK. Now leave the sheet and ascend to the root by pressing [Alt][L]. 4. Make sure that the current group is MAIN GROUP and press [Alt][X] to leave the traversal editor then move the cursor to the wire name COMCLK and press [Alt][R] to rename it. At the prompt type the new name MCLK and press [Return]. 5. To review the situation, the name of the wire at the root level is now MCLK and this goes into a pin on the sheet called COMCLK. In turn there is a wire in the COMMS group with a module port attached to it called COMCLK. 6. Re-enter the traversal editor and descend back into the COMMS group and note that the net which was called COMCLK has now been renamed MCLK from the higher level. Leave the traversal editor and the original name will be restored. 7. The purpose of this function is to allow re-use of common sub- blocks and also to bridge naming disparity when more than one designer has been involved. A final note ------------ This is a very early release of BoardCapture (April 1993) and a number of features have been improved. These include a new sort routine for the window functions (see v1.22V) and a much improved screen refresh algorithm which practically eliminates the flicker that was apparent in this version. Menu synchronisation problems have also been resolved. Information on BoardCapture v1.22V ================================== Most usefully, version 1.22 of BoardCapture in conjunction with version 2.62 of BoardMaker now allow task switching. A comprehensive set of block editing functions have been included with version 1.22 of BoardCapture. The standard functions of copy, move, delete and drag have been augmented with a cut and paste tool as well as the ability to export and import pages or groups. These latter tools in conjunction with the advanced hierarchy features described above allow more than one designer to create sections of a schematic and then integrate them together at a later stage. This version also includes a partslist generator which provides a mechanism for producing the documentation necessary for the procurement and subsequent manufacture of the product. The software allows users to include their own attributes in the partstlist output. A mapping control window provides the facility to easily setup the mapping attributes for components. These are the attributes that link schematic symbols with BoardMaker PCB footprints. The window is arranged such that banks of similar components can be mapped quickly using an auto-repeat option. With the latest version, netlists can now be exported in four formats including Tango, Protel and Zuken-Redac as well as the standard format required for BoardMaker. All trademarks acknowledged throughout.