EN-90-03 PAF. Volume 3, Number 1, March 1990 EMT? NEWS Editor: D. Van Dommelen Assistants: G. Empereur K. Verstringe D. Paulus A, Laeremans In ths issue... 1. 2. 3. 4, Information for contributors and subscribers. Validation of frequency-dependent transmission line models (R.M. Hasibar, D.L. Goldsworthy, Tsu-huei Liu) $29 upgrade of 80286 allows Salford EMIP with virtual memory (B. Furumasu, W.S. Meyer) PCPLOT improvements and Salford EMTP information (M. Kizilcay) Salford EMIP for 80386 has screen graphics and interactivity (SPY) (J.C. Chiang, W.S. Meyer) + ATP success using new DEC RISC software (J.R. Smith) + HP-GL output of interactive plotting program TPPLOT (Tsu-huei Liu, W.S. Meyer) Problems with SM and UM models (L. Bompa) pe. 1 p. 2 peut p. 26 P. 31 P. 33 . 37-60INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS AND SUBSCRIBERS EMTP NEWS shall be a continuation from 1988 on of EMTP NEWSLETTER for the users of the versions of the Bonneville Pc Administration EMTP and of the Alternative Transients Pre. (ATP), as distributed by the Leuven EMTP Center EMTP WS is intended as a quarterly means of communication among -aese users and is made for and by them. In this context, readers are encouraged to contribute ideas Suggestions, questions, and to share their experience in usage and modelling. Reviews of EMT related published Papers or books are greatly appreciated as well as advance notices about forthcoming publications in thia field. In order to simplify the editing, contributions must be typewritten, single-spaced and ready to be photocopied. The format shall therefore be plain white paper, size DIN A4 or ° 1/2 by 11 inches, with 20 mm or 1 inch margins on the right id left side. Selection among contributions is done by the editor, but the responsability of the content of a contribution rests with the author. If important editorial changes are judged necessary, consultation with the authors will be seeked prior to publication. No honorarium will be paid to authors. Please mail your contributions, ideas, suggestions, questions or notices to: Prof. Dr. D. Van Dommelen Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven Elektrotechnisch Instituut Kardinaal Mercierlaan, 94 B-3030 Leuven (Heverlee) Belgium A subscription may be taken at any time during the year, but will always run from January to December of the year in which it is taken.VALIDATION OF FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT TRANSMISSION LINE MODELS Robert M. Hasibar Daniel L. Goldsworthy Tsu-huei Liu system Analysis Section of the System Engineering Branch Bonneville Power Administration; U.S. Dept. of Energy P. 0. Box 3621; | Portland, Oregon 97208; USA Introduction For many years, EMTP users have needed a procedure for checking the validity of transmission line models that are used for simulation. The procedure should be simple enough so that all branch cards representing important transmission lines could be validated prior to their first use. Response as a function of phasor frequency is the quality of interest. If this is judged to be acceptable, and if the resulting, full network simulation seems to be valid, user confidence is increased. On the other hand, if the resulting simulation seems to be in error, at least the user has enough information to look elsewhere for the source of his trouble. I.e., separate validation for transmission lines always has value. Supporting routines to create frequency-dependent branch cards (e.g., "JMARTI SETUP" and "SEMLYEN SETUP") do offer estimates of error. However, it is in the modal domain, which is a mathematical fiction. The user needs comparisons in the real (phase) domain of his simulation. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to estimate error in the phase domain from the modal information. "Line Model Frequency Scan," hereafter abbreviated LMFS, is the name of a new feature of BPA's EMTP that provides the missing information about the validity of line models in the phase domain as frequency is varied. The remainder of this paper is devoted to an explanation of this useful new feature. Standard of Comparison for a Line Model The validation of LMFS requires knowledge of the correct answer as the standard of comparison. This comes from long-line formulas of a transmission line. A single-phase transmission line can be represented exactly at any one frequency of the sinusoidal steady state by an equivalent Pi-circuit as follows: 1/Zseries Yshunt/2 yshunt/2where = line length series impedance per unit length shunt admittance per unit length = characteristic impedance = propagation constant Sinilarly, one can represent a multi- (N-) phase transmiasion line Rrpemiivalent Pi-circuits. This is because in the soone domain, an pernase line is transformed into N decoupled modes. Each moos natn can be represented by an equivalent Pi-circuit in the steady state as shown Next One must, decide how to compare the user's model with the EXgre Moder. on this subject, many more questions can raised than the authors are prepared to answer. For example, would open circuit fests? of the many possible test circuits that could be used, what Small subset would best indicate or summarize a model's accuracy? Even Tore fundamentally, what is meant by accuracy? whet weight should be given £0 error in the vicinity of resonant frequencies? Etc., etc. nen tS FOO, for different philosophies and approaches, particularly snecusemsidering different intended uses for the moder’ Pane authors Bight oe Such @ dialogue, and would be receptive to conclusions that might result. Meanwhile (until a better understanding is reached), fhree simple short-circuit tests have bean selected somewhat arpitrarily. These will be explained in greater detail in the next Section. In each circuit, the receiving end ic grounded while unit Fesei ting 2reyamJected at ‘the sending end in diftorent ways. The resulting sending-end voltages, which are impedances, then'are compared. Implementation of LMFs in EMTP New code has been added to BPA's EMTP to compare a user-supplied line model with an equivalent Pi-circuit (the exact model) at each f oncy of a user-requested "FREQUENCY SCA This is restricted rythaic looping only, for a network having no more then ies Phases (e.g., one triple circuit). The equivalent Pi-circuit epresents a single overhead line segment for which the user supplies LINE CONSTANTS" data.4 The evaluation is not restricted to a single, multi-phase component, however. In fact, it can be an arbitrary interconnection of frequency-dependent segments, Pi-circuits, constant-parameter distributed circuits, coupled R-L elements, and linear branches. But the comparison always will be with a single segment of overhead line. The three standard tests that have been chosen by BPA to determine model accuracy are as follows: test 1. A positive-sequence, short-circuit impedance test with all circuits energized simultaneously. All phases of the model are grounded at the receiving end. Positive-sequence current sources of 1.0 per unit are applied to each circuit at the sending end. To limit the input impedance near resonant frequencies, an arbitrary resistance of 100K ohms is connected between each sending end phase and ground. This circuit is shown below for a double-circuit case (6 phases total): Sending End Receiving End 14 a a 4 leo" [ b| Cirevit 4 b 4 L120? © ‘ 7 4 Line = t = Model a a | b| Circvit 2 Lb £ |c 400 kL The resulting sending-end voltages represent the positive-sequence input impedance in ohms for each phase. This impedance, however, includes positive sequence mutual coupling from the energized phases of all parallel lines. At low frequencies, the input impedances will approach the nominal, positive-sequence, series impedance R, + jwl, expected from a typical three-phase, short-circuit test. However, at high frequencies, the capacitive ‘reactance of the line is a major factor, causing the frequency scan to pass through multiple resonant conditions. This drives the input impedance to very high values.Test A zero-sequence, short-circuit input impedance test with ° all circuits energized simultaneously. This test is identical to Test 1 above except that all current source- e in phase, causing the combined phase currents to return thre e earth. Sending end voltages for this test represent the zero-sequence input impedance of each phase plus the zero-sequence mutual coupling between circuits. As for Test 1, at low frequencies the input impedance is not affected substantially by capacitance; it approaches the nominal zero-sequence series impedance (self plus mutual). Test 3 For cases with two or three circuits (six or nine phases). A zero-sequence input impedance and mutual-coupling test with one of the circuits energized. As for the previous tests, all phases of the model are grounded at the receiving end. Zero-sequence current sources of unit magnitude are applied to the sending end of one circuit only while all other phases remain open-circuited at the sending end. The 100K ohm resistors again are connected from each sending end node to ground. These connections are shown below for a double-circuit (six-phase) line: Sending End Rec. iving End 14g a a eee | b} Cirevit 4 1 L120 c © * Line = Model a a Open EH Ciecoit eb £ Js 100 kN The resulting sending-end voltages of the circuit being excited closely approximate the zero-sequence input impedance in ohms provided mutual coupling is small. At low frequencies, these values will approach the nominal value Z = (R, + jwl,) for this circuit. The sending end voltages of an u: 2xcited circuit present primarily the zero-sequence mutual coupling setween excited ..d unexcited circuits.6 Input data supplied by the user is very simple. It includes three essential components: 1) One special request card ("LINE MODEL FREQUENCY SCAN") ; 2) EMTP branch cards representing the line model to be tested; and 3) geometry of the transmission line ("LINE CONSTANTS" data). ‘The EMTP automatically will generate the appropriate testing circuits just two for a single-circuit case, but three for a multi-circuit case. Then the "FREQUENCY SCAN" usage guarantees that calculations will be performed over the frequency range of interest. Results and comparisons are tabulated as functions of frequencies in the LUNIT6 output file, and stored as conventional ".PL4" plot files for subsequent plotting. Illustration of LMFs Usage (1) Input Data BEGIN NEW DATA CASE LIME MOOEL FREQUENCY SCAM, 1.,,6000.,20,,,, 5.86 “50.63 60. 0.0 10 1 o 1 1 c NO. OF PHASES = 6 SENDING ENO. NODES: RECEIVING ENO NODES: c SINCLUDE, SPASOCLINE.LIM, c Be Gee TAS 1 8te 1 cts 2a 2e- 2at 281 21-2 BLANK == © GRAND COULEE - RAVER 500-KV DOUBLE CIRCUIT LINE (SANE TOVER DESIGN) c c TOWER "M19", S-CHUXAR BUNDLE c 1.3636 05215 4 1.602 -17.1875 49.06 49.06 113636 Lo5215 4 1602 -18:25 | 48:0 48.0 1.3636 105215 4 1.602 -19.3125 49:06 «9:06 213636 05215 4 15602 27.1875 85.05 85.05 213636 \0s21s 4 1602 28:25 84.0 8.0 213636 05215 4 15602 -29'3125 85.06 85.06 3.3636 105215 « TI7-1875 121.06 121.06 33636 05215 4 118125 12010 12010 33636 ‘05215 « “1973125 121.06 121.06 413636 Los2ts « ST:1875 121108 121106 413636 05215 4 18.25 120.0 120.0 473636 o5215 «4 3913125 121-08 12:06 513636 05215 4 27.1875 85.05 85.06 5.3436 “0521s 4 28.25 5.3636 “osz1s 6 29.3125 613636 105215 « 6.3636 “05215 ¢ 6.3636 105215 ¢ os Re G os zor e c SLANK + coNoUCTORS c c 100. 1 10.0 1 1 © BLANC == ENOING FREQ. c BLANK == PLOTS2) ovrPrut Dwviod ovwize wows x ova wae om V300W 14-19¥K3 . oss2tveo v zo-3E02" way ony eisai owrse T3¢0W aNt7 bae2o00"4Impedance egies) Angle Mutual Impedance Test 8.00 Grand Coulee - Raver 500-kV Double-Circuit Line gs 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 FREQUENCY INHERTZ (x 13) 8 eee ss et et Mutual Impedance Test 5] Grand Coulee - Raver 500-kV Double-Circuit Line 8 0.00 +00 2.00 300 mado \ 5.00 6.00 . FREQUENCY IN HERTZ (x £3) i 2 i z gPositive Sequence Impedance Test ae g é = = Grand Coulee - Raver 500-kV Double-Circuit Line i = 8 i * af i 3 3. 8 ; i ge 8 QF a qi ag 3 =" loc0 100 200 2 400 5.00 eco § z 3 FREQUENCY IN HERTZ (x 1. 3) 2 és : : u i 8 af os eg ° go Positive Sequence Impedance Test 8 g 3 “| Grand Coulee - Raver 500-kV Double-Circuit Line ge iy 8. a2 3 : Hy g ey ae gi 88 . i 3 8 & *l0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 coo Fe re FREQUENCY IN HERTZ (x 1.€ 3) 28 <8 fe HE g 3* é i : = § zi Tested tne moc venee — Entet Pi madeniige weyreco) Zero Sequence Impedance Test | Grand Coulee - Raver 500-kV Double-Circuit Line 150 190 4.00 5.00 FREQUENCY IN HERTZ (x 1.3) Zero Sequence Impedance Test g Grand Coulee - Raver 500-kV Double-Circuit Line 0 4.00 8.00 FREQUENCY IN HERTZ (x 1.€ 3) {9 PONTS (75%) USED ‘GENIC MAG NODE NAMES & PLOT POMT SUMMANIES FOLLOW: PLOT DATA FROM FILE :0n200 16.14 ‘GENIC MAG z 8 NODE NAMES & PLOT POINT SUMMIARIES FOLLOW: 0$329 °TRADE OF 80286 ALLOWS SALFORD EMTP WITH VIRTUAL MEMORY Brian: masu W. Scott Meyer Economic Engineering Consultants, Inc. Can/Am Co-Chairman 14282 §.4.. Camden Lane The Fontaine, Unit 68 Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035 1220 N.E. 17th Avenue United States of America Portland, Oregon 97232 ret: x only $329, the authors converted an Intel 80286-based home computer into a 16-Miz, 80386-based computer that supports the Salford EMTP [1]. This provides virtual memory management, which allows EMTP simulation of arbitrarily large data ca’ va $249 is required if EMP simulation is to be sped by a math cc ally, add §77 for a Mbyte of high-speed (80-nsec) RAM, should the available for reuse in the computer that is being retrofitted. A loca: supp.ier of the author’s company offers these prices, which provide for replacement of the entire, old, 80286-based motherboard by a new one that is built around Intel’s economical 80386-SX microprocessor. Salford EMI? sformance of the resulting machine, both with and without an 80387-sx ccprocessor, is detailed. A single Mbyte of RAM is shown to be adequate to avoid Paging within the time-step loop for even the largest standard EMIP test case (BENCHMARK DC-1). The paper concludes with an illustration of retail prices for Complete 80386-based computers in the local market. Quality EMP simulation now is very affordable! Background of Interest in Salford EMTP and 80386 ee Success using the Salford FORTRAN compiler to support EMTP reliably on Intel 80386-based computers was reported 3 months ago [1]. Suddenly, 80386-based computers became much better than 80286-based computers for the support of EMTP. More important than the gain in clock speed (the slowest 80386 runs at 16 Miz), virtual memory management of the Salford EMIP allows the simulation of almost arbitrarily large networks using just minimal RAM (e.g., 1 Mbyte). Since the first report of success, additional development has provided the Salford EMTP with both interactivity (SPY) and also better bit-mapped graphics as described in Separate papers from Taiwan [2] and Germany [3]. It is assumed that the reader already knows how good the Salford EMTP is, so this present paper concentrates on economical hardware to support it. Many existing users of the MS-DOS version of EMIP already have 80386-based computers. They are the lucky ones, since they can switch to the wide-open and more efficient Salford EMIP very inexpensively. Within the USA and Canada, the price is §55 (see Section VI). Other lucky persons are affluent enough to be able to purchase a complete, new 80386-based computer without upsetting their budgets. Section IV documents local economics of this second alternative. But for many others, =: is more attractive economically to salvage parts of their Prevent 80286-base computer while converting it to the newer, faster, more pow ‘vl, and flexi. .e Intel 80386 microprocessor. The retrofitting of 8088- or 8086-based computers also is possible, although additional hardware (besides the asic motherboard) generally could be required. In fact, the computer that was :ked on by the authors began as a genuine 4.77- Miz IBM PC XT during 1984. See -ction II below for more details. WSurprisingly, it is cheaper to replace an entire 80286-based motherboard by a new 80386-SX motherboard than it is to retain the old motherboard and replace just the 80286 microprocessor that plugs into it. More experience with computer hardware is required for motherboard replacement, of course, but one actually saves money this way, and sometimes it is even easier than replacing just the microprocessor. About price, compare the $329 mentioned in the title with the $595 mentioned in Reference [4]. Higher speed is another advantage of swapping the entire motherboard as opposed to just replacing the old microprocessor. Any user who has been contemplating the purchase of an 80386-based daughtercard is advised to ponder this complication. Inexpensive daughtercards for typical IBM PC AT-compatible computers have reduced performance because other parts of the computer remain at reduced speed. Whereas all RAM on a new 80386-SX motherboard runs at a full 16 Miz, not so for the typical, modified 80286 motherboard. Specifically, transfers involving RAM memory typically use the PC AT bus. Not only is this half-width (matching the 16-bit external connections to the 80386-Sx), but also, unfortunately, it runs at only half speed (8 Miz), most frequently. Beware of this added penalty (an I/O bus with only 1/4 the capability of a regular, 32-bit 80386), which has yet to be evaluated using EMTP simulation. The single factor of two that is inherent in the SX has been proven to be tolerable. Whether another factor of two could be applied without a serious reduction in simulation speed remains to be seen. II. Considerations of 80386 Motherboards for Retrofitting ‘The 80386-SX is a conventional, 16-MHz 80386 internally, but it has a 16- bit external bus like the 80286. The 80386-SX is particularly attractive for retrofitting 80286-based computers because of the reduced price compared with the regular 80386. The board used by the authors was purchased without wait from the existing stock of a supplier that is located about a mile from the main BPA building in Portland, Oregon [5]. The March-April, 1990, price is $329. Cheaper 386-SX motherboards are available from other suppliers, but they seem to be less desirable for EMTP use for some reason, Most commonly, the empty sockets for RAM are not of the desired type. The authors prefer 1-megabit DRAM of the DIP (Dual In-line Package) style. Such chips are not only economical (876.41 for a single megabyte), but they also are more flexible for use with other (future) motherboards, and they minimize replacement cost in case of memory failure. The only obvious disadvantage is the need for more board space (no problem for EMTP, which does not require much RAM). Some boards require the addition of more RAM in quantum leaps of 4 Mbytes, which is too inflexible. The Salford EMTP requires nothing like 4 Mbytes of RAM. Regular 80386 motherboards were considered, but they are substantially more expensive. for those wanting higher performance, they are a logical choice, however. Whereas the 80386-SX is limited to 16 MHz, the regular 80386 can be obtained for speeds of 20, 25, and 33 MHz. For 20 Miz, a regular 386 motherboard from the same supplier (5]| costs $559 without any memory cache, and the associated 80387 coprocessor would cost $338 for a total price increase of §279. This surcharge rises to $980 at 33 MHz with memory caching. There should be no more difficulty with such replacements, however, so there really is no reason to discourage the consumer who can afford such lusury. The authors initially chose je 80386-SX deliberately in order to minimize cost as an inspiration for others.The mail provides any reader with inexpensive access to 386-Sx motherboards, of course. this alternative recently was chosen by Mr. John W. Walker, the former head of BPAYs Methods Development Section who retired at the end of 1987" He gather Fecently upgraded his home~puilt PC xT-compatible computer using an 80386-Sx motherboard that carried an advertized price of $350 [8]. A keyboard might possibly be incompatible with a new motherboard, readers ghoulg be warned. The Northgate CT-101 keyboard is advertized as being an AT oc Xt keyboard, and it did work well with the original 80266 motherboard’ But st gould Jock execution using the 386-Sx motherboard. It never did work correctly, soz reasons that are unclear, Possibly the keyboard ROM was incompat isle, Anyway, replacement by a genuine IBM PC AT keyboard solved the problem. Secrorttting of PC xT-compatible computers requires more care for a variety of reasons that will be quickly reviewed. Most likely there would not bet problen, With ‘the power supply or ventilation since newer boards and chips gererate less heat. But motherboard size should be checked carefully. A se Called “baby size" board was found to be about 1-inch longer than a standacd 4? Totherboard, | and would not fit a standard XT case. Also, some expansion cards might possibly not work. For example, an original IBM PC serial (port) card aia SPgrate correctly with the 286 motherboard, but not with the 386-SX motherboard, Qua Bard disks and/or controllers are potential candidates for replacement even if they remain compatible because those of the PC xT-compatible era were slow sea Fomenbee® ppezY Small | (the original 18M PC XT disk stored 10 Mbytes). Finally, Ter cor, that Salford FORTRAN provides no graphic support for the original, oid TBM color monitor (the CGA standard) . MS7DOS ‘resides on the hard disk, so following a change of motherboards, the gua, operating system will continue to be used unless the user takes special seeectaes’ Teplace it. Well, the user should be prepared for such a possible pecessity. The concern exists primarily because large computer manufacturers sgh, 28, TEM modify MS-DOS slightly (in IBM's case, even the name changes to PC. DOS), and this could make the operating system incompatible with the BIOS of generic motherboard that most likely expects genuine MicroSoft MS-DOS. ‘The authors already have experienced such trouble with a 33-Miz motherbosrd thee should be described in an article in the next issue of EMIP News. Avoidance or fhe, incompatibility was simple, however: the computer merely was re-bosted following placement of the generic MS-DOS disk in drive A. TII, 80386-Sx Performance Using the Salford EMTP Results (of this section should convince the reader that "SX" computers Provide powerful support for the Salford EMTP. As long as a faster clock is sot needed, the SX saves substantial money without slowing EMTP simulation mech, Hith (an 80387-Sx coprocessor, EMTP simulation speed is close to that epborted for the 16-Milz IBM PS/2 Model 80. Row one of the following table is for peg, @uthors’ home-built computer whereas row 2 is copied without change free Bekele pe ihese, ate times spent in the time-step loop for standard. (anmodifica) BENCH “K DC-XX test cases: ll repeepeeeceeeere zd Test Case =: DC-3 Dc~26R—DC=35.—sC=38C DCA gsX motherboard : 18.79 42.64 39.18 += 11.32 ial Mode G0ne et 492) cag satea igig7 96 295 13wy Clearly, the 16-bit external connection that is inherent to the 80386-Sx is not the bottleneck for EMTP simulation. The SX figure for DC-3 locks bad, but really is not. Rather than indicate SX speed, it illustrates the slowdown that could occur if the user requests the creation of a FORMATTED ".PL4" file, which requires extra computation. Unfortunately, the discrepancy was discovered only at the last minute; there is not time to rerun the simulation. The authors have just learned that motherboard replacement has occurred in Hannover [1], too. Look for some mention in a separate article by Mr. Kizilcay elsewhere in this issue. Table restoration for a STATISTICS/SYSTEMATIC simulation precedes each energization. For the Salford EMTP, this is very fast provided there is adequate RAM. Whereas the MS-DOS EMTP had to restore tables from disk, the Salford EMIP allows the alternative restoration of tables from virtual memory. The decision is made at linking time. If the user has enough RAM, this is just a transfer from one block of RAM to another, which is very fast. With 3 times default dimensioning, the size of the tables is 4 * LTLABL = 823088 bytes. With adequate RAM to avoid paging, this requires just a single second to transfer (as indicated from screen printout at the start and end, accurate to the nearest second) using the 16-MHz ATéT 6386. Should paging from disk be required, the transfer will be slowed, of course. The added time will depend upon the fraction of the tables that must be paged, condition of the disk (fragmentation), speed of the disk and/or controller, etc. For example, with 1 Mbyte of RAM, restoration preceding shots 2 onward for DC-24 averaged 53 seconds using Dr. Liu’s computer. can 08/2 compete successfully with the Salford DOS extender for the support of EMTP on 80386-based computers? The authors do not believe so, for reasons that already have been documented in detail [4, 7]. On the other hand, it would be nice to be able to discuss precise timings of standard test cases. Any reader who has access to both the DCG/EPRI EMTP version for OS/2 and also a 80386-based computer, and who would be willing to run some EMTP benchmarks, is invited to contact ATP developers in Portland. Readers are advised not to expect a rapid report of such work, however. By telephone, an EPRI spokesman indicated late last year that the 08/2 version was not scheduled for release until April of 1980. The reason for the delay is not known, although it is known that the one original beta test site had reported trouble for large data sets [7]. Certainly EPRI’s contractor has been working on the project long enough. for those unfamiliar with the contract, EPRI Journal dated July/August, 1989, carries the following entry in a table entitled "New Contracts" on page 57: "Development of an 0S/2 Version of the Electromagnetic Transients program (RP2149-11) . Funding/Duration: $41,500; 3 months. Contzactor/EPRI Project Manager: Electrotek Concepts Inc.; M. Lauby." IV. Price of Complete 80386-Based Computer in Portland eee To illustrate the affordability of a complete, 80386-based computer that is sold locally, consider a 25-MHz alternative that carries a l-year warranty (including parts and labor) [6]: $1995 -- Computer with 45-Mbyte hard disk, 1 Mbyte of RAM, 1.2-Mbyte floppy disk, 2 serial and 1 parallel ports, VGA output card and color monitor, and keyboard. 99 -- 25-Miz 80387 coprocessor. Note the total cost is just under $2500, or $100 per MHz, Although cheaper, @ comparable ié-Miz computer certainly would cost more than $1600. So, if the user wants or needs the increased simulation speed, 25-MHz is attractiveV. Automatic Coprocessor Emulation Using Salford FORTRAN Coprocessor emulation does work for the Salford EMTP, experimentation has shown. No special program version (using some special compiler switch) is required. Tt would seem that software to emulate the coprocessor is placed in the executable program version automatically, since program never consciously requested it. As any user will note, the Salford DOS extender DBOS detects the Presence or absence of a coprocessor and notifies the user of its findings (e.g., “Intel 80387 coprocessor found; No Weitek coprocessor found [not used in this release]"). For a computer with a coprocessor, the emulator would seem to be ignored. But for a computer without a coprocessor, the emulator is used. This makes the decision about a coprocessor easy to handle for both program developers and users alike. loss of speed is an obvious problem for the Salford EMIP user who has no coprocessor. All floating-point computation is done in double precision (64 bits) by the Salford EMTP, so if such activity dominates, the execution will be slowed greatly, Yet, it is difficult to generalize. The retardation clearly depends upon the amount of coprocessor activity that is required, and this varies greatly from one data case to another. For example, there are data cases that are not much affected by the lack of a coprocessor. The best example is the "FREQUENCY SCAN" of DC-51, for which the total time is shown in the table below. The random number testing of DC-50 is not slowed excessively, either. But heavy simulation is another matter entirely. Intensive number crunching suffers enormous retardation without a coprocessor. Consider figures below for De-1 (dominated by 84 thyristors of hvde conversion), DC-35 (dominated by an induction machine), DC~41 (dominated by a single, high-order, frequency-dependent transmission line), and DC-53 (dominated by a Type-59 synchronous machine). The retardation ratios for these cases are staggering: a Test Case: DC-1 Dc-35 Dc-41DC~50—DC“S1_—C=53 Activity dt-loop dt-loop dt-loop Total Total dt -1oop Use 387~sx : 721.371 39.176 16.043 9.504 16.594 39.121 387 Emulate : 8552.64 510.438 273.570 22.859 22.422 571.758 Speed ratio : 11.86 13.03 17.05 2.41 1.35 14.62 Initial testing without a coprocessor was limited to simulation, which is more important than supporting programs for the average user. The complete set Of simulation benchmarks was executed, and the resulting solutions were computer- Compared (the "diff" command of VAX/VMS or Unix) with solutions that were verified three months ago [1]. While there was not perfect agreement of all cases, differences were not numerous enough, or great enough, to cause any general concern. Most cases did produce obvious, exact agreement to the Precision of printed numbers. But a substantial fraction of cases (perhaps one in five) showed significant differences due to roundoff. No, there generally was no question about engineering validity of the solutions, since differences beyond the 3rd or 4th decimal digit seldom have any physical significance, anyway. But roundoff differences complicated the computer comparison. Of course, many solutions include a few numbers that should be identically zero were it not for roundoff, and such numbers differed, An example is provided by step 60 of DC-1, where the second row begins with .95143E-13 if there is a coprocessor and +95588E-13 if there is none. But such differences were obvious. There exist 15much more subtle effects of roundoff, It has been known for years that some data sets magnify roundoff error, with the transistor modeling of DC-30B providing a good illustration. Well, it is the impression of the authors that Salford coprocessor emulation produces more significant roundoff than do other common computers such as VAX/VMS or Apollo. It is almost as though selective single precision were being used somewhere. ‘The user of Salford EMTP coprocessor emulation is advised to be carefully about this. "MARTI SETUP" is extremely slow without a coprocessor, it subsequently was found. This is illustrated by BENCHMARK DCNEW-3, for which the ratio of total times exceeds 18. With a coprocessor, a respectable 458.961 seconds sufficed, whereas using emulation the time ballooned to 8290.879 sec. Clearly, the library functions for logarithms and/or exponentiation are very slow without supportive hardware. GEOGRAF now does work for the separate MS-DOS "TPPLOT™ that has coprocessor emulation. It is slower without a coprocessor, of course, since the calculation of pixels requires number crunching. But operation finally is correct. This detail is mentioned only because a prospective Salford EMP user without a coprocessor would have need of such capability. A year ago (at the Florida EMTP short course during April of 1989), this was not possible. But there are not expected to be many EMIP users of coprocessor emulation. Anyone involved in serious simulation using an 80386-based computer really should have a coprocessor, as the preceding table shows. The cost is not great (see the figures of Section Iv). VI, Distribution of Salford EMTP by Can/Am EMTP User group The North American user group distributes the Salford EMTP within the United States and Canada subject to the same conditions that apply to the MS-DOS version. The price has not changed. At any time, any ATP-licensed user will be updated with a complete set of computer disks for either MS-DOS or Salford in exchange for a $10 check made out to "Tsu-huei Liu." In either case, 5.25-inch MS-DOS computer disks are used, and files are packed using PKZIP (the archiving utility of PKWARE, Inc.). A prospective Salford EMTP user within the USA and Canada must acquire the DOS extender DBOS/386 himself. The Can/Am EMTP User Group distributes a single- page order and registration form which the user fills out and mails with his check for $55 ($50 plus a $5 handling charge) or his credit card number to the Salford distributor in the eastern United States. It is hoped that this streamlined procedure can serve as a model for other parts of the world, too. It seems ideal for all concerned. The user group generates the orders and the distributor reciprocates by filling them at a discount (reduced from the regular price of $100 within the USA and Canada) . Distribution of the Salford EMTP to the general public began on January 2st, 1990, when ten accumulated orders finally were shipped. Included were two universities (Florida and Minnesota) that plan to use the Salford EMIP for short courses by mid-year. As this text is being frozen for publication on March 2nd, the total number of Salford EMTP sites within the USA and Canada has risen to 20. For North America, the Salford EMTP already is second only to the MS-DOS version in popularity. 16The University of Florida is the first site to install the Salford EMTP on many 80386-based computers. By the time this article has been printed, the week- jong EMTP short course in Gainesville will be history. Like the Leuven course of last sumer, Prof. Dennis Carroll’s offering for March 19-23 was filled early (the planned limit of 20 was reached by February 15). As an indication of how EMIP education in Gainesville has matured, none of the first 20 registrants was from within the state of Florida. Speculation now is that there likely will be a repetition around the end of October to satisfy the overflow. The same as last year, the course will be given in the large laboratory that regularly houses 14 80386-based personal computers. Two more will be borrowed from faculty, and the local IBM office has agreed to loan two additional machines just for the course. Since each student requires a computer, and at least one extra is needed for Projection, 3 or 4 80286-based computers running the MS-DOS version also will be used. This year, all 80386-based computers have math coprocessors, so simulation will be an order of magnitude faster than just one year ago! Two high-density (5.25-inch, 1.2-Mbyte) floppy disks easily store all Salford EMIP disk files for distribution to the general public. This is better than for the MS-DOS (Lahey F77L) EMTP, which requires three. For further explanation, see the end of Section VII. The text file BLOCKDS1.3IN of Salford is different than that of Lahey. This incompatibility is similar to the problem with UNFORMATTED ".PL4" files. Such files depend on the compiler, unfortunately. Experimentation has confirmed the neec for a separate BLOCKDS1.BIN for Salford. Note that a C-like file (as named fc: ".PL4" file usage) would remove this incompatibility, but it would Tequire =cogram changes that might be incompatible with some other computers and/or ccusilers, The matter is being pondered. There seems to be increasing confidence that the Salford EMIP somehow avoids Intel Erratum 21, As this article is frozen for publication, no one yet has reported trouble. This certainly is better than the experience with Unix. Speaking of Intel Erratum 21 and Unix, it must in fairness be mentioned that @ software correction now exists. In a telephone conversation on February 28th, computer expert David Szymanski indicated that the version of standard Unix that he uses for Intel 80386-based computers (System V, Release 3.2, Version 2.1) has a software switch that somehow avoids the infamous "hanging." | For CPU-intensive applications, Mr. Szymanski indicates that the speed loss might be on the order of one percent, whereas for I/O-bound applications, the difference might not even be noticeable. Shadow RAM (or other dedicated uses for memory above 640 Kbytes) represents a new hazard or liability for the Salford EMTP. A user who installs the Salford EMTP for the first time should pay close attention to this detail. It would seem that the Salford DOS extender, DBOS/386, correctly avoids memory conflicts of major brands such as TBM PS/2 and COMPAQ Deskpro 386. The PS/2 experience comes from both Hannover (Model 80) and Ohio State University (Model 70) whereas a 25- Miz COMPAQ DeskPro having only 1024 Kbytes (shown by the memory check during booting) was tested personally. Whereas DBOS avoids all 388 Kbytes between 640K and 1024k for IBM PS/2, the loss is only 128 Kbytes for COMPAQ. This allows COMPAQ with 1 Mbyte of RAM to support the EMTP well (the 896 Kbytes that are used are adequate to avoid paging of BENCHMARK DC-1 within the time-step loop). For comparable performance, PS/2 users require at least 256 Kbytes more of RAM. As for clones, the record with shadow RAM is not good. Salford EMIP execution failed quickly using one inexpensive 25-MHz machine that was tested at a local computer dealer, and the same goes for the authors’ 386-SX motherboard. Yet, in both cases, the trouble was easily avoided (by elimination of the shadow RAM). 17VII. Observations about Salford FORTRAN compiler and linker Several additional observations about the Salford FORTRAN compiler [9] have been made during the past three months. These are to be added to the observations of Ref. [1]. For the record, a newer version 1.67 was purchased by the Can/Am EMIP User Group from the American distributor on November 30th, 1989 Each unused statement number causes the Salford FORTRAN compiler to generate a warning message. This is ideal for ATP developers, since it allows the removal of such extraneous labels. For large SUBROUTINES, this should speed optimization during compilation. Only one other compiler is known to indicate unused statement numbers, and this one (for Siemens) no longer is used by a cooperating EMTP contact, so it is not easily accessible to ATP developers. Well, Salford FORTRAN is, and it recently resulted in the removal of 28 unused statement numbers that were spread over 22 modules of the UIPF. Floating-point equality or inequality checking is the source of many more warning messages by the Salford compiler. These are not appreciated. More precisely, they are the source of some worry. Do the Salford compiler writers know something that ATP devellopers do not? As an illustration, consider the condition "IF ( D9 .EQ. 0.0)" about which the Salford compiler says: "WARNING - The use of .6Q. or .NE. with non-integer operands can produce misleading results." So far, there has been no hint of any "misleading results," which would shock ATP developers. After all, the validity of such floating-point checks has been verified using EMTP with some 25 or 30 different compilers over the past decade. ASSIGN-ed GOTO usage of the UTPF is another unappreciated subject of warnings by the Salford FORTRAN compiler. It seems that the placement of the controlling variable in COMMON somehow is unusual. An example is variable NEXTSN, which is ASSIGN-ed many, many times within SPY. The placement in COMMON conserves memory and simplifies coding since otherwise a SAVE of the variable would be required in each module that uses the variable. The MS-DOS disk file type is arbitrary for the Salford FORTRAN compiler. This may not affect users, but it does make life easier on program developers. dust as for VAX/VMS, ".FOR" is the default file type, but it is not mandatory Contrast this with Unix, which typically requires *.f* for the file type. A Salford swap file or partition is necessary if the user does not have enough RAM to avoid the writing of modified pages to disk. The authors discovered this by mistake, since they began without any swap file or partition. Initial experimentation used a computer with 4 Mbytes of RAM, which compiled and linked EMTP, and executed all test cases, without a hint of trouble. But when such experimentation was shifted to the 386-SX with 1 Mbyte of RAM, compilation proceeded normally but linking would hang the computer. With the numerous warning messages (about inconsistent COMMON block sizes) going to the screen, execution was observed to be choked steadily to a standstill, after which the machine had to be rebooted. So, Salford users, be sure to run CONFIGDB.EXE to declare swap space. Like the ATP researchers in Hannover [1], the authors have chosen to use the more flexible swap file by rejecting the disk partition when CONFIGDB.EXE prompts for it. For more information, see Reference [3]. Salford EMTP FORTRAN compilation was found to be faster than reported by Hannover [1] for the case of 1 Mbyte of RAM. Rather than 40 minutes, only 20 were required --- presumably because the IBM PS/2 in Hannover only used 640 of the first 1024 Kbytes, whereas the authors’ board allowed use of the full Mbyte. 18The /ZEROISE switch of the Salford compiler ensures that otherwise uninitialized virtual memory will be zero at the start of execution. This is a convenient feature that was used by the researchers in Hannover [1] to avoid possible problems with unitialized variables. But it really should not be necessary, since ATP can not rely on such special features that are not required by FORTRAN 77, Without using /ZEROISE, Salford programs seem to be interrupted by the operating system whenever and wherever an uninitialized variable is used. This is very nice for program developers, since it allows the easy detection and removal of such computer-dependent program errors. When program execution is interrupted, the interactive debugger opens a color window that shows the offending line of source code (assuming the symbolic debugger is being used) . Unfortunately, because of EMTP variable dimensioning (with incompatible COMMON blocks), the Salford debugger can not yet be used. Sut a module name and a hexadecimal address are show, which allows direct identification of the line of source code that caused the trouble. Three errors in the UTPF have been removed thanks to this valuable Salford feature. Compactness of Salford EMTP files (compared with MS-DOS EMTIP files) is due to several factors. First, the lack of overlaying and separation into simulation and supporting halves (TP1.EXE and TP2.EXE of MS-DOS) means less total source code. ‘There is no need for the same code to be in two program halves, or in more than one overlay of the same half in order to avoid placing it permanently in memory. Second and probably more importantly, object code produced by Salford is more compact than object code produced by Lahey F77L. Presumably this is because Salford FTN77/386 is a 32-bit compiler written for the 80386 whereas Lahey F77L is a compiler written for the TBM PC XT, which was based on the 8-bit Intel 8088 microprocessor. Remember, the 8088 (or 8086) has only 16-bit indexing in the simplest mode, so Lahey F77L must generate extra code to index beyond 65 Kbytes as required by the EMTP. It is easy to believe that other operations, too, would be simpler to perform on the 80386 than on the 6088. An illustration is provided by VARDIM.EXE, the executable variable-dimensioning program that is nearly the same for all computers: + = Computer used | Lahey F77L Apollo Regis Salford FTN77/386 VARDIM.EXE in Kbytes | 77152 19582 21728 a This is not meant to criticize Lahey F77L, which does a remarkable job under difficult circumstances (working with the 8088). But times, and circumstances, have changed. The 80386 is vastly improved, and compilers that exploit its extensions should do better, as Salford has proven. The entire executable EMTP {including SPY "PLOT" that uses free Salford screen graphics), has disk file size 1,850,625. Applying PKZIP, this compresses to just 737,194 (a 61% saving) -- smaller than just the simulation half (TP1.EXE) of the MS-DOS version. VIII. Future Work to Improve Salford EMTP Usage ——$$$ $$ The 80386-SX is an entry-level system. Those who can pay a little more can obtain much greater simulation speed by advancing to 33-Miz models of the 80366. Such experimentation already has been done. However, a written report about it will be delayed until the next issue of this publication. Intel’s 80486 microprocessor is available, although motherboards based on it are expensive. While the authors are not yet prepared to purchase one themselves, they are ansious to test the Salford EMTP using someone else's 486. 1920 The conversion of the interactive plotting program "TPPLOT" to Salford FORTRAN and associated free graphics (including hard copy capability) should be the next major advance for the growing community of Salford EMT? users. This should speed plotting as well as remove all concerns about limits on the number of points. IX. References Used by the Preceding Text [1]. Mustafa Kizilcay and Peter Riedel, “ATP success using Salford DOS extender on 80386," EMIP News, Volume 2, Number 4, December, 1989, pages 50-60. (2]. Chun-Heng Chiang, "Salford EMTP for 80386 has screen graphics and interactivity (SPY)," EMTP News, Volume 3, Number 1, March, 1990. Earlier contributions by the same researcher to the Salford EMIP are: 1) "Salford DOS extender promises virtual memory management for ATP EMTP on 80386-based computers," EMTP News, Volume 2, Number i, March, 1989,'pages 4-6. 2) "Salford "DOS extender’ for 80386 gives ATP virtual memory management," EMIP News, Volume 2, Number 2, June, 1989, pages 35-36. [3]. Mustafa Kizilcay, "PCPLOT improvements and Salford EMIP information," EMIP News, Volume 3, Number 1, March, 1990, [4]. W. Scott Meyer, "Why not an 0S/2 version of ATP for 802862" EMTP News, Volume 2, Number 3, September, 1989, pages 5-8. The last paragraph of page 5 and the top 2/3-rds of page 6 discuss replacement of the 80286 by a small card that carries an 80386. (5]. "Reseller Price List" of Compuware Technology, Ltd. (CTL); 1607 S.E. 7th Avenue; Portland, Oregon 97214; USA. Telephone numbers are: (503) 230-0549 for voice and -9851 for FAX. {6]. Cash’n Carry Computers is a company that advertised in Portland's daily newspaper on page F16 of March 11, 1990. The address is: 1895 S.E. Tualatin Valley Highway; Hillsboro, Oregon 97123. Telephone: (503) 693-0946. [7]. W. Scott Meyer, "More about 0S/2 for the support of EMTP," EMTP News, Volume 2, Number 4, December, 1989, pages 66-68. {8]. U.S. Turbo Sys. & Comp. Inc. is the company whose advertising covers page 640 of the February, 1990, issue of Computer Shopper (published by Coastal Associates Publishing of New York City. The price for the entry "TSC 386SX 16 MHz M/B w/CPU" is seen to be $350. [9]. The Salford DOS extender, FORTRAN compiler, and linker for the 80386, named FTN77/386, all come from Salford Software Marketing, Ltd; Computing Centre; University of Salford; Salford M5 4WT; United Kingdom. Voice phone: 44 - 61 - 745 - 5678. FAX: 745 - 5666.PCPLOT IMPROVEMENTS AND SALFORD EMTP INFORMATION Iz, Mustafa Kizilcay Universitat Hannover Institut fur Elektrische Energieversozgung Welfengarten 1; 3000 Hannover 1 WEST GERMANY Phone: 49 = 511 - 762 - 2803, Facsimile (FAX) : 762 - 3456 Abstract: The author’s interactive plotting program PCPLOT [1], which provides free bit-mapped graphics under MS-DOS for Intel-based microcomputers, has been enhanced once again in several important ways (Section I). Included is the ability to accept three new ".PL4" file types: FORMATTED, Salford UNFORMATTED, and C-like. Another extension is output in HP-GL format, ‘which can be accepted by electronic publishing programs such as MicroSoft Word. The present article also presents more information about the Salford EMIP [2] for 80386-based computers (Section II). Included are requirements of the Salford EMTP swap file and RAM, how the new PCPLOT version helps the Salford EMTP user, and economics of retrofitting old Intel 80286-based personal computers using anew, inexpensive 80386-Sx motherboard. I. Enhancements to Interactive Plotting Program PCPLOT —_—. — acre Noticeable to all users will be the unification of all files. No longer is the separate directory \TGFONT needed. Also, a single program version named FCPLOT.EXE now supports all graphical standards (CGA, EGA, VGA, and Hercules), with the appropriate one being sensed automatically by the program. Yet, such hardvare-sensing logic might not work correctly for all computers, so it also is Possible for the user to specify his graphical standard manually, if he so desires. A ":PL4" disk file to be plotted by PCPLOT now can be any one of four possible types: 1) MS-DOS UNFORMATTED; 2) FORMATTED; 3) C-like; and 4) Salford GNPORMATTED. The’ program automatically senses the file type, and correctly connects it without user intelligence, vhich saves considerable aggravation. Yet, ‘such logic might not work correctly for all computers, so it also is Possible for the user to specify his ".PL4" file type manually, if he so desires. Coprocessor emulation is another new feature of PCPLOT. Recall that this was first provided nearly a year ago for the Florida EMTP short course (see page 45 of the June, 1969, issue of EMIP News). Now, coprocessor emulation is a part of the regular program. No separate program version is required for those who lack a math coprocessor. Reading from the ".PL4" file is faster for PCPLOT using the new ".PL4" file types (Cclike, Salford UNFORMATTED, or FORMATTED). For UNFORMATTED MS-DOS *.pL4" files, the program still must check each byte individually because of the special file structure. Sut for the three other (new) file types, whole numbers (4 bytes gach) are handled one at a time. For big files, the delay loading plot points has been reduced noticeably 2122 Disk file PCPLOT.INI is to PCPLOT as STARTUP is to the EMTP: it allows user choices that affect the environment of program execution. For ezample, should the user want hard copy via a port other than LPT1, or manual rather than automatic ".PL4" file-type assignment, such choices are declared by the user in PCPLOT.INI, which can be edited. HP-GL output now is an option of PCPLOT. The acronym stands for "Hewlett Packard Graphics Language," which long has been a de facto standard for pen plotters. Of increasing importance is the ability of electronic publishing Programs (the author uses MicroSoft Word) to accept such output, as should be explained elsewhere in this issue by Drs. Liu and Meyer. ATP developers in Portland independently extended their own interactive plotting program TPPLOT to provide HP-GL output several weeks in advance of comparable work on PCPLOT here in Hannover. There is agreement on the motivation and importance, which should be explained by Portland developers in their separate article. So, such details will “not be repeated here. However, because appearance of the resulting plot differs, the reader will be shown a sample produced by PCPLOT using an HP-7475A pen plotter. No photoreduction was required because PCPLOT allows control over the plot size. Both height and width can be independently adjusted, so the width was selected to approximate that of this printed column. . PCPLOT also provides a choice between color and monochrome. Although normally a color plot would be preferred, EMTP News is printed only in blank and white, so the monochrome option was used. The result follows: i [na] 27-Jun—se 4a: 4a: se 100 -300 ° t = > * = (nw te === Ce TR Loe t [sec] po-4 HP-7475A plotter output (monochrome)23 Concerning electronic publishing, the author can report success sending HP- GL files produced by PCPLOT into MicroSoft Word Version 5.0 as a picture, Hard copy has subsequently been produced using two different devices for which MS Word provides drivers: 1) a 24-pin NEC dot-matrix printer, and 2) Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Series If laser printer. Initially, there was some minor trouble: a horizontal shift of Y-axis numbers. But then the author discovered that MS Word does not support all HP-GL commands of the HP-7475. Instead, it supports only commands of the HP-7440. It was quickly determined that two commands, CP and PR, weze not being honored by MS Word. Following the modification of PCPLOT to avoid incompatible HP-GL commands, both screen preview (within MS Word) and subsequent hard copy look perfect. About resolution, it should be mentioned that MS Word allows user control of this detail. Experiments have been performed using both 150 and 180 dots per inch, and results have been sent to Portland for comparison. Whereas such resolution is beyond the limits of the monitor being used, it is less than the resolution of common laser printers (300 dots per inch). Nonetheless, it results in crisp, sharp hard copy on the E-P Laserdet Series II. Separate scaling of individual variables has been requested by Prof. Ned Mohan of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. For power electronics, Prof. Mohan finds the need to plot variables with different units (e-g., voltages, currents, and TACS control signals) on the same plot. So, such scaling of "TPPLOT" (the FACTOR and OFFSET commands) is being extended to PCPLOT, too. This will allow followers of Prof. Mohan to escape the $75 royalty of GEOGRAF (which is used with TPPLOT). Selection of the ".PL4" file by number rather than by name now is a user option of PCPLOT. The menu of all available files has each name associated with an integer - ("1" for the first, "2" for the 2nd, etc.), and it is this simpler specification that can replace keying of the MS-DOS file name if the user wants. User instructions for PCPLOT now are contained in a disk file that is a part of the program distribution. The reader is referred to the disk file named PCPLOT.DOC. TPPLOT could automatically sense ".PL4" file types using a technique that is similar to that already used by PCPLOT. Of course, details differ because the programming languages are different (TPPLOT is written in FORTRAN whereas PCPLOT is written in Pascal). To assist ATP developers in Portland, the author has written and tested the needed logic using Lahey Computer's F77L FORTRAN compiler. Look for a report on the use of this code in the next issue of EMIP News. Revised copies of PCPLOT already have been sent to the two largest EMIP user groups (European and Canadian/American), and are a part of Salford EMTP distribution for users with 80386-based computers. II. More About Salford EMIP for 80386-Based Computers eee Minimun size of the Salford swap file has been another subject of experimentation in recent months, The news is good for users who are short of disk space. Nothing close to the five Mbytes that were used initially (see the top of page 55 of Ref. [2]) are required for the average simulation, fortunately. One might hope that something as simple as the sum of available RAM and swap-file space should exceed some problen-dependent minimum. Unfortunately, therelationship is more complex than this --- particularly for a computer such as the IBM PS/2 Model 80 for which DBOS ignores RAM between 640 Kbytes and 1024 Kbytes. Beyond 1 Mbyte, an increase in RAM does reduce the demand on swap space, but not by an equal amount. As an illustration, consider the simulation of enormous BENCHMARK DC-1 using the Model 80. Each column of the following table represents a separate experiment using a different amount of RAM: DB0S/386 argument in hexadecimal : 90000 100000 160000 1A0000 128480 200000 Value in decimal Kbytes (x 1024) 576 1024 1408 1664 1953 2048 Extended RAM available in Kbytes 0 @ -38¢ 640 «932. 1024 RAM available to MS-DOS in Kbyte : 433 433 «507507 507507 Minimum swap file size in Kbytes: 820 820 524 324 80 0 Total of RAM + swap file Kbytes : 1396 1844 1932 1988 2033 2048, ‘The first row shows the argument of DBOS that was used to control available RAM. Normally, one executes DBOS without any argument, in which case DBOS will use all available memory of the computer. But when DBOS is invoked with an argument, RAM above this hexadecimal address will be ignored. Row 3 shows RAM above 1024 Kbytes that is used by DBOS, and Row 4 shows RAM below 640 Kbytes that is available to MS-DOS. The demand on the swap file, shown'in the next to the last row (row 5), was determined experimentally. Prior to execution, each byte of the swap file was given a recognizable value (an exclamation point, which is decimal 33). At the end of EMTP execution, the swap file was inspected to see how many of these characters remained (i.e., had not been overwritten during execution). It should be mentioned that overflow of the swap file is not to be feared since DBOS provides protection. Should the swap file fill during EMTP execution, DBOS will halt the program gracefully using the message "Page memory exhausted at ..." At this point, the user can increase the size of the swap file by re-running CONFIGDB.EXE ~-- a quick operation. Only those without any swap file (or swap partition) at all have serious problems, as ATP researchers in Portland discovered the hard way. Their computer would hang, and had to be reset using a hardware switch. To protect against this unfortunate possibility, each user is advised to have a swap file of at least minimum size at all times. As DBOS is executed, it will confirm this protection in the last line of its output. For example, if the user requests 200000 for the size of his swap file, DBOS will inform him: "Paging to swap file c:\... (128 Kbytes). The swap file size always seems to be the largest multiple of 128 Kbytes that does not exceed the user’s request. So, users, beware of a request such as 100000, which will result in no swap file at all, and hence no protection against hanging in case it is needed! BENCHMARK DC-1 can be executed in 1 Mbyte of RAM without paging, as has been reported by researchers in Portland. This is possible. What the author reported 3 months ago (see the top half of page 53) was in fact the result of using only 584 Kbytes (90000 hex) for reasons that are too complicated to explaia here. Yet, it should be emphasized that the use of 90000 (hex) is close to the best that can be done using IBM PS/2 with a single Mbyte of RAM. If no limit is applied to DBOS when it is executed on the author’s PS/2 Model 80, DBOS will ignore (i.e,, refuse to use) all RAM between 640 Kbytes and 1024 Kbytes. For example, with 4 Mbytes of RAM, DBOS execution indicates: "Total extended memory available = 3072 Kbytes." This is for IBM PS/2. Yet, for other computers, DBOS will use all or part of the RAM between 640 and 1024 Kbytes. Use of an 80386~SX motherboard to upgrade a genuine IBM PC AT has been successful here in Hannover, it should be mentioned. Considerations are comparable to those described elsewhere in this issue by ATP researchers in 2425 Portland. Since details already have been written (3], only a quick summary vill be provided here. Prices are not much higher in Germany. Purchased locally from 2 computer store in Hannover, the 16-Miiz motherboard costs DM 695 (US $397) and 2 Mbytes of RAM for it cost DM 360 (US $206). Like ATP researchers in Portland, the author has been impressed by SX performance, which seems to as good or a jittle better for 1/0 than the full, regular, 32-bit IBM PS/2 Model 80 that was Penchmarked 3 months ago [2]. The author agrees that 386-SX motherboards provide an inexpensive way for users of 286-based computers to increase their simulation speed substantially while at the same time removing restrictive limits on EMIP table sizes. Minimum price of the Salford EMIP has been reduced substantially by the new FCPLOT (see Section I), the author is happy to report. It is important that the reader understand this detail. Using North America as an example, $55 now is the feta) price -- all for the Salford DOS extender (DBOS/386) itself. Previously, hard “copy of bit-mapped graphics required the use of GEOGRAF by GEOCOMP for TPPLOT, which cost the average user an extra §75. Speed, of Salford EMIP simulation has been increased for the average user by the Rew PCPLOT. This is because the new PCPLOT allows users to svitch frou FORMATTED "-PL4" files (as required, at least temporarily, by TPPLOT) to CHEPRMATTED ones. The latter can be created faster because optimal encoding of gach floating-point value is avoided and the volume being written to dish is reduced (typically by half). III, References Used by the Preceding Text SE (2), piiustafa Kizilcay, "New features and improvements of the plotting Srogram PCPLOT for the IBM PC-version of ATP/EMIP," EMTP News, Volume 1, Munbes 3, September, 1988, pages 2-3. (2]. Mustafa Kizilcay and Peter Riedel, "ATP success using Salford DOS extender on 80386," EMIP News, Volume 2, Nunber 3, December, 1983, pages 50-61. (3). brian Furumasu and W. Scott Meyer, "$369 upgrade of 80286 allows Salford EMTP with virtual memory," EMIP News, Volume 3, Number 1, March, 199° IV. New Employment Begins During June of 1990 ae een An ine author will be leaving the University of Hannover when his present eRe kage CEPizes on May 31, 1990. He hopes to be able to continue working with ghe EMIP as part of his new employment, although most likely this will be more ae a yser rather than as a researcher and developer. Readers who are interested in quiting after May 31st still can use the university address, since mail should be forwarded. About telephone numbers, the author's office should be takes ovec by the ote? Riedel [2], who will inherit the responsibility for maintaining EMTP et Ghg university following the author’s departure. Mr. Riedel (pronounced "heeds seieontntch Thymes with "needle") should know the author's “next address nd feigPhone number, of course, as should LEC, and ATP developers in Portland, with whom the author expects to maintain contact.26 SALFORD EMTP FOR 80386 HAS SCREEN GRAPHICS AND INTERACTIVITY (SPY) James Chun-Heng Chiang W. Scott Meyer, Co-Chairman System Planning Department Canadian / American EMTP Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) User Group 242 Roosevelt Road, Section 3 The Fontaine, Unit 6B Post Office Box 171 1220 N.B. 17th Avenue Taipei 107, Republic of CHINA Portland, Oregon 97232 Telephone: | 886 - 2 - 397 - 6907 United States of America Facsimile (FAX) : 396 - 8593 Summary The Salford EMTP for Intel 80386-based personal computers promised inexpensive simulation of arbitrarily large networks because it used virtual memory management and a simple DOS extender [1]. Reliable batch-mode operation using only character output was first reported three months ago by researchers at the University of Hannover [2]. Since then, this basic performance has been enhanced by the addition of free screen graphics for EGA, VGA, or Super VGA color monitors. For batch~mode usage, these graphics are connected to the "CALCOMP PLOT" declaration. But interactive EMIP observation and control (SPY) also have been activated, so the user now can plot interactively (using the SPY conmand "PLOT") before a simulation has ended. Although time-sharing between simulation and SPY exists as first was designed for Apollo workstations, the lack of windows to separate’ keyboard input from the three different classes of output (LUNIT6, SPY, and bit-mapped graphics) thus far makes simultaneous usage impractical for all’ but the simplest of SPY commands. I. Free Salford Screen Graphics for EGA, VGA, and Super VGA The Salford FORTRAN compiler for 80386-based computers, named FIN77/386, offers elementary screen graphics that can be used by anyone free of added royalty. These are what have been used, both for batch-mode ("CALCOMP PLOT") and also for interactive (SPY "PLOT") usage, as the remainder of this section will summarize. Salford screen graphics are very fast. For typical usage of the BENCHMARK DC-XX test cases, preceding text will be erased and a new plot will be painted on the screen so fast as to appear almost instantaneous to the user. It really has to be seen to be believed. The user must tell the Salford DOS extender, DBOS/386, which graphical standard to use. This is done by running the Salford utility CONFIGDB.EXE, which is largely self-explanatory. Users having modern, multi-scan monitors and output cards should be informed that more than one alternative may be acceptable. For example, the Paradise "Super VGA" card is one that Salford supports, allowing graphics of 600 by 800 pixels in 16 colors. But the lower-resolution conventional VGA (480 by 640 pixels) or EGA (350 by 640 pixels) also are possible. In fact, although the resolution of VGA or EGA is lower, these older Standards may be preferred because the graphics are bolder -- an advantage when one is demonstrating the operation to a group.at The READ_ME.DOC file of the program distribution, which is a computer- stored version of Section I-F-22 of the Rule Book, indicates how the user can control his screen graphics. All new users should refer to this. The choice of colors for the curves and the axes and grid can be assigned through this file along with several pixel values that are associated with the screen layout. In addition, there is user control over the length of time in seconds that each batch-mode plot is held on the screen. If negative, control DAFACT is interpreted to mean that the program will hold the plot on the screen while waiting for a carriage return ( to end a screen plot in this case. This is true for both "CALCOMP PLOT* requests (e.g., DC-19, 35) 37, etc.) and also SPY "PLOT" usage (e.g., DC-57). This is why distribution to others generally will involve D4FACT = 1.0, meaning that each plot will be erased one second after it is complete. Salford graphics presently offer only a single font, and this can not yet be rotated 90 degrees as desired for labeling the vertical axis. This is why such jabeling is read from the top downward (as for a theater marquee) . Salford FORTRAN does not yet allow hard copy, unfortunately. For engineering purposes, this is a serious, limitation, of course. Yet, the mission is only temporary, as should be explained in more detail in the following issue of this publication. Salford EMIP users can expect free hardcopy for ‘their screen graphics in the near future. Until then, the separate interactive plotting programs TPPLOT and PCPLOT must be used under MS-DOS to Perform plotting after Salford EMTP execution has ended. The latter of these already has been extended to UNFORMATTED ".PL4" files (3). II. Salford EMIP Interactive Observation and Control (SPY) interactive EMIP observation and control, named SPY, is described in chapter XVI of the ATP Rule Book [4]. Salford EMIP SPY is fully empowered in the sense that no features are inherently incompatible. In this regard, the Salford EMIP is not to be confused with the MS-DOS EMP for which overlaying necessitated the omission of features that required time-sharing between simulation and SPY, The Salford EMIP docs Rave tine-sharing, although some (e.g., the ROLL-ing bit-mapped plot) may not yet be practical because of the lack of windows. The Salford FORTRAN compiler, FIN77/386, provided all functions that were zequired for the initial implementation SPY described by this paper. Note that this i8 simpler and cheaper than was the case using MS-DOS, where separate graphics (GEOGRAF by GEOCOMP) and also a separate utility library (by Spindrift {aboratories) had to be purchased by program developers in order to supplement the Lahey F77L FORTRAN compiler. No such added support was required for the28 Salford EMT?. Even case conversion between upper- and lower-case is provided by Salford (the LCASE@ and UPCASE@ functions). Conditional reading from the keyboard is critical to SPY input. To date, coding for this using Salford library routine KEY1@ has been perfectly reliable. The only fundamental limitation would seem to be that imposed by MS-DOS, which has a small input buffer (16 bytes for a new version of DOS). Between instants when program control services SPY (e.g., 3 times each time step), the user can key SPY input -- but only within the limits of this input buffer. Any additional keyboard input would be lost. Interleaved output and SPY input is the unfortunate consequence of the present lack of windowing. Coupled with the high speed with which the Salford EMTP can produce EMTP output, this will confuse the user unless he concentrates on either one or the other. As simulation is progressing, the user can key "LOCK" at any time. The four letters are read and displayed as they are keyed provided there are SPY opportunities at the time. If EMTP output to the screen is occuring at the same time the user keys "LOCK", the echoed input letters will be difficult to see because they will be mixed with the output (although always in column 1). Following his that ends the input string, simulation will halt to allow uninterrupted SPY dialogue. Simulation will resume again following "cor. Although capital letters are used to indicate SPY commands in the present explanation, lower-case letters also are allowed. In this regard, the Salford EMIP behaves the same as any Unix EMTP version. BENCHMARK DC-57 is an EMTP data case that tests batch-mode SPY. Three months ago, it was reported that the Salford EMTP had trouble with it (2]. Well, today the Salford EMTP solves DC-57 correctly, and shows a nice bit-mapped plot on the screen, too. The "FIND" command has been added to extend the powers of the interactive EMTP user who has been rolling dice (Monte Carlo studies). Although this is not restricted to the Salford EMTP, it will be detailed here, anyway, while other aspects of SPY are being treated. As user documentation has indicated for years [4], SPY can display statistical tabulations of those energizations that already have been completed at the instant of request. Such tabulations will reveal the magnitude of a peak, but they will not directly indicate which energization produced it. In order to re-run the worst case as a deterministic simulation to obtain more information (as illustrated by the 3rd subcase of BENCHMARK DC-40), the user must determine the associated energization number. Well, the new "FIND" command was developed to satisfy this need. The user first defines the set of variables to be searched. These can be specified either as an entire class (e.g., all node voltages) or each variable individually as for purposes of statistical tabulation. When this is complete, the EMIP will search its history and return with the number of the energization that produced the largest extrema. If the user wants to exclude this energization in order to find the next-to-the- worst one, he need only issue the "EXCLUDE" command which will repeat the computation while excluding the just-found energization. | This can be done recursively (up to a maximum of 20 such exclusions based on temporary, fixed, local dimensioning). There also is a batch-mode connection of the just-described interactive feature. This permits the user to include such commands along with his batch-mode requests for statistical tabulation at the end of the data case, should he so desire. Of course, with Apollo windows and the F8 key, the user has an alternate form of interactivity not unlike what can be done for batch-mode plotting.III, Miscellaneous Added News About Salford EMT? For screen output to look perfect, with no wrap-around at the right edge, the Salford EMTP user is advised to adjust STARTUP variables for 79-column output and no extra carriage-control character (a blank column number 1). The READ ME.DOC file provides details. Note that this is a change from usage with the “MS-DOS version which requires an extra blank in order to avoid the loss of column one on the screen. Page 51 of Reference [2] advised readers to look for an explanation of Salford EMIP troubles at Taipower last summer. Unfortunately, a complete answer can not be provided. Computer hardware would not seem to be responsible since none has been replaced or repaired since then. Yet, today, execution of the Salford EMIP is flawless. Both the compiler and the source code have been changed, however, so it is suspected that software rather than hardware was responsible for the trouble. But which, and how? With a continual backlog of other work to be done, it has not been easy to justify time for further experimentation with old software that no longer would be used in any case. For example, the new EMTP FORTRAN is much bigger because MODELS (the new TACS) has been added in the interim, With current software supporting the Salford EMIP perfectly, there simply is no incentive for further investigation. The troubles of last summer represent one mystery that will have to remain unsolved. Taipower has experimented with very large dimensioning of the Salford EMIP, and has been impressed with the efficiency of subsequent simulation. For example, after EMIP tables have been sized at 30 times default, BENCHMARK DC-1 still can be run in 2 Mbytes of RAM without paging within the time-step loop. Yet readers should be aware that there would be trouble if table dumping or restoration would be required. Since default dimensioning produces tables of 64111 INTEGER*4 words, at 30 times default, the volume rises to a staggering 7.7 Mbytes. The swap file would have to contain this transfer during each energization of "STATISTICS/SYSTEMATIC" simulation, and "START AGAIN" usage would involve a permanent file of this size. Whereas it is not easy to evade this burden on the swap file, there aze hopes that most space of the permanent file can be saved by compression of the "holes." Research continues. Page 55 of Reference [2] wondered about demands of the Salford DOS extender on the swap file. Probably by now all realize that nothing close to the 5 Mbytes used in Hannover actually is required for any BENCHMARK DC-XX test case. If there were continuing concern about this detail, program developers might think about using the Salford compiler utility GETMEMORY INFO to inform the user about the demands of his data case. Smoothness of Salford EMTP execution is good, and should not be a concern to readers. ‘Yet, in fairness, it must be reported that the Salford EMTP does take a little longer than the Unix EMTP [5] to skip through EMTP code using a do-nothing test case such as 3-node, first subcase of DCPRINT-1. To demonstrate this, output and computation were minimized by removal of the request for DIAGNOSTIC printout and reduction of the end-time TMAX to a single time step. Finally, a 4- line ".TEX" file was used to run the trial while sending output to disk. The timing was from DOS prompt to DOS prompt for Salford, or Unix prompt to Unix prompt for the 386 Unix EMTP, Using the sweep second hand of a wall clock to time the same 16-MHz AT&T 6386 computer having 4 Mbytes of RAM [5], the Salford EMTP required about 16 seconds whereas the Unix EMTP accomplished the same task in just 7 seconds. If the authors were concerned, perhaps they should experiment 29with Salford paging parameters (thus far, default settings for the 3 of CONFIGDB.EXE have been used), or with parameters of MS-DOS itself (e.g., BUFFERS). But thus far, no such tuning has been attempted. Multi-user operation of the Salford EMTP (e.g., within a window of Quarterdeck’s DESQView, which is another story to be told in some future article) required that the single I/O channel number 10 of the MS-DOS EMIP be split into two (units 10 and 11) to separate the user’s data from program text of (BLOCKDS1). The latter is read-only, of course. Well, following this well-known change (used by SMTP versions for most computers), data input was speeded substantially! BENCHMARK DC-1 has the most, so it was used as an illustration. A STOP request was placed immediately before the blank card ending source cards. Running output to disk, 2 was required of the 16-MHz ATT before the change, but only 1:04 after. Frequency of flickering of the hard disk light seemed to be reduced, too. To conclude, this is an example of tuning to improve the smoothness of Salford EMTP execution. ‘The LUNIT4 value of the Salford EMIP is the same as for any other virtual computer such as Apollo, VAX/VMS, 386 Unix, etc. Yet, because’ this differs from LUNIT4 for the MS-DOS version (TP1.EXE), details will be summarized as a reminder. SPY "PLOT" requires LUNIT4 negative, so the STARTUP file normally defines this value. Then, if the user wants to write to a permanent ".P14" plot file at each time step, a "DISK PLOT DATA" declaration is required (in effect, to remove the minus sign from the LUNIT4 value of STARTUP). See BENCHMARK DC~3 (Salford disk file DC3.DAT) for an illustration. Provided the user requests an UNFORMATTED ".PL4" file, he could leave LUNIT4 negative, however, since tables then would be flushed from RAM to disk on the last time step (a message to this effect would be seen). But this will not yet work if a FORMATTED ".PL4" file has been requested (execution would die in this case). The Salford EMTP now creates punch files PUNCHXX.PCH for Xx=01 thru 99 if the user does not name his own punch file. The program checks each name in turn until it finds an unused name. Users of supporting programs should remove these from time to time, if the accumulation becomes burdensome. IV, References Used by the Preceding Text (1]. Chun-Heng Chiang, “Salford "DOS extender’ for 80386 gives ATP virtual memory management," EMTP News, Volume 2, Number 2, June, 1989, pages 35-36. [2]. Mustafa Kizilcay and Peter Riedel, “ATP success using Salford DOS extender on 80386," EMIP News, Volume 2, Number 3, December, 1989, pages 50-61. (3]. Mustafa Kizilcay, "PCPLOT improvements and Salford EMTP information,” EMTP News, Volume 3, Number 1, March, 1990. [4]. a7P Rule Book, published by or on behalf of the Leuven EMIP Center (LEC) of the European EMTP User Group, which has headquarters in the Electrical Engineering Department K. U. Leuven, Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium. [5]. David 8. Szymanski, "Update on Intel 80386 support of ATP EMIP using Unix," EMTP News, Volume 1, tlumber 4, December, 1968, pages 39-42. 3031 P SUCCESS USING NEW DEC RISC SOFTWARE Dr. Janes R, Smith, Professor Electrical Engineering Department Montana State University Bozeman, Montana 59717 USA Voice phone: (406) 994-2500 Facsimile (FAX) phone:-6292 New, improved DEC software for the high-speed RISC workstation named DecStation 3100 has been successfully tested at Montana State University. This involves character output only (not yet any bit-mapped graphics) of a batch-mode, Unix (DEC Ultrix) version of ATP that was created by program developers in Portland. Readers should be informed that operation is generally correct, and very, very fast by DEC VAX/VMS standards. Nine months ago, ATP developers in Portland tested a DEC RISC workstation that was borrowed from the Portland office of DEC. Readers are referred to the article by Stefonek, Meyer, and Liu on pages 50 and 51 of the June, 1989, issue of EMT? News. Most troubles with the DEC software (compiler, linker, and/or operating system) that were reported nine months ago would seem to have been corrected in the interim. For example, DEC RISC does now offer the critical memory location function (LOC), so C-language programming was avoided. The Program seemed to have no trouble executing INQUIRE statements, or handling input data records with excess blanks on the right (column #1 and beyond) Sizable disk files no longer trouble the FORTRAN compiler, either, EMIP FORTRAN Was received as a single disk file of some 80 thousand non-conment lines, and this was successfully compiled through line number 60K --- until the compiler complained that it needed more disk space. Following a split in the middle, the front half (about 40K lines) compiled without incident. Finally, although not mentioned in the published account, the old DEC linker had objected to incompatible COMMON block lengths (a normal EMTP phenomenon). Well, there no jonger is trouble with this critical detail. The EMTP now can be redimensioned by (running VARDIM and relinking the EMP just as is done for any other computer, To conclude, DEC seems to have done a good job removing the shortcomings that plagued EMTP last year. Today, no known deficiency of current DEC gcottware (MIPS compiler version 2.1, beta release; Ultrix version 2.0, revision 7) can be reported, Thus far, only unoptimized compilation has been tested. This is in accord with the orderly evaluation that was recommended by developers in Portland who themselves wanted to inspect all unoptimized solutions before experimentation advanced to optimized compilation. So, only DEC RISC simulation speed for unoptimized compilation can be presented at this time. It will be compared with corresponding unoptimized results for the top of the Sun RISC line, which is SPARCStation 330. The following table shows processor times in seconds spent within the time-step loop for standard (unmodified) BENCHMARK DC-10 test cases, as obtained from case-summary statistics. The row for Sun has simply been copied from page 69 of the preceding (December, 1989), issue of EMIP New: Standard test case name : DC-3 DC-41 DCNEW=4 Sa a a a em Sun SPARCStation 330; 1.81 DEC DECStation 3100 1.82 Ratio of times (Sun/DEC) : .995 1.29‘The final row shows the speed ratio, with a value greater than unity meaning that DEC is faster than SUN. Note that the speeds for the first test are almost identical. BENCHMARK DC-3 is exceptional in that the program creates a ".PL4" file by writing the output vector to disk at each time step. Presumably this dominates, and the two machines are about equal for such activity. But for the remaining 4 time trials, which have no such output (plot points are saved within the time-step loop, but in RAM rather than on disk), DEC RISC averages 23% faster than Sun RISC for purposes of EMIP simulation. Both machines are very fast by CISC standards, as others already have observed. For 2 reader who is unfamiliar with acronyms of the computer industry, RISC, which stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computing (the new, higher-speed technology), is pronounced as if it were spelled "risk." CISC stands for Complex Instruction Set Computing (the old, lower-speed technology), which is pronounced as if it were spelled "sisk" (it rhymes with "risk"). In DEC's case, all VAX/WMS computers are CISC. This includes VAXStation 3100, which is not to be confused with DECStation 3100 despite their identical external appearance. There is an enormous difference in processor speed. VAXStation 3100 is rated at only 2.8 MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) whereas DECStation 3100 is rated 5 times higher, at 14 MIPS. Solutions of all BENCHMARK DC-XX test cases have been reviewed by ATP developers in Portland. Although a few must be rerun next quarter (this text is being written during final examination week of the winter quarter), there is no great concern. Most data cases were solved perfectly, so need not be mentioned at all. Two cases (DC-32 and 45) failed because of incompatible attributes of the "/PL4" file (easily corrected by changing STARTUP). DC-40, DC-46, and DC-49 presumably failed because they depended on preceding cases that had troubles of their own (since corrected). DC-47 caused overflow as expected (it requires extraordinary dimensioning for frequency-dependent lines). Also, DC-65 requires special execution as explained by its comment cards. Only a lack of all output for DC-68 (MODELS) is not easily explained, so will have to be studied more. ATP developers in Portland are not worried, however. Montana State University should be home for the DEC RISC version of ATP, at least for a while. There is continuing interest in EMIP for educational purposes. For several years, BPA’s EMIP has been used on networked VAX/VMS computers of the campus, so it is only the switch to ATP and Unix that is new. One. DECStation 3100 was added to the electrical engineering computer network during September of 1989, thereby presenting the opportunity for higher-speed simulation by more students (multiple users can be accommodated by the Unix operating system, of course). ‘The author wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Messrs. Matt Donnelly and Jaye Mathisen, graduate students who assisted with the computer work described in this report. Also much appreciated has been the support of Mr. Byron Lundquist of the local DEC office in Bozeman which services the university. Finally, ATP developers in Portland are to be thanked for supplying ATP source code for DEC RISC, advising about its use, and reviewing solutions produced here at the university. ATP object files could be copied onto a DEC cartridge tape of an interested reader who has a DEC RISC workstation of his own. For those having 2 FORTRAN compiler, VARDIM would be included to allow program redimensioning. Of course, since ATP is royalty-free but not in the public domain, this service can be offered only to licensed members in good standing of the Can/Am EMIP User Group. A return address label and stamps to cover the return postage should be included.ase HP°GL OUTPUT OF INTERACTIVE PLOTTING PROGRAM TPPLOT GorChaizmen of the Canadian / american EMEP User Group Tsu-huei Liu W. Scott Meyer 3179 Oak Tree Court The Fontaine, Unit 6B West Linn, Oregon 37068 1220 N.E. 17th avenue United States of america Portland, Oregon 97232 Abstract: ge interactive plotting program TPPLOT [1] has been extended to permit Gugput in HP-GL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) format. Operation of the nev Peat scemand, Of TPPLOT is sinilar to thar ee eye Preceding POST comand (for PostScript) [2]. The concept is the same, only the language and price have Spinged. HP-GL extends bit-napped graphics of Eebt simulation to many users free of ail charge. For those who aust Pay, prices generally are lower than to reece gcomparable results by other alteinatincs such as GKS, which also are Giscussed. important applications of #P Gr output include hard copy in color and electronic publishing. 7. HP-GL: Language of Pen Plotters, Publishing, Laser Printers An illustration of the new HP-GL cutput of TPPLOT will precede all esplanation of the philosophy motivating its addition: SUPER TITLE ie : re nereceding araph is 64% photocopy of a Seer yplgt that was produced on 8.5 by idvinch paper by a small, deskeop, Pypeny DEC LVPI6 plotter. about four miactey were equized to draw this graph of receiving-end voltages of BENCHMARK DC-3.