Using Cadence Software
at Oklahoma State University
The College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology (CEAT) provides computer resources for engineering education at OSU. All students registered in CEAT courses automatically get accounts on these computers. Please refer to the CEAT labs website at
http://www.ceatlabs.okstate.edu
for information about location, availability, accounts and passwords. If you have problems getting on the computers, see the support staff in EN323. Note: your instructor cannot help you with account or password problems.
CEAT provides a high end unix computer, called tesla1, which runs the cadence tools. A secure shell (SSH) program is required to communicate with tesla. If a graphics interface is desired, X-window software is also required.
CEAT also provides high end PC's. They cannot run the cadence tools directly, but they do run SSH and X-window emulators from which you can use the internet to gain access to tesla to run the cadence tools.
Any computer with a high speed internet access and which has SSH and X-windows software may be used to gain access to tesla and run the cadence tools. On my PC at home, I use a free version of SSH from
http://www.ssh.com/support/downloads/secureshellwks/non-commercial.html
select download site
select ssh. ... .exe
(includes secure ftp as well as ssh)
Students must login to a local computer which has high speed internet access in order to get access to the computers that run the cadence software. Off campus students may need to consult their local systems personnel. On campus students should be able to follow one of the following alternatives.
The computer should ask you for your account name. Respond with your account name for this computer.
The computer should then ask for your password. Respond with your password for your account.
If you have problems, see the support staff in EN323. Note: your instructor cannot help you with account or password problems.
If the login window is not visible, type control-alt-delete (all three at once), and the login window should appear.
Type your account name and password in the window.
If you have problems, see the support staff in EN323. Note: your instructor cannot help you with account or password problems.
The computer that runs the cadence software for class use is:
On your local machine, run the ssh program and establish a connection to tesla with the network address above. You should then be asked to enter your account name and password for tesla. The terminal window should show up on your screen.
Most of the Cadence tools require an X-windows emulator in order to display graphics on your local machine. The VNC emulator seems to work well with the tools.
Before you can use VNC on your local machine, you must first start a VNC server from your account on tesla. Use SSH to login to tesla. Then, start the server with the following command.
vncserver -depth 24 -cc 3 -geometry 1280x1024
If you have not used VNC before, it will ask you to make up a password for the server (not necessarily the same as your tesla account password). This should be a good password (hard to guess) since a hacker could use VNC to get into your tesla account. The server should then give you a virtual port number for accessing the server. If it does not, type in the above vncserver command again. You must remember the port number to be able to use the server.
Now you can get high speed graphics access by starting the VNC viewer program on your local machine. When prompted for the VNC server, respond with
tesla1.ceatlabs.okstate.edu:port-number
where port-number is the same number that the VNC server gave you when you started the server. You will then be prompted for your password which is the same password you gave the server when you started the server. The graphics window should now appear on your screen.
Important: do not start another VNC server when you want to use tesla again. Instead, use the VNC viewer with the port number that was previously assigned. It will be necessary to start another VNC server only if your original server has terminated for some reason. Users with more than one VNC server running may have their servers killed at any time. If for any reason it becomes necessary to start another server, be sure that you have killed the old server first.
There is a very good tutorial on setting up and using the VNC emulator at
You must logout of the computer running the cadence programs before leaving. Otherwise, other students will be able to copy your files. You can leave your VNC server running by closing the VNC viewer (do not exit from the X-windows on tesla1). The next time you start the VNC viewer (with the same port number), your X-windows will be just as you left them.
The UNIX operating system provides an interface to the user that allows the user to execute commands. This interface is called a "shell" in UNIX parlance. There are several different versions of the shell. The default shell on tesla is the Korn shell or "ksh" for short. The cadence tools run best under the c-shell (csh). The turbo c-shell (tcsh) is an enhanced version that is highly recommended.
To find information about commands, use the "man" command (man is short for manual). For example, to find information about commands in the turbo c-shell, type
This gives a multipage description about how to execute commands. Use the space bar to see more pages. The enter key only displays one more line. Keep hitting the space or enter keys until you find the information that you desire. You can also find more detailed information about each command by typing
Your account on tesla must be set up so that you can run the CAD programs. When you first log in, get a copy of the .cshrc file with the following commands.
cd
cp /home/lgjohn/public/.tcshrc .
It will not normally be necessary to do this more than once. If you want to use the standard graphics user interface on tesla with the VNC server, get a copy of the xstartup file.
cd .vnc
cp /x/lgjohn/public/.vnc/xstartup .
Log out and then log in again. If you are in the k-shell (you have a $ prompt when you hit enter) or the c-shell (a % prompt) when you log in, you must get into the turbo c-shell to use the cadence tools. Type:
and you should get the following response.
Your LD_LIBRARY_PATH is setup correctly
You are now set up to use Cadence properly
Pay attention to your quota by typing quota -v
Make sure you have a directory in your home directory cadence/logs
Contact http://www.chiptalk.org for any problems. Enjoy!
If you do not get the above message, then the cadence tools will not run properly.
If you get error messages like "not found" when trying to run programs, then your account is probably not set up properly and you need to get the correct copy of .tcshrc.
There are several choices for making text files. Unix has built-in text editors, emacs and vi, which are somewhat difficult to learn to use. A text editor window is provided in the standard graphics user interface on tesla which is much easier to use. Simply click on the text editing icon and type the file text into the new window which appears. Also, the xedit command provides a text editor window if you are running an X-windows emulator. Note, the file is stored on the unix machine that is running the X-windows (usually tesla). Use the xedit command in a window on the remote computer to edit files on the remote computer. Type "man xedit" to get more information on how to use xedit.
If you are not using a graphics interface to tesla, you can use a text editor (notepad) on your local PC and then use ftp to upload the file to tesla. Here is a short tutorial on the procedure.