meat-and-potatoes spice interpreter sought

Thread Starter

mogadeet

Joined May 1, 2007
19
hello

i'm a newbie seeking a spice interpreter with reasonable facilities for entering code directly. i've tried several freeware programs and in each case the graphical interface stopped me in my tracks. if they would just quit helping me so much i might actually be able to make some progress. can somebody please help me with this?

peace
stm
 

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
hello

i'm a newbie seeking a spice interpreter with reasonable facilities for entering code directly. i've tried several freeware programs and in each case the graphical interface stopped me in my tracks. if they would just quit helping me so much i might actually be able to make some progress. can somebody please help me with this?

peace
stm
What freeware applications have you used?

Dave
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,157
hello

i'm a newbie seeking a spice interpreter with reasonable facilities for entering code directly. i've tried several freeware programs and in each case the graphical interface stopped me in my tracks. if they would just quit helping me so much i might actually be able to make some progress. can somebody please help me with this?

peace
stm
I'm a little confused, can you elaborate on precisely why "the graphical interface stopped me in my tracks". Do you have some visual dyslexia that prevents you from properly visualizing a schematic, while at the same time being able to think in terms of netlists. In 47 years of doing this stuff, this is just about the weirdest request I've ever heard.
 

gootee

Joined Apr 24, 2007
447
hello

i'm a newbie seeking a spice interpreter with reasonable facilities for entering code directly. i've tried several freeware programs and in each case the graphical interface stopped me in my tracks. if they would just quit helping me so much i might actually be able to make some progress. can somebody please help me with this?

peace
stm
LTspice is one of the best free ones out there. Actually, it's arguably better than most non-free ones, too.

Yes, it has a very nice graphical interface, and runs under Windows. But you can type a netlist in directly, in the "graphical" window, if you want, as far as I know. You can also just use any text editor to enter a netlist, and then run it.

If you're looking for a DOS command-line version of Spice, there are probably some old versions still floating around on the web. I've seen them discussed. You could try searching the archive of (and asking in) the sci.electronics.cad group, at http://groups.google.com .

Here's a list of a whole lot of links to electronic design automation software:

http://www.fi.uib.no/~bruce/eda.htm

They include PCB, schematic, and simulation packages. Some are free. Others have free demos.

Good luck!

- Tom Gootee

http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/index.html

-
 

Thread Starter

mogadeet

Joined May 1, 2007
19
hello again

the last program i tried was superspice (anasoft), which refused to turn my schematic into a netlist ("unable to generate netlist"); it is in that sense that i was "stopped in my tracks".

it just occurred to me that the problem could well be my outmoded operating system (windows 98). is it worth trying LTspice with such an old os? maybe i should practice solving the simpler equations by hand for awhile, and then take another run at spice after updating?

peace
stm
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,157
OK - now I see things with greater clarity. The refusal to "generate a netlist" is due to a fundamental error in your schematic entry. If it did generate a netlist and try to solve the resulting matrix there would have been meaningless singularities and other pathologies that would be even more confusing.

Two suggestions.
  1. Make sure the schematic has a ground or reference node.
  2. Try the simplest circuit you casn think of to experiment with, like a voltage divider, or a single pole RC filter, or a source and a load.
 

gootee

Joined Apr 24, 2007
447
hello again

the last program i tried was superspice (anasoft), which refused to turn my schematic into a netlist ("unable to generate netlist"); it is in that sense that i was "stopped in my tracks".

it just occurred to me that the problem could well be my outmoded operating system (windows 98). is it worth trying LTspice with such an old os? maybe i should practice solving the simpler equations by hand for awhile, and then take another run at spice after updating?

peace
stm
LTspice works very well, when running under Win98.

- Tom
 

Solcar

Joined Jun 8, 2007
21
LTspice has pushed for many features that make no monetary cost simulation practical for the user with few resources and a low level of expertise.
 
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