B² Logic 3.0 Enhancements and Bug Fixes

3.0.18 PC only- 2/97

• There was previously a 128 wire limit on subcircuit pins. This is eliminated.
• Fixed copying of text on Windows.

3.0.16 PC, Mac, PowerMac- 6/96

• fixed PLD's embedded in subcircuits, i.e. choose user-defined circuit for a circuit with an internal PLD. Now they load without crashing, and they simulate correctly.
• fixed picture loss in circuit window when opening a subcircuit for probing
• ports in subcircuit window opened for probing now reflect the current values from the circuit
• subcircuit window now has the correct grid-spacing and offset upon opening.
  

3.0.15a (Feb 26, 1996/Power Mac)

• deleting probes when performing a subcircuit probe fixed
• propagate, generate, carry out of 74181 incorrect for several combination of inputs
• 74161, 74163, 74191, and 74192 ripple carry was dependent upon counting mode
  

3.0.14 a (Feb 26 1996 / Macintosh Standard)

• Timing in LS and Standard Library changed
  

3.0.15a (Nov 95/PC)

• deleting probes when performing a subcircuit probe fixed
• propagate, generate, carry out of 74181 incorrect for several combination of inputs
• 74161, 74163, 74191, and 74192 ripple carry was dependent upon counting mode
  

3.0.15 (Nov 95 for Windows)

• PLA fix for function table description
• Windows 95 "robustness" - maximize/minimize
  

Fixes in progress... bugs in 3.0.12- will be fixed in 3.0.13

• ** Mac & PC- generate full test now works correctly on circuits with gates and feedback.
• ** Mac- circuits with text comments over 300 characters long now read in correctly.
• ** Mac & PC- ROM had a problem re-loading when data file's filename was over 10 characters long.
• ** Mac & PC- PLD caused crash upon reloading when data file had been changed to result in fewer pins on the device.
  

3.0.12

• XOR gate now simulates correctly with all symbols.
• 74181 had a bug with two of its states being interchanged (xor and xnor).
  

3.0.11 (Dec 1994).

PC:

• 3.0.10 introduced a resource leak, fixed in 3.0.11.
  

3.0.10

• Zoom out to get the entire screen, then Zoom In 1.5... will not zoom in. Zoom In 2.0 does work. Also, zoom in 1.5 shifts the circuit to the right.
• Save trace window simulation results... problem is, when trace window is active, the save command does nothing. Gray out the save commands.
• LS Library. Device name & symbol for 74LS76 should be 74LS76A... same w/ FCT, ACT.
• When rotating inverter clockwise, redraws incorrectly.
• I had to have a gate in the line to get the program to simulate the "0" bus correctly... is this a glitch in the program?
• The common anode 7-segment display is not in the latest revision. What happened to it? It was in the previous release we sent to him.
• Some students tried the Save Simulation command from the Simulation menu, and then saved it with .TXT extension. When they tried loading it, "The version of the file is newer than the ver. of prog." What does the Save Simulation command do?
• Buses: If you attempt to make a 1-5 bus using a 1-2 bus whose output are connected to a 1-3 bus and a 1-2 bus, the inputs are not always transferred to outputs. If you put a gate between the bus line and the gate input, the problem will be eliminated.
• Output: I designed a circuit for which the output box would not show the value of the output. Using probe, I could see that the output was correct. The output port indicated "?". Output port from Standard menu worked fine, but not LS menu.
• 74192; Rotate it then print. Some horizontal lines appear.
  

3.0.9

PC:

• Trace window fixed up to handle large times better.
• Probe tool would sometimes display value off to the side.

both:

• New feature, treat high impedance as High value.
  

3.0.8a

Mac:

• In customize trace or table, when trying to move the bottommost signal down, errors would sometimes occur.

PC:

• When copying and printing rotated components, pictures were messed up. This is fixed.
• When saving Pull-down resistor, and re-opening circuit, pull-up resistor appears instead of pull-down. This is fixed.

3.0.8

Mac:

• Scroll bars got messed up after zoom in or out. This is fixed.

PC:

• PLA set outputs to high-impedance strength rather than strong strength. This is fixed.
• Copy to clipboard did not place the text correctly. This is fixed.
• Sometimes, when selecting a text comment, the text comment would disappear off the screen. This is fixed.
• There was a Windows resource leak associated with the copy operation. This is fixed.
• The 7449's G20 input did not activate with a resistive high input (pull-up resistor). This is fixed.
• When customizing trace, with trace hidden, the program crashed upon closing. This is fixed.
• Set-up program previously didn't run under Windows 3.0. This is fixed.
  

3.0.7b

both:

• 7447 had a bug. This is fixed now.
• 7449 was buggy and active-low. This is fixed now
• seven segment display was buggy. This is fixed now.
• Added a common-anode seven segment display. Default seven segment display is common cathode.
  

3.0.7a

both:

• 74169 used to require G5 and G6 enabled for load operation. This is fixed now.
  

3.0.7

PC:

• Print to Fit now retains proper ratio of height to width.
• Second, the ROM 4Kx8 doesn't load on the PC version. It causes a stack overflow and causes the program to quit. FIXED.

both:

• First, if the data file is over 32K large, the program crashes. I fixed this first problem by posting an error message of the text file is over 32K, and the program will not crash.
• deleting net devices caused problems. FIXED
• zApp 2.1.1 now in use as application framework. Some printing problems have gone away (trace guidelines are now dotted.) Memory leaks that plagued earlier revisions are also gone.
• Subcircuits can now be probed more than 1 level deep.
• Subcircuit probes have been re-tested and debugged. Previously, could cause crashes.
  

3.0.6a

Both Mac & PC:

• circuits with empty PLD's can now be loaded without program crashing
• generic SR latch is fixed.
• 74381 now generates correct g' and p' values when subtracting.

PC:

• Tables can now be printed and copied.

3.0.6

• Use L and H instead of 1 and 0 in all on screen ports when that option is selected.
• Table on PC version has limit of 13 signals in it.
• Trace title is now showing up in trace.
• Active-Low signals now work in PLD's.
• 7447 and 7449 are now active low, as is the 7-segment display.
• For Generate Complete Test, the inputs are toggled so that the last input toggles every row, and the first toggles only once.
  
  

3.0.5a

Both Mac and PC:

• Equation based PLD's now work correctly.

PC specific:

• Open Data File from within ROM's and PLD's and RAM's Set Properties no longer messes up windows list.
  

3.0.5

Both Mac and PC:

• For Generate Complete Test, the inputs are now ordered according to the trace window ordering. This is done.
• Bottom latch on '279 now works correctly.
• Picture for counters has been fixed.

PC specific:

• Tables with more than 20 signals no longer cause application errors.
• Open To Edit from Subcircuit dialog no longer messes up windows list.
  

3.0.4

Both Mac and PC:

• Trouble loading circuits with components that use custom models. See special notice below. This is fixed.
• '181 ALU: Previously, the carry generate and carry propagate outputs were incorrect in some cases, notably subtraction. This has been fixed.
• '153 Dual Multiplexer: Previously, when the enable line was indeterminate, the device treated the line as enabled low. This has been fixed so that an indeterminate enable input results in indeterminate output.
• '192 & '193: Previously, count-down input had to be low when counting up. This was wrong. It should be high to count up. The same problem with the count-up input while counting down.
• Generic JK flip flop: J=0, K=0 rest state often gave erroneous results. This has been fixed.
• Device Initial State for the constant devices (pull-up and pull-down resistor, Vcc and Ground) have been disabled. Previously, they caused errors.
• Miscellaneous memory leaks have been fixed. We're still using MemCheck on the Mac to review memory allocation of full program.
• Symbol for inverter was incorrect in the downward vertical orientation.
• Zero is no longer allowed for the trace interval. Previously, this caused problems.
• Startup crash on some machines. We'll try to check this out further. If anyone has seen this happen, please let me know.
• Logic gates in circuits imported from version 2.2 had problems. Sometimes, these circuits couldn't be re-opened in 3.0 after being saved in 3.0.
• 7425 had wrong symbol, and it DeMorganized incorrectly. These problems have been fixed. It no longer allows De-Morganization. You may have to replace instances of 7425 in existing circuits to get the correct symbol.

PC specific:

• Printing bug. The points where three segments of a wire meet, and where wires meet device pins were not highlighted. This has been fixed.
• Printing bug. For some printer drivers, the dotted lines in the trace show up solid. We're working on this bug. In the meantime, copy trace pictures into Microsoft Word (or some other application), and print them from within Word.
• Startup bug. On 2 of our customers' computers, both of which had '387 coprocessors, the program will not start up. We are working to resolve this problem.
• Save/Reload circuit bug. Some circuits that have been saved have become irretrievable. Fixed.
• Previously, the circuit window locked up after setting device initial conditions in some cases. This is now fixed.
• 74LS51 left garbage on screen when moved. This has been fixed.

Mac Specific:

• PLA data files had a memory problem when reading in data. FIXED.
  

Special notice. Revisions earlier than 3.0.4 had a bug that caused problems with circuits that used custom models. The program would first re-open the circuit with custom models showing up as default models. Changing the model back to custom, and then re-saving, caused the corrupted circuit. Also, circuits loaded from version 2.2 that included logic gates did not open properly in version 3.0. Saving these circuits from within 3.0 could also cause problems.

October 93-Changes from 3.0.2 to 3.0.3

Both Mac and PC:

New Feature: You can now delete probes in subcircuit windows.

• 7492 simulation problem. Bottom counter skips from 2 to 4. This has been fixed.
• Fixed initial state of '161 and '163.
• Sometimes erroneous hold time violations were reported. This has been fixed.
• The '175 has been improved to only report violations when clear is inactive.
• Abort option for Generate Full Test now works correctly. After each 300 cases, it asks you if you want to continue or abort.
• Power calculation and fan-out violations did not work properly after a paste command. This is fixed.
• FCT library devices '161 and '193 had incorrect capacitance values (left out p for picofarads.) This is fixed.
• Command file processing bug. If Set command at same time as a signal change, signal change was wiped out, causing incorrect simulation.
• Program locked up when simulation exceeded max time, approximately 231 x 10-10 sec, with clock in the circuit. FIXED.
• The '136 and '266 open-collector exclusive or and exclusive nor gates did not exhibit open-collector behavior. i.e., the strengths of the output signal was always strong, never high-impedance.
  

PC specific:

• Printing bug. Under some circumstances, there were printing problems. These have hopefully been fixed up.
  

Mac specific:

• Improved simulation speed when running under System 7.
• Fixed drawing of '161 and '163.
• New subcircuits did not set their filenames upon creation. This could cause problems later. This has been fixed.
• Problem saving text files that were over 204 characters long. This has been fixed.
• Problem with path names over 100 characters long. This has been fixed.
• Problem saving circuits after opening them from within a subcircuits dialog box. This has been fixed.
• Problem closing windows???. Not able to duplicate. Not fixed, but might not be a bug.
  

September 93-Changes from 3.0.1 to 3.0.2

Both Mac and PC:

New Feature: Set Default Directory item in the file menu. This item allows you to specify the default directory that the program should look in for subcircuits, PLD data files, and ROM and RAM data files.

• Custom devices (i.e. subcircuits, roms, rams, and plas) have been extensively retested. Routines for updating custom devices, opening their data files, opening & probing subcircuits have been revised to remove all problems that we found.
• Simulation of '90, '92, and '93 counters is fixed up. There was a bug involving "overlapping" clocking of the two counting subcircuits.
• Dynamic violation reporting for the '90, '91, '92, '93, '161, '175, '192, '193, '194, '373, and '374 and some flip flops. These clock controlled devices now only report set-up and hold violations when "affecting" inputs cause violations. i.e., Changes in asynchronous reset and enable signals will no longer cause violation alerts.
• Signal probes have been tested much more thoroughly and several problems have been fixed.
• Simulation of '113 flip flop is fixed. Pins were not matched up properly in simulation code.
• Simulation of '192 and '193 is fixed. When one clock was high and the other triggered, state was shifting.
• Command file processing was buggy. It would crash if attempting to show trace or table after processing commands.
  

PC specific:

• Delete Library in the Library menu previously was buggy. Problems would appear later, sometimes resulting in application errors. It has been fixed.
• Dynamic violation reporting in subcircuits has been fixed.
• Simulation now stops while dialog boxes are open, and while violations are being reported.
• Pref.txt, which stores the previous sessions preferences, is now saved in the same location that it's loaded from.
• Super VGA with large fonts now results in correct sizing of time and tools window.
  

Mac specific:

• PLD's with internal flip-flops are now saved and re-loaded correctly.
• Screen drawing is now clipped better than before, eliminating drawing into scroll-bars.
• Fonts of inputs and outputs no longer change.
  

August 93-Changes from 3.0.1 to 3.0.1a (PC only)

PC:

• Recompiled program to use less conventional memory. Code segments are now discardable and moveable.
  

August 93-Changes from 3.0.0 to 3.0.1

Both Mac and PC:

New Feature: Delete Library in the Library menu. This item deletes the active library from the program, but not from the disk drive. It only deletes the library if none of the library's models are in use.

• Custom delays for flip flops.
• Set all delays to custom delays.
• Error Checking for RAM Initial conditions, ROM data file, and PLD data files.
• RAM 1024x8 save and load is fixed.
• Open As Text/ Save As Text for v2.2 circuits has been fixed.
• Printing routines have been fixed up.
  

PC specific:

New Feature: Refresh Window item to the Output Menu. It redraws the contents of the front window.

• Close window when it is maximized is fixed.
• Buffer model in Generic library has been fixed.
• Zoom in with magnifying glass along left border of window.
• Trace Printing has been lined up.
• Print Setup is improved.
• Screen updating has been improved to leave less garbage on the screen.
  

Mac specific:

• ROM 256x32 read is fixed.
• copy/paste has been fixed.
• Circuit printing has been fixed.