Awesome

Netlist converter

CSharp application for converting a custom netlist format to HTML files or PNG images. It was made for documenting all the cells and traces on the Game Boy chip DMG-CPU B.

Read INSTALL for build/install instructions.

This HTML file was generated by this tool:<br> DMG-CPU B Netlist

PNGs generated by this tool can be seen in this browser map of the chip:<br> DMG-CPU B Map<br>

Usage

Generate HTML file containing all types, cells and wires:

nlconv --html <input.nl >output.html

Generate PNG image containing all cells:

nlconv --png-cells <input.nl >output.png

Generate PNG image containing all wires:

nlconv --png-wires <input.nl >output.png

Generate PNG image containing all labels:

nlconv --png-labels <input.nl >output.png

Generate PNG image containing a floorplan:

nlconv --png-floor <input.nl >output.png

Generate PNG image containing everything:

nlconv --png <input.nl >output.png

Generate Java Script containing all coordinates to be used by the map:

nlconv --js <input.nl >output.js

TODO

Not yet implemented, but planned:

• Generate Verilog code containing all cells and wires.

Input format

All keywords are case-insensitive. User defined names are case-sensitive. The netlist that gets fed into STDIN of this application can contain type, signal, cell, wire, label and category definitions in any order.

Type definition

The TYPE keyword is used to define cell types. Those cell types can then be used for defining instances of cells using the CELL keyword.

TYPE <type-name>[:<color>] <port-name>[:<port-dir>]
                           [<port-name>[:<port-dir>]...]
     [@<cell-coordinates>]
     [<port-name>@<port-coordinates>...]
     ["<description-string>" [DOC "<documentation-url>"]];

Signal definition

The SIGNAL keyword is used to define wire signal classes. Those wire signal classes can then be used for defining instances of wires using the WIRE keyword.

SIGNAL <signal-name>[:<color>] ["<description-string>"];

Cell definition

The CELL keyword is used to define cell instances.

CELL <cell-name>:<type-name> [<orientation>[,FLIP]]
     [@<cell-coordinates>] [<port-name>@<port-coordinates>...]
     [<flags>...] [-> <category>] ["<description-string>"];

Cells can have alias names. This is useful for example when a cell got renamed at some point. Then it can still have an alias with its old name, so it can still be found in the HTML document when someone searches for it by that old name. Aliases are specified with separate statements that must come somewhere after the cell definition:

ALIAS CELL <alias>... -> <cell-name>;

Wire definition

The WIRE keyword is used to define connections between cell ports.

WIRE <wire-name>[:<signal-class>] <source-ports>... [-> <drain-ports>...]
     [@<wire-coordinates>...] ["<description-string>"];

Wires can have alias names. This is useful for example when a wire got renamed at some point. Then it can still have an alias with its old name, so it can still be found in the HTML document when someone searches for it by that old name. Aliases are specified with separate statements that must come somewhere after the wire definition:

ALIAS WIRE <alias>... -> <wire-name>;

Label definition

The LABEL keyword is used to define custom labels placed when generating the labels image.

LABEL "<text>"[:<color>] [<orientation>[,FLIP]]
      @<label-coordinates> [<alignment>];

Category definition

The CATEGORY keyword is used to define cell categories. A cell can optionally have a category assigned to it, which is used for determining its color when drawing the floorplan.

CATEGORY <category-name>[:<color>] ["<description-string>"];

String definition

The DEFINE keyword is used to define strings that can influence the output file.

DEFINE <string-name> ["<string-value>"...];

or

DEFINE <string-name> <float-value>;