[myhdl-list] Interfaces to Proprietary Tools

[David M. <dm...@ga...>]

On Dec 10th you wrote:
I ordered many modelsim licenses in a previous life :-( but
  currently I have no access to modelsim. So I wonder if anyone
  out there can help.

At 05:59 PM 1/11/2005 +0100, you wrote:
>... I believe demonstrated links with
>commercial simulators are required to raise the awareness about MyHDL
>as a viable commercial application.

I was disappointed to see no response.  I believe this is due to the tight 
restrictions vendors put on their proprietary tools.  For example, I had 
difficulty getting access to the Cadence tools just to teach a course at U 
of A.  Big companies are the most difficult.  Not only are they more 
bureaucratic, but they may also consider use of their tools in an 
open-source environment ( even with a fully paid license ) to be a threat 
to their proprietary environments.  They have to weigh what they gain by 
forcing customers to purchase their environments along with their 
simulators, against what they lose by not allowing their simulators to be 
used in competitive environments.

Have you tried contacting any of the simulator vendors directly?  I would 
think that any but the biggest would see a net benefit in allowing their 
simulator to be used with MyHDL.  I would think Cadence would see a net 
gain in encouraging the use of NCSIM with other environments.

An alternative to working directly with the simulator vendor might be to go 
to a big customer of that vendor, and show them they will benefit from 
using MyHDL with the licensed simulators they already have.  They will have 
the clout with the vendor to insist on cooperation.  Big companies spend a 
lot developing in-house scripts and even their own environments.  Then they 
realize that maintaining these environments is a never-ending and 
ever-growing expense.  At that point, it may be possible to convince them 
that supporting an open-source environment is advantageous.

This is the way email was finally freed from the clutches of 
CompuServe.  The demands from their own customers finally overwhelmed their 
desire ( fantasy ) to monopolize email, and suddenly all the "technical 
problems" disappeared.

-- Dave