Re: Update to release 6.05 of Electric

[Steven Rubin]

> You really should have pumped up the version numer. To 6.05.1 or something,
> maybe. Now there are two different but same numbered versions which is
> confusing.

I know, but if I did that, there would be a 6.05 out there with GIF files 
in it, and the GNU folks were telling me that the didn't want that.  Of 
course there are GIF files in 6.04, 6.03, etc. but nevermind.  Also, it was 
fairly soon after the release.

> Even worse is that the PNG images appear to be corrupted. No any program
> can read them, most complain that they "have corrupted by ASCII
> conversion".

This is a problem.  I will look into it.

> And what comes to busses? I suppose ALS should still be in
> place? I also didn't get internal IRSIM working, but maybe I just didn't
> know how to use it.

The basic Electric from GNU has ONLY "ALS", whereas the version with Static 
Free Software additions has both, so you always can choose "ALS" in the 
"Tools / Simulate (Built-in) / Simulation Options..." command.


> Qt issues: So I try it with the latest Qt3.
>
> First problem:
> c++ -DUSEQT -I/include   -Isrc/include        -c src/cons/conlay.c -o
> src/cons/conlay.o
> src/include/config.h:110: qglobal.h: No such file or directory
>
> Althought I have
>         QTINC =  -I/usr/include/qt
> in Makefile where the qglobal.h is. So it doesn't use the given path.
> So I fixed this by changing the line 9 in Makefile to
>         CCOMPILER = c++ -I/usr/include/qt

Clearly not the right fix.  You're saying that the "configure" script set 
QTINC properly, and yet the compile statement in the Makefile doesn't use 
it?  There must be a simple explanation.  How can the Makefile have a 
symbol defined, and used in the compile line, and yet you don't see it when 
you compile?  Is something commented out?

> Now it compiles for much longer, but then I get:
> c++ -DUSEQT -I/include   -Isrc/include        -c src/db/dblangjava.cpp -o
> src/db/dblangjava.o
> src/include/config.h:110: qglobal.h: No such file or directory
>
> I fix this by editing Makefile line 85 to
>         CPPCOMPILER = c++ -I/usr/include/qt

Propagating incorrect fixes: there are two compilers, and since you 
modified one of their names to include your switches, you clearly have to 
do it to the second also.

> And finally, it compiles and runs with Qt when I start it. Also the
> scrollbars don't "stuck" as they did with Motif. Unfortunately, it is much
> slower than with Motif. I used Electric quite comfortably with Pentium 120
> MHz, but the Qt interface feels very sluggish even with this Athlon 800
> MHz.

My experience with Qt on a 733Mhz Pentium is that it is not any slower than 
Motif.

> Just noticed that the Qt interface gives this message at startup:
>         Warning: found 161 fonts, but can only keep track of 128
> Seems to work fine nevertheless. (I'm using Debian Woody).

Yes, Electric has some built-in limits to the number of fonts that it can 
use.  This happens on any operating system, whenever you have too many 
fonts.  The only problem is that you won't be able to use all of them.

> And more about the Qt interface:
> - The component panel is erratic. When I resize it with mouse, it decides
>   to adjust itself. It would be much better if it would *never* resize
>   itself automatically. Right now the result often is that the panel
>   disappears completely (maybe it resizes itself to 0x0 pixels or
>   something?). This problem exists also with Motif interface.

Electric tries to manage the component menu, and I have noticed a number of 
issues with it under Motif.  Not surprising that they crop up in Qt 
also.  But this is not a Qt problem.  You should not resize the component 
menu.  That's Electric's job.

   -Steven Rubin