Test benches 2007-04-20 Denis Dupeyron Test benches for all software maintained by the Electronics subproject Help wanted

Help us create test benches for the tools we maintain. See the 'Test benches' entry in our TODO list.

Instructions on how to test our packages and verify they work properly should get listed below. Developers, please remember that a non-specialist must be able to execute your test bench. List packages alphabetically, and store any required additional material in a bz2 tarball in the same directory as this guide.

sci-electronics/gnucap

A set of example netlists is available in the source tarball. You can install them files by emerging Gnucap with USE=examples, which is what we are going to assume in the following instructions. Then : 

# cd /usr/share/gnucap/examples
# source runall gnucap > ~/gnucap.out

You can compare your gnucap.out to this one and verify your Gnucap installation works properly. You may get slightly different numerical results in some instances, this is OK. The convergence algorithms do not always give the exact same results depending on the architecture.

sci-electronics/gtkwave

An example is available in the source tarball. You can install its files by emerging GTKWave with USE=examples, which is what we are going to assume in the following instructions. You should replace ${PV} with the corresponding number of the version you want to test. 

# cp -R /usr/share/doc/gtkwave-${PV}/examples .
# cd examples
# vzt2vcd des.vzt > des.vcd
VZTLOAD | 1432 facilities
VZTLOAD | Total value bits: 22921
VZTLOAD | Read 1 block header OK
VZTLOAD | [0] start time
VZTLOAD | [704] end time
VZTLOAD | 
VZTLOAD | block [0] processing 0 / 704
# gtkwave des.vcd

In the SST window (left side, towards the top) navigate down the hierarchy of signals, then drag and drop a few signals from the 'Signals' window below the SST window, to the other 'Signals' window just right of SST. Play with signals a bit, zoom in, zoom out, etc...

sci-electronics/kicad

A good number of examples will be installed if you emerge KiCad with USE=examples. Start KiCad from your desktop environment's main menu (in Gnome its in the Other submenu). In the KiCad main window, you should then select 'Open Project Descr' (first item in the Project menu), and navigate to /usr/lib/kicad/demos. The test_xil_95108 and video projects are the most interesting. Enter one of the demo directories and double-click the .pro file. You can then double-click on the .sch or .brd file in the left pane of the main window to display either the schematic or the board layout. Play with the interface a bit, move and add or remove devices, and zoom in or out with the mouse wheel. For the most WOW! effect, be sure to select the 3D Display feature while in the layout window (in the top menu). A 3D view of your prototype will come up.

You can zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, rotate the board by dragging a corner with the left mouse button, and move it with the arrow keys on your keyboard. There may be some image refresh issues, this is a known fact.

sci-electronics/magic

You should download this archive of a compact low-power VCO I designed. Actually, it's more current-controlled than voltage-controlled, but I consider this an advantage. Then, do the following :

# tar xvfj magic.tar.bz2
# cd magic
# magic -w -T SCN3ME_SUBM.30 VCO.mag

Two windows will pop up. One contains the layout itself, and the other is the Magic console.

You can play with the layout a bit to check that a few simple things work : z for zooming in, Z for zooming out, v for full view, g to toggle the grid on and off (you may not see the grid if its step is too tight compared to the resolution of your screen), G to switch to a 2-square grid, etc...

Entering the following commands in the console will enable you to test Magic's extraction capabilities : 

# extract
# ext2spice

You will end up with two new files, VCO.ext and VCO.spice, in your working directory. You can compare them to VCO.ext.orig and VCO.spice.orig from the archive to verify that everything went OK. You do not want to use diff for the comparison, as Magic doesn't rarely generates devices in the same order. Just make a quick visual check that the files look the same, devices and pin numbers will differ. Timestamps will differ too.

sci-electronics/systemc-2.2_beta20060605

A set of examples is available in the source tarball. You need an account at the official SystemC website in order to download it, but you should have everything handy if you already have SystemC installed. Don't be afraid to register there, they don't ask for anything special, and they won't spam you. 

# tar xvfz /usr/portage/disfiles/systemc-2.2.05jun06.tgz
# cd systemc-2.2.05jun06_beta
# find examples -name 'Makefile.*' -exec sed -i -e 's/-lm/-lm -lpthread/' '{}' \;
# ./configure
# cd examples
# make check

This will compile the examples, run them, and check the results. They will run unattended, except for one that requires you to hit return at some point. You should get a 'PASS' at the end of each test.