Running Cadence Via SSH and X-forwarding

Cadence, like all X windows applications can be run remotely. The beauty of X Windows lies in the client - server network architecture. A X-server deals with the graphics hardware on a workstation and provides applications (know as the clients) with a standard interface. Clients can connect to an X-server locally or remotely across a network. One secure way to do this is via SSH, which can forward the necessary traffic.

Be warned though, the performance is generally fairly poor - even on the campus network, but its fine for doing some simple schematics and running simulations especially late at night when no one wants to walk to Barton. Doing layouts however, is an exercise in frustration.

Getting an X-Server

There are several ways to get a working X-server:

If you're running Linux, you should already have a working X-server and probably know how to login too.
For Windows people
- One option is to download Cygwin which is a free set of tools that provide much of the Linux/Unix functionality on a Win32 system, including an X-server
- X-Win32 An excellent commercial implementation

For Cygwin Users

Download the Cygwin install tool, and at the bare minimum check the option to install the X related packages. Depending on how much you select (there is a lot of interesting stuff!) it might take a while to download and setup.
Once it starts, start Cygwin from the icon which should be installed on the desktop, which will take you to a bash prompt. Type 'startx' to start the X-server, which by defualt should be configured to run in rootless mode. For Cadence no changes should be necessary, and Cadence should look like another Windows application once started.
After X starts, there should be another terminal that appears. To login to a department machine type 'ssh -X -l [your usreid] [machine address]

For X-Win32 Users

Install X-Win32 and follow the instructions.
After starting X-Win32, right click on the X icon in the system tray and go to Xconfig
Go to the Window tab and make sure that
- Window Mode is multiple
- Backing store is Always On
- Tray icon and disable remote window manager are both checked
Now you need a SSH client, I recommend PuTTY Just download the executable and save it to your desktop
After running X-win32, start PuTTY which will get you to a configuration screen
- Under session enter the name of the machine you're logging into under Host Name. You can save multiple profiles for the different machines you use so you don't have to type in the settings each time
- Now on the SSH page check 'enable compression'
- On the Tunnels page check 'Enable X11 forwarding'
- Hit open and when it pops up about storing the RSA key, just hit OK. Now you're logged into one of the department machines

After logging in

Run msfb or any other program normally

List of Machines

aragorn
arwen
elrond
frodo
gandalf
gimli
gollum
legolas
sam
saruman
sauron
shadowfax

The full address is:

[one of the above].ece.jhu.edu

Notes

If you notice that Cadence is running slowly, it might be that someone else is on the machine too. To check:

#top

22:40:44  up 32 days,  7:16,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
52 processes: 50 sleeping, 2 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU0 states:   0.0% user   0.0% system    0.0% nice   0.0% iowait 100.0% idle
CPU1 states:   0.0% user   0.0% system    0.0% nice   0.0% iowait 100.0% idle
Mem:  1029804k av, 1006764k used,   23040k free,       0k shrd,  273304k buff
                    629984k actv,       0k in_d,   13376k in_c
Swap: 2096472k av,   10296k used, 2086176k free                  469040k cached

  PID USER     PRI  NI  SIZE  RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM   TIME CPU COMMAND
    1 root      15   0   112   80    56 S     0.0  0.0   0:19   0 init
    2 root      RT   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:00   0 migration/0
    3 root      RT   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:00   1 migration/1
    4 root      15   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:01   0 keventd
    5 root      34  19     0    0     0 SWN   0.0  0.0   0:01   0 ksoftirqd_CPU
    6 root      34  19     0    0     0 SWN   0.0  0.0   0:02   1 ksoftirqd_CPU
   11 root      24   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:00   0 bdflush
    7 root      15   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   1:11   1 kswapd
    8 root      15   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:03   1 kscand/DMA
    9 root      15   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0  52:30   0 kscand/Normal
   10 root      15   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0  12:14   1 kscand/HighMe
   12 root      15   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:06   0 kupdated
   13 root      25   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:00   0 mdrecoveryd
   17 root      15   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:11   1 kjournald
   75 root      20   0     0    0     0 SW    0.0  0.0   0:00   1 khubd

This lists all the currently running processes. If you see something like msfb/icfb and the user is not you; you might try running it on a different computer.