University of California at Berkeley Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences Instructional Support Group Jan 27 2011 /share/b/pub/hspice.help /share/b/pub/pspice.help /share/b/pub/spice.help /share/b/pub/spice3.help /share/b/pub/ltspice.help /share/b/pub/hsplot.help /share/b/pub/mwaves.help /share/b/pub/awaves.help /share/b/pub/sw.help /share/b/pub/wv.help CONTENTS: Versions of SPICE WaveView Analyzer replaces AvanWaves HSPICE on the Instructional UNIX Systems HSPICE on Instructional Windows Systems HSPICE Manuals HSPICE Licenses HSPICE on non-Instructional UNIX Systems PSPICE for PCs Obtaining SPICE for use at other sites SPICE on the IBM Mainframe LTSPICE Troubleshooting Versions of SPICE ----------------- SPICE is an optimizing analog circuit simulator. It analyses and simulates electrical circuits in steady-state, transient and frequency domains. EECS classes have access to 2 versions of Spice: 1) HSPICE is a licensed product from Synopsys, Inc (http://www.synopsys.com). HSPICE is a text-based simulator; AWAVES produces graphical output. They are available on some Instructional UNIX systems and on some PCs. 2) PSPICE is an old, unsupported commercial version. It is available on some PCs. See below about getting a student version to use at home. 'spice3' was developed by the EECS CAD research group. It is not available on the EECS Instructional systems. WaveView Analyzer replaces AvanWaves ------------------------------------ (June 2009) The AvanWaves graphical tool was replaced by "WaveView Analyzer". WaveView Analyzer can be run independently of within the new SpiceExplorer program. To locate these on Instructional computers: UNIX: /share/b/bin/wv, /share/b/bin/sx Windows: Start->Programs->"SPICE Explorer C2009.03-SP1" Waveview and Spice Explorer are not available for Linux, so users on Linux should login to a SPARC server (such as pulsar.eecs) to run it, by logging in with XWindows enabled using 'ssh -X pulsar.eecs.berkeley.edu'. Waveview and Spice Explorer do not work on Windows servers via RDC, so users on WIndows should login to a PC in a lab: 105 Cory 199 Cory 353 Cory (only on 353-{1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23} SPARC server (such as pulsar.eecs) to run it, by logging in with XWindows enabled using 'ssh -X pulsar.eecs.berkeley.edu'. Documentation can be found in https://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~inst/pub/nis/?file=Synopsys/docs or https://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~inst/pub/cas/?file=Synopsys/docs HSPICE on the Instructional UNIX Systems ---------------------------------------- HSPICE is installed for Instructional users on Solaris SPARC and Linux systems, including: c199.eecs.berkeley.edu and the UNIX SunRays in 199 Cory (Solaris) icom1.eecs.berkeley.edu (Centos Linux) Linux PCs in 353 Cory (Redhat Linux) Students in EECS classes can obtain Instructional UNIX accounts; please see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/connecting.html. To run the HSPICE programs, type these commands on the UNIX command line: HSPICE: /share/b/bin/hspice {inputfile} SpiceExplorer: /share/b/bin/sx WaveView Analyzer: /share/b/bin/wv AvanWaves: (obsolete) 'hspice' with sample data: set DEMO = /share/instsww/synopsys/hspice/2004.03/demo /share/b/bin/hspice $DEMO/hspice/bench/demo.sp 'hspice' in the background, saving the output to a file: /share/b/bin/hspice $DEMO/hspice/bench/demo.sp >! a.lis & WaveView is a graphical program that needs an XWindows manager running on your local computer. If you login to a SunRay in 199 Cory, XWindows is already there and you can just type "/share/b/bin/wv". If you are logged into another computer, you can start an XWindows manager on your local computer, then login to one of the servers using SSH and type "/share/b/bin/awaves" in the SSH window. For instructions about that, please see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/connecting.html#xwindows. For more information about HSPICE, see http://www.synopsys.com/products/mixedsignal/hspice/hspice.html HSPICE does not run on the Solaris X86 computers. For lists of all of our computers, please see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/clients WDIR error ---------- If you get a license error when trying to run hspice, make sure that you do not have WDIR set. To be sure, type the following commands: % unsetenv WDIR % unset WDIR AWAVES color maps ----------------- There was a problem with AWAVES on UNIX; the default colors were all black. You could manually change that by selecting the AWAVES "Tools/Preferences" button. See /share/b/pub/xwindows.help for a better way to correct this (alter your UNIX .Xdefaults file and/or the Exceed settings on your local computer). HSPICE on Instructional Windows Systems --------------------------------------- HSPICE is installed in most Instructional PC labs. Hspice can be accessed on Windows by selecting it from the Start/Programs menu: Start->Programs->"HSPICE" Start->Programs->"SPICE Explorer" Starting with Hspice 2009, it no longer works on a Windows server using Remote Desktop Connection. So you have to run it on a workstation such as in 105 Cory, 199 Cory or 353 Cory. If you are on an MS Windows PC, you can run HSPICE on a UNIX server if you have Putty and Xming installed on your PC. For instructions about that, please see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/connecting.html#xwindows. Note: When you start HSPICE (Start->Programs-> HSPICE->HSPUI), you may get an error message that says thee is something wrong with the path name of the shortcut. You can ignore this. It is due to an HSPICE config file that re-used by each user and is left with the ownership of the previous user. You can change the design path on the gui and carry on. (Sys admins: see \\fileservice\iesg\EESoftware\HSpice) HSPICE Manuals -------------- Demo and tutorial files are under /share/instsww/synopsys/hspice/2004.03/ on UNIX and under the HSPICE "Help" button on Windows. Documentation is available under http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~inst/pub/ (requires an EECS Instructional UNIX account to login). HSPICE Licenses --------------- HSPICE licenses are included in our Synopsys "University Bundle" licenses (see /share/b/pub/synopsys.help). The Instructional HSPICE license server records a log of license checkouts. If you are logged into cory.eecs, you can view that activity with a UNIX command such as "tail -f /var/log/HSPICE/metaserver-587.log". Look for the most recent version of the metaserver*log file. The setup: - HSPICE is installed in /share/instsww/synopsys/hspice for SPARC. - The license server runs on cory.eecs (only). - /share/instsww/synopsys/hspice/adm is copied to cory:/var/local/HSPICE/adm. - The license file should be copied into both copies of the adm directory. - /share/b/bin/hspice is a wrapper script that sets the path and env. - These files must agree on the location of the current license file: /share/instsww/synopsys/hspice/adm/cshrc.meta cory:/var/local/HSPICE/adm/cshrc.meta cory:/etc/init.d/hspice The original vendor, Meta-Software, Inc., merged with Avanti Corp in 1996, and Avanti merged with Synopsys in 2002. HSPICE on non-Instructional UNIX Systems ---------------------------------------- Contact your research sys admin or help@eecs concering HSPICE licenses for research use. Research systems used to get their HSPICE licenses from "nexus.eecs"; there may be a newer license server now. PSPICE for PCs -------------- PSPICE has been used by several EE classes (EE1, EE105, EE140, EE141). PSPICE is available on: workstations: 140, 199, 218, 353 Cory Windows RDC servers: iserver1, iserver2, iserver3 It's in C:\Program Files\OrCAD_Demo (and the Start Menu). Usage notes are in \\fileservice\Software\EE-Software\PSPICE. (Sys admins: see \\fileservice\iesg\EESoftware\PSpice and \\fileservice\Software\EE-Software\PSPICE) PSPICE is no longer supported by the vendor, but a free copy is available for download from http://www.orcad.com/download.pspice.aspx To download latest Mac version, you may be able to connect to www.microsim.com, where you can sign up and download SPICE. Documentation: The "PSpice Manual" Folder is on the "desktop" of the PCs. Double click to open the Folder. There are 6 manuals, each with one icon. Double click on the desired icon. That will bring up the manual in the Acrobat Reader program. Printed copies of selected manuals are stored in the labs; students are asked not to print individual copies. Also see /share/b/pub/orcad.help. Obtaining SPICE for use at other sites -------------------------------------- The EECS-supported versions of spice are available through the EECS/ERL Industrial Liaison Program (ILP): Industrial Liaison Program University of California at Berkeley 201 Cory Hall #1770 Berkeley, CA 94720-1770 phone: (510) 643-6691 FAX: (510) 643-6694 email: ilp@eecs.berkeley.edu WWW: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/ILP/ The WWW site includes an entire catalog, describing the products available, how to order and how a company can join the ILP. SPICE on the IBM Mainframe -------------------------- The Spice installation that was on CMSA, the IBM-3090 computer, expired in June 1994. CMSA was upgraded and SPICE would no longer run there. LTSPICE ------- LTspice IV is switch mode power supply synthesis and analog circuit simulation software from Linear Technology Corporation (http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/). LTspice IV is installed on these Windows PCs for EE40 in Spring 2009: 24 workstations in 140 Cory 3 Windows RDC server iserver1.eecs.berkeley.edu Select "LTspice IV" from the Start->Programs menu. Non-Windows users can run it via RDC on iserver1.eecs.berkeley.edu (see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/pub.cgi?file=microsoft-rdc.help). Please see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/connecting.html#labs for information about logging onto our servers from other computers. To save files, select "Save As" and write the file onto your U: drive. LTspice Demo Circuits are publically accessible from http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/demo_circuits.jsp. Troubleshooting --------------- "sx: Fatal IO error: client killed" occurs if you aren't running an XWindows manager on your desktop computer (such as XMing on Windows). EECS Instructional Support 378/384/386 Cory, 333 Soda inst@eecs.berkeley.edu