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Starting WRspice

The WRspice simulator is invoked by typing

wrspice options ... input_files ...
All arguments are optional. There are several options which are recognized specifically by WRspice. These options are case insensitive -- the option letters can be given in upper or lower case. In addition, there are a few additional options recognized by the graphics system.

The command line options are flagged with the `-' character, but this can be changed by setting the SPICE_OPTCHAR environment variable. Below, the use of the `-' character is assumed for simplicity.

Graphical WRspice requires an X server under UNIX. When using X, the DISPLAY variable should already be set, but if one wants to display graphics on a different machine than the one running WRspice, DISPLAY should be of the form machine:0. For example, if one wants the display to go to the workstation named ``crab'', for the C-shell one would enter ``setenv DISPLAY crab:0'' at the shell prompt, or equivalently for the Bourne shell one would enter ``DISPLAY=crab; export DISPLAY'' or the more compact form ``export DISPLAY=crab'' if supported. Note that this can also be supplied using the -d option.

Further arguments are taken to be WRspice input files, which are read and saved in memory. If batch mode is requested (-b option) then they are run immediately. WRspice will accept SPICE2 input files, and output ascii plots, Fourier analyses, and node printouts as specified in .plot, .four, and .print lines. If an out parameter is given on a .width line, the effect is the same as ``set width = ...''. Since WRspice ascii plots do not use multiple ranges, however, if vectors together on a .plot card have different ranges they will not provide as much information as they would in SPICE2. The output of WRspice is also much less verbose than SPICE2, in that the only data printed is that requested by the above lines.

The following option forms are accepted by WRspice. The option letter can be lower or upper case.

-b
Run in batch mode. WRspice will read the standard input or the specified input file and do the simulation. Note that if the standard input is not a terminal, WRspice will default to batch mode, unless the -i option is given. In batch mode, WRspice generates output files for operating range and Monte Carlo analysis, otherwise if the -r option is used (-r rawfilename) WRspice generates a rawfile, or generates an ascii plot or print on standard output, as per .plot/.print lines, if no rawfile was specified.

-d [host]:server[.screen]
This option is applicable when running under X windows, and specifies the name of the display to use. The host is the hostname of the physical display, server specifies the display server number, and screen specifies the screen number. Either or both of the host and screen elements to the display specification can be omitted. If host is omitted, the local display is assumed. If screen is omitted, screen 0 is assumed (and the period is unnecessary). The colon and (display) server are necessary in all cases. This option can also be given as -display and -display.

-dnone
This is a special form of the -d option that when given will suppress all use of graphics. This can be desirable when running WRspice remotely over a slow terminal connection. This option will also work under Windows, if for some reason it is necessary to run <i>WRspice</i> in text-only mode.

-i
Run in interactive (as opposed to batch) mode. This is useful if the standard input is not a terminal but interactive mode is desired. Command completion is not available unless the standard input is a terminal, however. Interactive mode is the default when the standard input is a terminal.

-j
Run in JSPICE3 compatibility mode. This applies when running interactively, and causes suppression of the Tool Control window. Also, error messages are printed in the console window, rather than in a separate pop-up window (the noerrwin variable is set on startup).

-n
Don't try to source the user's startup file (.wrspiceinit) upon startup. Normally WRspice tries to find the file in the current directory, and if it is not found then it checks in the user's home directory. In Windows, the ``home directory'' can be specified by setting the HOME environment variable. The global file wrspiceinit in the system startup directory is sourced in any case.

-o outfile
The argument outfile specifies a file to be used for output, rather than the standard output (terminal).

-p
Open WRspice in a mode which takes input from a UNIX port, used to establish interprocess communications as a slave process.

-q
Disable command completion, which saves memory and may run slightly faster. This prevents initial loading of the command completion data structures. If the variable nocc is set and unset, command completion will be turned on, however most internal keywords will not be present in the database.

-r rawfile
Use rawfile as the default file into which the results of the simulation are saved with the write command, and for data output in batch mode.

-s
Run in server mode. This is like batch mode, except that a temporary rawfile is used and then written to the standard output, preceded by a line with a single `@', after the simulation is done. This mode is used by the SPICE daemon. In server mode, WRspice reads input from the standard input, and generates output, in rawfile or margin analysis file format, on the standard output. The -r and -b options are ignored.

-t termname
This specifies the name of the terminal, as known in a termcap or terminfo database. The terminal name is only needed in interactive mode when line editing is enabled, and is generally obtained from the TERM environment variable. Occasionally, this option is useful in overriding bad terminal info specifications allowing line editing to work, such as by giving a value of ``vt220'' when running in an xterm.

-x
This option, if given, will cause WRspice to provide its own window for text input, if WRspice is in interactive mode and graphics is available. Under the X window system, the ``xterm'' command is used to obtain the text window.

The UNIX/Linux graphical subsystem will accept the following options. It is unlikely that the user will ever need these.

-name appname
This option specifies the name under which resources for the application should be found. This option is useful in shell aliases to distinguish between invocations of an application, without resorting to creating links to alter the executable file name. This option can also be given as ``-name''.

-class classname
This option specifies the application class name under which resources for the application should be found.

-sync
This option indicates that requests to the X server should be sent synchronously, instead of asynchronously. Since Xlib normally buffers requests to the server, errors do not necessarily get reported immediately after they occur. This option turns off the buffering so that the application can be debugged. It should never be used with a working program. This option can also be given as ``-synchronous''.

-no-xshm
If set, the X server will not use shared memory.


next up previous contents index
Next: Environment Variables Up: The WRspice User Interface Previous: The WRspice User Interface   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2006-10-23