I've finally got the raster plotting to work. I was having various problems with file permissions and file formats, and the debugging info can be a bit non-existing. I needed to split the task up and get each section working first.
1. Plot to a file from DFII, this gives a plot file in cpif format
2. Rasterize this to a format for the plotter.
3. send this file to the plot queue.
My .cdsplotinit entry is below:-
Code:HP500-rtl|Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 500: \
:manufacturer=Hewlett-Packard: \
:type=intCLR: \
:spool="lp -dhp500rtl": \
:query=lpstat -ohp500rtl: \
:remove=cancel $1 hp500rtl: \
:resolution#600: \
:maximumPages#1: \
:outtype=RASTER: \
:tmpdir=/tmp: \
:paperSize="A4 portrait" 4950 7020: \
:paperSize="36 inches wide" 0 21200:
resolution will affect the quality of the output, and the speed of the output.
The rasterizing plotter entry can be setup with the following command
Code:lpadmin -php500rtl -i ./hp500rtl
where hp500rtl is a shell script that actually does the rasterizing, see below:-
Code:#!/bin/sh -x
# Update the path to include the installation directory for Cadence Software
PATH="/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/lib:/cds/IC5141.500.1.20/tools/plot/bin"
export PATH
# Redirect standard error to a file.
# To debug raptor use the -v option. This sends diagnostic output to
# standard error. Look in the following file for the information.
log=/tmp/lp.log
exec 2>>$log
shift;shift;shift;shift;shift
DATA_FILE=$1
OUT_FILE=/tmp/rtl$$
#raptor -v -p -f RTL -c rle $DATA_FILE | lp -dhp500_hpgl
raptor -p -f RTL -c rle $DATA_FILE -o $OUT_FILE
lp -dhp500_hpgl $OUT_FILE
At the end of it all, I definitely get faster plots, but I'm not sure if the quality is any better. I also got the HPGL card with the plotter which enabled me to get going much quicker as the plotter could handle the native hpgl output from DFII.
Now to get remote simulation working with ssh. ::)