EDG System Administration

I had a problem where one user could not print in BoardStation. The problem was that nothing happened when they went to print. It turned out to be a problem for me as well. I had one other user on a different computer that didn’t have this problem. So I made sure that all the same packages were installed on both computers and that the same settings were used. It didn’t matter, the ezprint window would not pop up in any BoardStation program.

After a day of messing around with things, I finally found the problem was in the setting of LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If I included the directory containing the library that specctra needed (/net/sw/cadence/spb/spb16.5/tools.lnx86/lib) then the print file wouldn’t appear. If I took that library out, the print window popped up without a problem.

Unfortunately, without that library, the specctra program would not run. And both of our engineers still use specctra for routing. So I wanted to get both programs working correctly at the same time.

The solution was to add /lib and /usr/lib to the beginning of the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. So now my LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable looks like this:

$ printenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH
/lib:/usr/lib:/net/sw/cadence/spb/spb16.5/tools.lnx86/lib:/usr/lib64/root:/net/sw/wxWidgets-2.8.12/x64/lib

and both programs work correctly.

When running Layout, beneath File, there should be a link called “Create Hyperlynx Files”. If this link is missing, edit the file ~/mgc/startup/layout.startup (or create the file if it doesn’t exist) and add to it:

$insert_menu_item($menu_text_item("Create_Hyperlynx Files", 
"create_hyperlynx_files()"),,"file_pulldown",@last);

I just downloaded and installed Mentor Graphics Board Station BSXE 2007.9 and couldn’t find these libraries. I don’t think they’re included any more. I want to set things up so that I don’t have to look for them. I already have a special directory /net/sw/mgc/libraries that holds the BPL libraries that aren’t used any more. So I’ll just add these there as well. And then make the necessary changes to mgc_location_map.

Here is how to set up the HP DesignJet 800 PS in linux. We’re using RHEL4 and 5, but I think this would work on just about any linux distribution.

1. Download HP_Designjet_800_PS3.ppd.gz
2. Copy the file to /usr/share/cups/model
3. Delete the old plotter

   lpadmin -x plotter
   

4. Create the new printer

   lpadmin -p plotter -E -v socket://edg3:9100 -P /usr/share/cups/model/HP_Designjet_800_PS3.ppd.gz
   

5. Check that have the proper options

   [me@computer ~]$ lpoptions -p plotter -l
   HPPantone/Automatic PANTONE(R) Calibration: False *True
   HPBlackBrightness/Black Lightness: levelm25 levelm20 levelm15 levelm10 levelm5 *leveleven levelp5 levelp10 levelp15 levelp20 levelp25
   HPColorMan/Color Management: *Native Emulation
   HPCyanBrightness/Cyan Lightness: levelm25 levelm20 levelm15 levelm10 levelm5 *leveleven levelp5 levelp10 levelp15 levelp20 levelp25
   HPCMYKEmulation/HP CMYK Emulation: *None SWOP JapanOffset EuroOffset DIC
   HPRGBEmulation/HP RGB Emulation: *None sRGB AdobeRGB AppleRGB ColorMatchRGB
   HPMagentaBrightness/Magenta Lightness: levelm25 levelm20 levelm15 levelm10 levelm5 *leveleven levelp5 levelp10 levelp15 levelp20 levelp25
   HPMaxDetail/Maximum Detail: True *False
   MirrorPrint/Mirror Print: True *False
   HPCadDrawings/Optimized for CAD: True *False
   HPColorAsGray/Print Color as Gray: Yes *No
   HPIntent/Rendering Intent: *Perceptual Colorimetric Saturation
   HPTransverse/Rotate: True *False
   HPAutoScaling/Scale to: *Off Letter Tabloid AnsiC AnsiD AnsiE ARCHA ARCHB ARCHC ARCHD ARCHE A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 B4 B3 B2 B1 P24x48 P24x60 P36x60 P36x72 P42x60 P42x72 P42x84
   HPYellowBrightness/Yellow Lightness: levelm25 levelm20 levelm15 levelm10 levelm5 *leveleven levelp5 levelp10 levelp15 levelp20 levelp25
   PageSize/Media Size: Letter Tabloid AnsiC AnsiD AnsiE ARCHA ARCHB ARCHC ARCHD ARCHE A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 B4 B3 B2 B1 P24x48 P24x60 P36x60 P36x72 P42x60 P42x72 P42x84 Custom
   PageRegion/PageRegion: Letter Tabloid AnsiC AnsiD AnsiE ARCHA ARCHB ARCHC ARCHD ARCHE A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 B4 B3 B2 B1 P24x48 P24x60 P36x60 P36x72 P42x60 P42x72 P42x84
   OutputMode/Print Quality: Fast *Normal Best
   HPPageANSI/ANSI (A,B,...): *True False
   HPPageARCH/Architectural: *True False
   HPPageDIN/DIN (C4,C3,...): *True False
   HPPageISO/ISO (A4,A3,...): *True False
   HPPageJIS/JIS (B4,B3,...): *True False
   

Since Mentor Graphics sets everything in its config and fis files, there isn’t anything to change there. For Cadence, our site file is in /net/sw/cad.rh/ic/ic5141/tools/plot/.cdsplotinit. For C- and D-sized plots, the entries are:

Plotter_C|Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 5000PS (Postscript): \
	:manufacturer=Hewlett-Packard: \
	:type=postscript2: \
	:spool="lp -dplotter -oPageSize=AnsiC": \
	:query=lpstat -oplotter: \
	:remove=cancel $1 plotter: \
	:resolution#1200: \
	:maximumPages#30: \
	:paperSize="C portrait" 19800 25800 300 300: \
	:paperSize="C landscape" 25800 19800 300 300:

Plotter_D|Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 5000PS (Postscript): \
	:manufacturer=Hewlett-Packard: \
	:type=postscript2: \
	:spool="lp -dplotter -oPageSize=AnsiD": \
	:query=lpstat -oplotter: \
	:remove=cancel $1 plotter: \
	:resolution#1200: \
	:maximumPages#30: \
	:paperSize="D portrait" 25800 40200 300 300: \
	:paperSize="D landscape" 40200 25800 300 300:

From Mentor Graphics support:

Problem
ICX or Tau: ‘Error: Can’t open display:’

Problem trying to run ICX on an X server

When trying to invoke ICX or Tau you get a “can’t open display” error message.

Solution
To resolve the issue you must enable TCP connections to the X server.

As root, edit /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf and change the line that reads ‘#DisallowTCP=true’ to ‘DisallowTCP=false’ (note the comment is also removed). Reboot the system to make the change take effect.

When DisallowTCP is true (this is the default) the X server is started with the ‘-nolisten tcp’ option, which prevents TCP connections to the X server.

In order to have a Calibre menu choice appear in Virtuoso Layout, normally adding the following line is all that’s needed:

;; Integrate Calibre menu
load( strcat( getShellEnvVar("CALIBRE_HOME") "/shared/pkgs/icv/tools/queryskl/calibre.skl" ))

We use CALIBRE_HOME for our calibre home. If you use MGC_HOME, change the above line to MGC_HOME and you’re all set.

Since we use CALIBRE_HOME, we also needed to change some other files to use CALIBRE_HOME instead of MGC_HOME. A search and replace was all that was necessary to achieve this. The files that needed to change were:

in CALIBRE_HOME,
shared/pkgs/icv/tools/queryskl/calibre.skl
shared/pkgs/icv/tools/queryskl/mgc_calibre_menu.skl
shared/pkgs/icv/tools/queryskl/mgc_rve.skl

I tried using the same BPL that we use for linux for Solaris and that didn’t work. So I then tried to run the post_install_script for the Board Process Libraries to get it set up for Solaris. That didn’t work either, but the problem was that we no longer had a license for installing them. After contacting Mentor Graphics, they gave me a temporary license to use. (Apparently, the Board Process Libraries are no longer part of any package.)

I installed the license and downloaded BPL.tar from the 2005 BoardStation release. That file is in /net/sw/libs/bpl. I untarred the file and installed it to /net/sw/sun/mgc/libraries. Installation went smoothly, but when I opened Design Architect and tried to place something from the library, I got an error about components missing. I tried running this again:

./post_install_script -mgchome /net/sw/sun/mgc/2007BSXE/MGC_HOME.ss5 -target /net/sw/sun/mgc/libraries -vco ss5 -msicmd null

//  BPL installer V8.10_1.1 Mon Jan 19 11:49:12 GMT 2004
//  Copyright (c) Mentor Graphics Corporation, 1982-2004, All Rights Reserved.
//                       UNPUBLISHED, LICENSED SOFTWARE.
//            CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION WHICH IS THE
//          PROPERTY OF MENTOR GRAPHICS CORPORATION OR ITS LICENSORS.
//

//  License request for bplcaddata feature failed
//  Error: No BPL license
//  Decrypting libraries...

//  License request for bplcaddata feature failed
//  Error: No BPL license
//  (bpl_installer) Unable to install BPL.
//  Please read the instructions on the BPL CD insert and
//  run the post_install_script again.
 
command : ./post_install_script  
 
USAGE: post_install_script -target {top_level_directory} -msicmd {msi_commander_path} -mgchome {top_level_directory+MGC_HOME.XXX} -vco [ixn|ixl|ira|hpu|ss5|ss6]

So, I don’t know if the license that I got from Mentor Graphics did anything or not.

My solution was to simply copy the components directory from the linux install of the BPL over to the Solaris installation directory. That fixed things.

The Design Architect-IC tree from Mentor Graphics cannot be installed in our current MGC tree, so I put it in its own directory: /net/sw/mgc/icflow2007_2a. However, it does require that MGC_HOME be set to /net/sw/mgc/icflow2007_2a/2007.2a_rhelx86linux/icflow_home. This is a problem, since MGC_HOME also must be set to our current MGC tree. So, since this program will definitely not be used as much as the regular MGC tree, I created an alias in /etc/profile.d/da-ic.csh that has the following:

alias setup_da_ic "setenv MGC_HOME /net/sw/mgc/icflow2007_2a/2007.2a_rhelx86linux/icflow_home"

Whenever a user would like to use the da_ic program, he should open a new window and run:

setup_da_ic

which will change the MGC_HOME environment variable. Then, the program can be started by running da_ic. The path does not need to be changed because it’s always set to find the da_ic program.

After downloading and installing to /net/sw/mgc/libraries, run the following:
(Note that the first file downloaded BPL.tar had an install file. This installed to /net/sw/mgc/libraries.)

[root@server bpl_rls_lib]# export LM_LICENSE_FILE=1717@server
[root@server bpl_rls_lib]# ./post_install_script -target /net/sw/mgc/libraries -msicmd /net/sw/mgc/libraries/_msidata -mgchome /net/sw/mgc/2007BSXE/MGC_HOME.ixl -vco ixl
//  BPL installer V8.10_1.1 Mon Jan 19 11:49:12 GMT 2004
//  Copyright (c) Mentor Graphics Corporation, 1982-2004, All Rights Reserved.
//                       UNPUBLISHED, LICENSED SOFTWARE.
//            CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION WHICH IS THE
//          PROPERTY OF MENTOR GRAPHICS CORPORATION OR ITS LICENSORS.
//
//  Decrypting libraries...
.................................................
//  Decryption Completed.
//  Untarring ...
//  This will take some time. Please wait.
 
//  Completed

Now put the following in the mgc_location_map file:

$BPL_RLS_LIB
/net/sw/mgc/libraries/bpl_rls_lib

Printers [A-D]_file on HP were readded (due to upgrade of Mentor software) in basically the same manner as on linux.

Printing Home: /net/sw/mgc_hpux/printer

Config files: configs/hostname
Fis files: fis/hostname
Model files: model/hostname

lpshut
lpadmin -pA_file -i/net/sw/mgc_hpux/printer/model/amp/A_file -v/dev/null
lpsched
enable A_file
accept A_file