User Configuration

The tools have been set up to expect a user's home directory to have a particular configuration. Create the following directories:

• The logs directory will contain log files from the Cadence tools
• The run directory will be the directory from which the design environment will be started. It will also be the default location for creation of data files, simulation run directories, etc, unless those location are explicitly changed by the user
• The lib directory should contain subdirectories for each technology you will be using. Those subdirectories should be the place you create new design libraries (you should make sure that the Library Creation contains the correct directory).
• The xilinx, cmos4s, etc directories just below cds should be used to store simulation/synthesis run directories.

Startup configuration file

Also in your home directory, you can have a file called .cds4, which can be used to set some startup defauts. An example of this file is:

    technology = xilinx
    logdir="~/cad/cds/logs"
    rundir="~/cad/cds/run"
    cds="icfb"

If you want to further customize your Cadence environment, you can create a .cdsinit file, in which you can place SKILL commands (see the Cadence online documentation). This file is optional.

Running the Design tools

To invoke the Cadence Design Framework II (Composer) environment, use the cds command. There are a number of options to cds, you can run

    cds -help

VHDL Designs

Cadence provides the NCvhdl tool for entering and simulating VHDL designs. There are two ways you can run the Cadence NCvhdl tool: under the Cadence composer (design framework II) environmnt, or as a standalone tool. Some additional setup is required to run the NCvhdl tool, and the steps required depend on how you want to run NCvhdl.

To enable NCvhdl you need a file called .emacs which supports the Cadence inter-tool communications, and you need to start the cds command with additional options. Details are given below, based on your choice of NCvhdl environment:

NCvhdl under Design Framework II

To run the Cadence NCvhdl tool from within the Composer Design Framework II you need to copy ~cad/.emacs-composer to your home directory as ~/.emacs:

    cp ~cad/.emacs-composer ~/.emacs

To enable the VHDL tools, run cds with the -vhdl flag:

    cds -vhdl

Standalone NCvhdl

When NCvhdl is run standalone comes up as part of the Cadence HDL Desktop. To run the Cadence HDL desktop, you need to copy ~cad/.emacs-frog to your home directory as ~/.emacs:

    cp ~cad/.emacs-frog ~/.emacs

To start the HDL Desktop, execute the following command:

    cds -frog

Documentation for the HDL desktop and for NCvhdl can be found in the Cadence online documenation (openbook) under Digital Logic Simulation.