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Running HSPICE from home.
This is some redundant information because I figure anyone that
can follow through with this solution already figured it out.
Anyways, it's here for the in-betweeners.
Requirements
You will need two important pieces of software: First, an SSH client to connect securely to skule (OpenSSH is a complete SSH suite for many platforms, PuTTY or TTSSH for Win32). Next, you'll need an X server to handle the display data that gets redirected. This is easiest to accomplish if you just install a *nix OS of some sort like almost any flavour of Linux or BSD with something like XFree86. Or, you can purchase one for Win32 like X-Win32 or try out a free one like cygwin which runs a Win32 port of XFree86. Personally, I run a spare FreeBSD box at home in addition to my Win32 box that runs Exceed (another Win32 X-Server) and that works out for me.
Setting up X-Forwarding/Redirection
Before creating the ssh connection, you must enable X-forwarding (aka X-redirection). This is usually set as an option in your SSH client. For the command-line ssh, it's just a "-X" (note capital X) parameter and you do not have to specify the display address if you're already in a graphical environment running X (like KDE or GNOME). For PuTTY, it's under Configuration/Connection/SSH/Tunnels and you just check off "Enable X11 Forwarding" and "Local port accepts connections from remote hosts." Verify that your X-server address is correct (usually localhost:0). For TTSSH, Enter Setup/SSH Forwarding and check off "Display remote X applications on local X server." I am unsure of the flexibility of TTSSH but I assume it only takes the default X-server address.
Connecting to Skule (or rather, a ugsparc machine)
With your SSH client, connect to a ugsparc machine (ugsparcX.eecg.utoronto.ca, where X = a machine number from 51 to 100 I believe). Accept the RSA key if you haven't already done so. Enter your login/passwd and you should be set. The easiest way to test IMO is just to run nedit by typing "nedit &" (without quotes) and seeing it pop up after a few seconds.
Rest of the Run
You can follow the course website's Software Lab Page to continue HSPICE stuff. Just remember that if you are running X applications remotely, there will be some long load times to initialize the display and the overall feel of a program will generally be more sluggish. For example, awaves took anywhere from 30 - 60 seconds to load on my system (the splash screen did not appear for that amount of time). DO NOT try to execute more than one instance of such an application at one time. Don't say I didn't warn you. :P Anyways, Hope you found this a bit useful.
