Delete comment from: Ken Shirriff's blog
The CAD workstation looks like a GE Calma machine based on a Data General 16 bit computer. Calma pioneered the GDSII (Graphic Design System) format to represent the CAD mask layers of a chip. Not all layers had to be digitized as some could be created as logical combinations of the digitized layer during the 'stream out' process. This is the format still used today to transfer chip databases before 'fracturing' into the MEBES format used to drive the electron beams that print the masks. The graphics system had a an assembly-like language called GPLII. Mostly it was used for small functions like converting text like "8086" into geometric shapes that could be printed as polysilicon or metal on the chip. But we actually wrote pretty complex programs in GPLII to automate the I/O, pad, and core cell placement or gate arrays of various sizes. The predecessor of todays automatic place and route programs. The giant touch pad and wired pen is still the best and most precise computer interface I've ever used.
Aug 18, 2020, 7:35:11 PM
Posted to Inside a counterfeit 8086 processor