
Welcome to the new full-color Version 2 of
Electronics Workbench.



The following recent information is not included
in the Electronics Workbench User Manual.


--------------------------
Detection of Display Cards
--------------------------

The program attempts to use the highest resolution display
mode it can detect.

HOWEVER, a large number of display adapter cards give false
indications when we try to detect and use VGA. THEREFORE, we
automatically use EGA resolution. If you have a VGA display
card that is truly IBM-compatible, and you wish to use the
higher resolution available on it, start Electronics
Workbench with the following command--

   ewba /display=vga

or

   ewbd /display=vga

See the User Manual, Program setup and requirements, for
more details.

Using VGA has the effect of showing more of the workspace
area at once and making the components smaller.

If the screen image tears, rolls, or has white diagonal
lines across it, or leaves broken wires or parts of zoomed
images behind, your card is not fully compatible with VGA
standards.

Sometimes problems with the mouse cursor can be fixed by
getting a new mouse driver. Contact your dealer or mouse
manufacturer.

-------------------------
New Features in Version 2
-------------------------

Version 2 has all the features found in Version 1.5. The
User Manual contains illustrations from Version 1.5, so the
pictures will not match the program exactly, but the
differences are very small, so you should have no trouble
following instructions.

The most important difference between Version 1.5 and
Version 2 (apart from the use of color) is that Version 2
MUST BE INSTALLED ON A HARD DISK. The program files are in a
compressed format and must be loaded on your hard disk using
the INSTALL procedure described in Chapter 13.

A few other minor additions are contained in Version 2--

   - The "GO" icon on the top shelf has been replaced with
   a switch.

   - In the Help screens, blue has replaced boldface.

   - The workspace will now scroll even when instrument
   faces are zoomed open. Scrolling requires the program to
   move a great amount of data, so on slower computers it
   may seem awkward at first. After you have some
   experience, it will seem more natural. If you work with
   larger circuits and have a VGA card, try using VGA --
   that will show more parts on the workspace, though they
   will be smaller.

   - You can close all open help windows with the ESC key.

   - You can "highlight" wires. Point to a terminal on a
   component with a wire attached and click the last
   (right) mouse button (the same action as permanently
   selecting a component). The wire will be drawn two
   pixels wide. To return the wire to its normal width,
   click the last button away from any component.

   - You can change the color of wires. Point to a terminal
   on a component and click the last (right) button while
   holding the ALT key. A small menu of colors will appear
   at the cursor. Move the cursor to the color you wish and
   release the mouse button. All wires drawn thereafter
   will be in the selected color. You can change the color
   of wires already drawn this way too. If a colored wire
   is attached to Channel A or B on the oscilloscope, the
   trace for that channel will be the same color as the
   wire.

   - The word generator has two new buttons that move the
   highlight bar without sending a signal out.

   - The Printer Configuration menu now has options for
   both narrow (9.5") and wide (14") carriage printers and
   for portrait and landscape orientation of the circuit on
   the page. You may prefer the portrait mode, especially
   for 9-pin dot matrix printers.


--------------------------------
To Simulate Oscillating Circuits
--------------------------------

In order to simulate an oscillating circuit, use the
Preferences (F10) menu to set the scope output to "TRANSIENT
TO SS", to give the circuit an initial transient.

It may help to include a DC source (battery) in the circuit
to give the circuit an initial "kick" to start the transient
response.

Next, set the function generator to a frequency that is
close to the expected frequency of oscillation, so that the
simulation will use an adequate timestep to catch the
oscillations. (Note that the function generator does not
have to be a part of the circuit, but set it anyway).

Also, choose "No" for the "Keep same time steps" preference.
This is not always necessary, but it may remove some
"glitches" observed in the scope output.

The simulation of an oscillating circuit will in general
continue indefinitely, never reaching steady state, since
the frequency of simulation will almost never correspond to
the exact frequency of oscillation.


--------------------------------
Order of Components in Workspace
--------------------------------

The order in which components are placed on the workspace
determines their position in the solution matrix.
Unfortunately, there exist inherent problems in matrix
algorithms when dealing with both very large and very small
values. Due to these problems, it has been observed in
certain circuits that repositioning components in the
workspace will either improve or degrade the circuit
solution.

Certain problems to watch for are points during a time-
domain solution where the analysis seems to get "stuck" for
no apparent reason or "glitches" which appear at points of
high frequency and low gain in a Bode plot. In such cases,
try picking up certain components and putting them back
down, thus changing their order in the workspace. When you
simulate the circuit again, the problem may no longer exist.


---------------
Sample circuits
---------------

Look at the label (F6) for the circuit. In many cases,
interesting information about the circuit is included.


-----------------
Printing Circuits
-----------------

When printing circuits Electronics WorkBench will create
a temporary file in the directory given by the MS-DOS
environment variable TEMP. For example, if your system has
TEMP=C:\TEMP then a temporary file is created in C:\TEMP
when you print a circuit.
A problem will arise if the TEMP variable refers to a
directory which does not exist. In the example above this could
occur if you did not have a drive C:. Electronics WorkBench
will report this as a "File/Printer open error".
To correct this, change the environment variable to a valid
path or else remove the TEMP variable altogether. For example,
SET TEMP=F:\TEMP to correct or SET TEMP= to remove altogether.


------------------------
INSTALL copyright notice
------------------------

The installation program used to install Electronics Workbench, is licensed
software provided by Knowledge Dynamics Corporation, Highway Contract 4
Box 185-H, Canyon Lake, Texas 78133-3508 (USA), 1-512-964-3994.
INSTALL is Copyright (c) 1987-1989 by Knowledge Dynamics Corporation
which reserves all copyright protection worldwide. INSTALL is provided to
you for the exclusive purpose of installing Electronics Workbench.
