jojo@astroatc.UUCP (Jon Wesener) (12/11/87)
I noticed talk about porting Apollo's magic to the Amiga.
And also that it cost more than my A500 with monitor. Still,
I'm interested. What IS magic?!!!
--j
--
jon wesener
... {seismo | harvard | ihnp4} ! {uwvax | cs.wisc.edu} ! astroatc!jojo
hating tomorrow's advertising, today.pla@zippy.eecs.umich.edu (Paul Anderson) (12/17/87)
In article <645@astroatc.UUCP> jojo@astroatc.UUCP (Jon Wesener) writes: > > I noticed talk about porting Apollo's magic to the Amiga. >And also that it cost more than my A500 with monitor. Still, >I'm interested. What IS magic?!!! > >--j >-- >jon wesener >... {seismo | harvard | ihnp4} ! {uwvax | cs.wisc.edu} ! astroatc!jojo > > hating tomorrow's advertising, today. Sorry for the confusion. Magic is a CAD program for designing full custom VLSI circuits. Magic was originally developed by the cad tools group at Berkeley. My little company licensed it so I can sell it for Apollos and Amigas (and others, too, if I get it running on them). My intention is to offer a reasonably well supported version of Magic for these machines at a relatively low cost (compared to, say, $25,000+ for programs like Mentor's Chipgraph). Magic is limited to Manhattan geometries (right angles only, e.g. rectangles) so it isn't quite as versatile as Chipgraph, but it is much easier to use, since it has a number of built in features that are separate programs under the Mentor system. In particular, the fact that it uses Manhattan geometry allows it to have a reasonably quick interactive design rule checker. It also has a built in router and circuit extractor. Magic is a really nice tool for folks who are just starting in VLSI design and don't need the incredible complexity or can't afford the high cost of other systems. In particular, Universities and technical school that want to teach VLSI design can really benefit from Magic. (One of my fantasies is to try teaching high school students VLSI design) There are programs that imitate Magic on the IBM PC, but they don't even come close to providing the real benefits of Magic. In particular, because the PC is such a limited machine, the database is usually simple (ie manhattan), and in addition, the tools that make Magic unique - the built in DRC, router, and circuit extractor - are not there. The result is that you get none of the advantages of Magic, and all of the disadvantages. The Amiga, because it has far superior software and hardware architecture, is capable of handling a program like Magic. It is by far the best choice of the current crop of 68K based cheapie computers. The MacToo may eventually be a good bet, but Magic has a way of making a real doggie out of any computer without a blitter, or good display software. If anyone wants more information, feel free to send me a USmail address, and I'll send more stuff. Paul Anderson Sandhill Systems, Inc P.O. Box 3159 Ann Arbor, MI 48106