XSCH(1)

📦 version 5.1.1-unstable-2025-02, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 xsch — okay bestie, let's look at some schematics

So the manual header says XSCH(1) from the ALLIANCE Reference Manual, and honestly? Iconic. This is the page for xsch, the graphical schematic viewer, and we're gonna get through it together. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

xsch [-l file_name] [-xor] [-install] [-force] [-I input_format] [-slide
file_name ...]

That's the whole vibe check right there. Now let's unpack it. 🌸

🌈 ORIGIN 🌈

Okay so this software? It belongs to the ALLIANCE CAD SYSTEM, developed by the ASIM team at the LIP6 laboratory of Université Pierre et Marie CURIE, in Paris, France. Oui oui, Paris. 💅

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Xsch is a graphical schematic viewer, periodt. Every single functionality is reachable through different menus. It works under Motif and X11r6. When you enter Xsch, the main window shows up and displays 5 different menus on the top bar. You get into these menus by simply clicking the mouse left button. Here's the rundown of each one:

🎀 File

  • Open — loads an existing file. Lowkey important note: a file with the same name and the extention .xsc can be used to attach special colors and comments to all displayed objects (peep below for the details, iykyk).
  • Quit — quits xsch. Sad but necessary. 😭

🎀 Edit

  • Identify — identifies a selected object.
  • Connected — highlights a selected object.
  • Search — searches for an object by its name.

🎀 View

  • Zoom — performs zoom in, zoom out, center, fit, refresh on figure.
  • Layer — selects types of layers displayed.
  • Map — shows cursor position in the entire figure.
  • Arrows — shows arrows for moving at the grid step.
  • Grid — sets the X,Y step of the grid if displayed.

🎀 Tools

  • Hierarchy — enables the user to browse into the design hierarchy. Main character energy honestly. 👑
  • Message — displays the last error messages.

🎀 Setup

Saves or loads a user defined configuration of default displayed menus. Your own little aesthetic, saved forever. ✨

⌨️ SPECIAL KEYS ⌨️

  • + / - — next or previous file in slide mode.

That's it, that's the whole keymap, and we respect it. 💜

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

  • -l file_name — loads the file file_name (with or without extention).
  • -xor — two graphic cursor methods can be used, invert or xor.
  • -force — this option forces all graphical objects to be displayed.
  • -install — switches to a private color map.
  • -I input_format — specifies the input format (vst(5), al(5), vbe(5)).
  • -slide file_name ... — enables slide mode; all specified files will be displayed one by one using the keys +/- in the graphic window.

🦋 XSC FILE FORMAT 🦋

Okay this part is literally the fun part, bestie — it's how you make your schematic pretty. Here's the example file, verbatim, no cap:

# Example of .xsc file
#
# To attach a particular color and comment to a box :
# B:box_name:color:comment
# color is an integer from 0 to 32, or -1 for no_color
# comment is a string
B:my_box:0:this box should be blue
B:another_box:-1:this won't change the box color
#
# To attach a particular color and comment to a net :
# N:net_name:color:comment
N:my_net:15:this net should be green
#
# To attach a particular color and comment to a connector :
# C:connector_name:color:comment
C:my_con:32:this connector should be red
#
# To attach a particular color and comment to a path :
# P:from_name:net_name:to_name:color:comment
P:my_con:my_net:my_box:15:this path should be green

Slay. Color your boxes, your nets, your connectors, your paths — all of it. 🎨

🌸 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌸

  • MBK_CATA_LIB — indicates the path to the read only libraries to be used.
  • MBK_WORK_LIB — indicates the path to the read directory for the session.
  • MBK_IN_LO — indicates the file format to be used.
  • XSCH_PARAM_NAME (optional) — indicates the path to the parameter file used by Xsch.

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

mbk(1), MBK_CATA_LIB(1), MBK_WORK_LIB(1), PAT(5), asimut(1)

Yeah, SEE ALSO is nested under the environment variables section in the original page, and we're keeping it exactly where it lives. No reorganizing, no notes. 💅

💀 BUG REPORT 💀

This tool is under development at the ASIM department of the LIP6 laboratory. We need your feedback to improve documentation and tools. So like… tell them if something's cursed, bestie. 🙈

Sign-off time: this page came from ASIM/LIP6, dated September 1, 2000 (yes, a genuine Y2K-era icon ⭐), and it's the XSCH(1) page from the ALLIANCE Reference Manual. Go look at some schematics. Mwah. 💋🎀

📦 where this page comes from