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- PCLO Amiga/CAD command list
- Copyright (c)1986 SoftCircuits, Inc
- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
-
- Written by Charles B. Blish -- ARS N4EJI
-
- *********** DEMO-VERSION *****************
-
- ********** MENU OPERATIONS ***************
-
- ----> NOTE! move the cursor INTO THE MENU BAR before you press the right
- mouse button to request a menu; Most requests for a menu are
- made after pressing either mouse button in the workspace so
- as to TAG a location that the menu operation uses in a pro-
- cess. If you press the right button in the workspace in an
- unplanned manner, the menu operation will then execute
- referenced to that point. This can be highly inconvienent.
-
- There are four main menus; Project, Display, Items, and Operations.
-
- The Projects menu contains four items; Save, Load, Quit, and New.
-
- Save: contains two sub-items; Board, and Block.
-
- Board: This will save the entire board, all layers, and
- the Silkscreen as well.
- Requester asks for file name info; you must ensure
- that the path specified in the requester is
- correct, or the file access will fail.
- You must 'click' in the text window for it
- to become active; Either the 'RETURN' key Or
- a click outside the requester will terminate input.
-
- Block: This will save all board layers, NOT including the
- the silkscreen that are within a MARKED area. Use
- the "M" keystroke cmd for marking.
- Requester asks for file name info; you must ensure
- that the path specified in the requester is
- correct, or the file access will fail.
- You must 'click' in the text window for it
- to become active; Either the 'RETURN' key Or
- a click outside the requester will terminate input.
-
- Load: Contains two sub-items; Board, and Block
-
- Board: This will load the entire board, all layers, and
- the silkscreen as well.
- Requester asks for file name info; you must ensure
- that the path specified in the requester is
- correct, or the file access will fail.
- You must 'click' in the text window for it
- to become active; Either the 'RETURN' key Or
- a click outside the requester will terminate input.
-
- Block: This will load a predefined block from disk, justified
- so as to place the upper left corner at the last location
- "tagged" by a left or right mouse button click.
- Requester asks for file name info; you must ensure
- that the path specified in the requester is
- correct, or the file access will fail.
- You must 'click' in the text window for it
- to become active; Either the 'RETURN' key Or
- a click outside the requester will terminate input.
-
- Quit: Brings up a small window with a verify request in it; If you
- verify, the program will exit to Amigados(tm), and all data will
- be lost. You use the mouse and click on one of the two
- possible actions to terminate the requester. No further action
- will be taken until you make a choice.
-
- New: Erases ALL data on ALL planes; Sets up for a new project.
-
- The Display menu contains the following items; Layers, Yield, NoYield,
- Trace, NoTrace, Silk, Grid, NoOver, Magnify, NoMag, and View.
-
- Layers: Contains a submenu with six subitems; NoLayers, PadsOnly,
- Layer1, Layer2, Layer3, and Layer4.
-
- NoLayers will disable the display of ALL layers. This is used
- to view the silkscreen only.
-
- PadsOnly causes selected layers to show only pads. This option
- should be used for observation only -- routing in this mode
- is inconvienent.
-
- Layer1 adds layer 1 to the non-selected display list.
- This layer will then be displayed only when you select it
- with the "T" key.
-
- Layer2 adds layer 2 to the non-selected display list.
- This layer will then be displayed only when you select it
- with the "U" key.
-
- Layer3 adds layer 3 to the non-selected display list.
- This layer will then be displayed only when you select it
- with the "R" key.
-
- Layer4 adds layer 4 to the non-selected display list.
- This layer will then be displayed only when you select it
- with the "B" key.
-
- Yield: Causes highlight of a tagged trace to be enabled; works with
- the "Y" keystroke. Yield must be selected for the "Y" key to
- have any effect.
-
- NoYield: Turns Yield off.
-
- Trace: Shows areas searched by the routing processor during trace
- routing. Allows you to place feedthroughs in an informed
- manner.
-
- Notrace: Turns Trace off.
-
- Silk: Enables SilkScreen display -- disables grid.
-
- Grid: Enables grid display -- disables silkscreen.
-
- NoOver: Disables either Grid or SilkScreen.
-
- Magnify: Changes display to 4:1 magnify display mode.
-
- NoMag: Changes display to 1:1 display mode.
-
- View: Changes display to show most of the work area in tiny
- format; temporary mode only; disabled by moving the
- cursor into the menu bar. No other operations are
- possible with View enabled.
-
- The Items menu contains 3 selections; DIP, SIP, and PinGrid.
-
- DIP contains two subitems, DIP and w/FILTER
-
- DIP/DIP will create a dual inline package pattern only.
- Brings up a requester with default specifications in it.
- Direction, total number of pins, and spacing in hundredths.
-
- DIP/w/FILTER will also place a filter cap near pin -1-.
- Brings up a requester with default specifications in it.
- Direction, total number of pins, and spacing in hundredths.
-
- SIP: This will generate a single inline package pattern.
- Brings up a requester with default specifications in it.
- Direction, total number of pins.
-
- PinGrid: This will generate a pingrid 'n' pins on a side.
- Brings up a requester with default specifications in it.
- Direction, total number of pins on ONE SIDE.
-
- The Operations menu contains 6 selections; Open, Print, Move, Copy,
- DeSilk, and DePlane.
-
- Open: will actually 'spread' the circuit board open to allow you
- to insert new components and routes.
- Brings up a requester with default specifications in it.
- Enter direction n/s/e/w, and number of .050 grid locations
- you wish to spread out the board.
-
- Print: will generate a checkplot of the entire board area on an
- Epson(tm) or compatible printer.
-
- Move: will take a marked area and place it, justified upper left
- to the last location tagged, and then erase the source area.
-
- Copy: works identically to move, however it does NOT delete the
- source area.
-
- DeSilk: removes all silkscreen information from a marked area.
-
- DePlane: removes all pad and route information from a marked area.
-
-
- ********** STATUS LINE ***********
-
- The status line contains three X:Y number pairs. The first pair indicates
- an absolute distance of the last tagged location from the upper left hand
- corner of the workspace in inches. The second pair will display the
- difference between the last two tagged locations if the right mouse button
- is used to tag them. The third pair displays the distance from the last
- tagged location where the "L" keystroke command was given. This is used
- to measure distances from arbitrary locations in the workspace.
- NOTE: moving the cursor out of the display window will turn off the
- 'local' display co-ordinates. You must 'click' in the work area to
- reactivate them.
-
- In addition, any messages or errors occuring during program execution
- will be displayed here. In this case, the XY information will disappear. It
- will reappear when you tag the next location, OR if you press the HELP key.
- If the X:Y data is visible and you press the HELP key, then the last message
- or error is displayed.
-
- ********** The Cursor ***********
-
- The cursor consists of a two-layer sprite. The upper layer moves on pixel
- boundaries, smoothly with the mouse's movements. The second layer, a small
- white knob, is "locked" to the grid, and so 'hops' from location to location
- as the cursor is moved over the grid. When the cursor is brought into the
- menu bar area, the "knob" will dissapear. This prevents other screens, such
- as the Intuition screen, from having a non-related sprite run around in
- them.
-
- ********** The DISPLAY ***********
-
- PCLO's display can show several types of information in the work area;
-
- A: Traces, pads and associated items that are etched or drilled into the
- final product.
-
- B: Information associated with the silkscreen for the
- board, which consists of lines delineating component areas, and
- text describing these areas.
-
- C: Information associated with operations on the workspace area,
- including location grid, trace routing expansion displays, and
- highlighting effects that indicate areas marked with the "M"
- key cmd.
-
- D: Windows and requesters used to pass detailed information to the
- program such as file names, detailed component specifications, etc.
-
- ********** Use of color within the work area **********
-
- When a layer is selected as current, it will be displayed in GREEN.
- When it is not selected as current, it is displayed in a color that
- allows you to determine at a glance which layer the element you are
- looking at is located upon. The layer colors are as follows;
-
- TOP: Blue
- UPPER: Orange
- LOWER: Magenta
- BOTTOM: Red
-
- ********** Navigating the workspace ***********
-
- PCLO provides Intuition(tm) standard proportional gadgets on the right and
- bottom of it's Screen. The gadget on the right allows you to move through
- the workspace vertically, and the gadget on the bottom allows you to move
- through the workspace horizontally. In addition, at the extreme end of each
- of these gadgets, there are small gadgets that are represented by arrows
- pointing in different directions. These will also move you through the
- workspace, but in very small increments. Clicking in the container of a
- proportional gadget will move approximately one full screen in that
- direction; and clicking on and dragging a knob will allow you to
- move arbitrary amounts through the workspace.
-
- ********** KEYSTROKE Commands ***********
-
- A -- ATTACH (marked area) to silkscreen record (requester asks for opt text)
- B -- BOTTOM of board selected as current (bottom layer displays in green)
- C -- CLEAR current cell (last spot tagged by click of mouse button)
- D -- DRILL hole marker to current cell
- E -- ELIMINATE tagged trace
- F -- FATCELL to current cell
- G --
- H --
- I --
- J --
- K --
- L -- LOCAL co-ordinates relative to current tagged cell
- M -- MARKER set at current tagged cell
- N -- NODE to current cell
- O --
- P -- PAD (normal) to current cell location
- Q -- QRUNCH tagged trace (thin it)
- R -- lower layer selected (not in 512k version)
- S -- SHEAR line - convert tagged trace
- T -- TOP of board selected as current (top layer displays in green)
- U -- upper layer selected (not in 512k version)
- V -- VIA (feedthru) to current cell
- W --
- X -- X-PAND selected trace (fatten it)
- Y -- YIELD the selected trace (highlight it)
- Z -- (<grin>... no mnemonic here) continue routing trace from last node
-
- SPACEBAR set current cell as next node in route (start/end trace)
-
- NUMERIC PAD;
-
- All keys, -, ENTER, and 0 - 9 will place different pieces of trace
- segment in the current cell; This allows you to create any arbitrary trace
- by hand, if the router will not co-operate with your needs.
-
- ************** Routing example **************
-
- A: Place the cursor over the location you wish the route to start or end on
- B: Click either mouse button
- C: Press the space bar (observe the message in the status line)
- D: Move the cursor over the location where the other end of the route goes
- E: Click either mouse button
- F: Press the spacebar again. This completes the route.
-
- Optional route continue: (Used when the second point does NOT
- terminate on any other item such as
- a pad or another trace)
-
- G: Move the cursor over the next location in the route
- H: Click either mouse button
- J: Press the "Z" key to continue from the last end of the trace
-
-
- This Software is provided in a DEMO capacity only...
- No warrantees or guarantees of usefulness for any purpose is provided;
- Production versions WILL be able to read boards created by the demo version;
- However, a CAUTION; SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN -- THIS VERSION IS VERY LIKELY TO
- HAVE BUGS THAT COULD BE FATAL TO BOARDS IN MEMORY -- YOU ARE WHOLLY
- RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR PCB RECORDS -- SAVE THEM -- BACK THEM
- UP -- TWICE -- AT LEAST!
-
-
-
- THIS VERSION CANNOT PRINT OR PLOT -- YOU MUST PURCHASE THE RELEASED VERSION
- FOR THOSE CAPABILITIES -- THIS IS STRICTLY DEMO SOFTWARE, WITH THE FOLLOWING
- EXCEPTION NOTED ABOVE -- BOARDS CREATED WITH THIS PACKAGE WILL BE READABLE BY
- RELEASED VERSION 1.0 AND ABOVE --