Electronics Simulation Software

What are you guys using?

I downloaded TI's "Tina" and they require you have an IC in every design. I guess I can just drop one across the power supply, doing nothing, but that's kind of a pain.

I want to play around with some discrete op amp designs as a learning tool.

Thanks,

Tim

I use multisim from electronics workbench and it's great!!!

There's some stuff useful in this software META.

On a similar tip (not to hijack, sorry) does anyone know of any "simple" software that will simulate passive LC filters and generate curves?

I've tried Free Filter from Nuhertz Tech but can't find a way to specify my own cap and inductor values.

Cheers Tom

What are you guys using?

Click to expand...

Nothing these days. I can't find anything that runs on Jaguar, and it's got me pretty f@ckin pissed.

> require you have an IC in every design. I guess I can just drop one across the power supply

If I recall, it does not even have to be powered-up. I think I threw in a 555 with one pin grounded (to avoid floating-node complaint) and it ran.

5Spice has a freebie, with very limited workspace, some nice features, but a steep learning curve for an old punch-card SPICEr like me.

Pspice (now Orcad) was the standard of the PC world for years, and they used to be pretty liberal with student versions. If you never punched a card, you will be mystified. Unless you already know Pspice, it isn't a place to start.

Beige Bag software has a sim that some good people like.

Any of the above will do passive LC filters. (Yeah, TI-tina needs a chip present, but it does not have to do anything.)

The BEST "simulator" is a breadboard, some parts, and a brain.

[quote author="PRR"]....and a brain.[/quote]
Where can I download one? I tried googling.....

Hehe just downloaded SimetrixINTRO that I'll install tomorrow and have a go with. You can get a limited free version here
Cheers Tom

I've been using Circuitmaker... Realizing that it doesn't tell the truth all of the time.

It's free though.... You can print schematics, etc from it. Filters seem to work OK, along with basic amplifiers including a few tube models.

The parts library can be limiting, as well as the 50 component limit on the 'Trial Version.' I'd recommend trying it out, it's pretty easy to use with some decent functionality.

Check out today's %!@#$% experiment in Circuitmaker:

I got the following results while tinkering with oscillators/inverters. Wanted to scratch design an adjustable frequency AC power supply from a 9V battery with only a handful of available components.

Circuitmaker says I get 50kV DC @200ma with this circuit:




And 90-200VAC depending on how I tune the caps on this one:




Was trying to simply charge two caps and use the difference in discharge time to push a Xformer....