PLPLREAD.TXT

This zip is the complete suite of PLPL for DOS.

PLPL is a FREE package developed by AMD in the mid-1980s.

It will support all classic AND/OR PLDs, and has been
extended to support SOME extra architectural features
such as the macrocells on 18CV8 I/O pins, and the
product term clock on EP900.

GALs are supported as both true targetted devices and
as substitutes for 16R8 (etc).  To implement a 16R8
design on a 16V8, define the device as "pg16r8" instead
of "p16r8".

Documentation within this zip is limited to the basics
of how to install and use PLPL (plpl.txt) and some hints
and tips (plpl1.txt)  More extensive documentation is
provided in the zip plplman.zip

While I have used PLPL for almost a decade, and find it
an extremely useful and robust package, it does have
limitations.  It can only "optimise" a design in terms
of minimising AND/OR product terms - there is no way
PLPL can make optimal use of resources such as XOR
gates.  PLPL symbolic definitions are purely text-
replacement macros, and you cannot define state machines
with statements such as:
 IF (read_pend) THEN state = read_1 ; ELSE state = idle ;

If you want a more versatile FREE package, have a look
at PALASM V which can be downloaded from the Vantis
web site.

Tim Forcer                           1997 Sept 18
tmf@ecs.soton.ac.uk     University of Southampton