--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
I see no node 0 (zero)... thus the float warnings.
One node MUST be 0 (zero).
Do you have a ground symbol _on_the_schematic_ ?
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Start over. Draw the SCHEMATIC. Place a ground symbol where it belongs. DO NOT use 'net alias'
Then see what you get.
(You're being victimized by that wondrous piece-a-crap called "Capture" ;-)
I don't know whether Student v9.1 supports it or not, but you might try uninstalling everything, the re-install, but choose Custom, and install PSpice Schematics.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
The reason there are two editors is that PSpice Schematics is what existed before OrCAD came along and bought out the competition.
Now they're trying to cram Capture down our throats, but we old guard are resisting... so they did provide both.
Now they trying the final dump. To get Schematics you have to go to the website and download it.
The threat is that at the next release Schematics will exist no more.
More likely PSpice, as the supreme machine, will no longer exist, 'cause I, and many others, won't be paying maintenance
LTspice keeps getting better... if Mike would fix up that hammy schematic editor, it could be the best spice on the market.
There's also up and coming TT-Spiceworks
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which has a Schematics look-alike, though not quite there yet. But I expect good things from them.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
I'm a new poster here so be easy on me! I downloaded the cut-down student version of Spice 9.1 as a way of getting into simulation on no budget. I realise it's not full functionalty, but having created a project, designed a stupidly simple circuit ( two 1k resistors and a dc voltage source, with a ground for reference ), I cannot even get it to do a simple bias simulation. It throws back a file at me telling me that the nodes are open circuit ( they are not ), so doesn't proceed. I even set the computer date to March 2000 in case it loses almost all functionality after a year or some similar knobbling device, but same result. Any ideas?
I have a ground symbol, yes, it is on the node called GND. In fact, I named that node '0' as you suggest is necessary, but it is made up of five sections of track, all contiguous, but the program has only named the one section I dragged the net alias name '0' down to as '0', the other four lengths are 'GND', apparently autonamed, as I only named the 'out' node, and the '0' node ( which doesn't show in the netlist!!!)
In fact, if I name every bit of wire on that node ( to which the ground symbol is attached ) '0', by using the net alias command, the netlist still calls it 'GND'. This is odd, since I had no trouble naming the node between the two resistors as 'out', using the same net alias command.
Am I using the wrong technique? I followed the example in the Orcad users guide. I go to the 'part' menu, choose 'net alias' fill in the name as '0' when the dialogue box opens up, click ok, then drag the name box down to the node I wish to name, left-hand corner must touch the node etc......
Dear me, any help appreciated, just to get me started :0)
Thanks Jim, I was only following the 'Capture' User's Guide blow-by-blow in their first example, including use of 'net alias' etc, so I'm puzzled by the total failure, but that's software for you!
On the other hand, I followed your advice, went back to the setup installation wizard, picked 'schematic' instead of 'capture', and loaded that up. It's interesting that they have two editors doing similar things but with such a different feel: my experience in CAD ( non-simulation ), has been that 'schematic capture' is practically one word, one entity. Anyway, after a great deal of barging around inside 'Schematic' I managed to get a bias point simulation!
NODE VOLTAGE NODE VOLTAGE NODE VOLTAGE NODE VOLTAGE
($N_0001) 5.0000 ($N_0002) 2.5000
Which is the trivial result I was expecting, a potentiometer halving the applied voltage. Thanks Jim, you've been very helpful. I've got an Orcad 10 demo disc coming so I might see if that is less hassle than this version!
I was "sorta-beta", since I didn't have a lot of free time. I warned them about being too pricey, but they didn't listen to a lot of things I said :-(
LTspice schematics is rather kludgey... I just wish Mike, or some other code-genius, would affix PSpice Schematics to the front-end of LTspice... that'd be a winning combination.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Looking at the spec page page, it would appear that they have done what we all do (apart from Mike), i.e. take the XSpice code as is, and then add to it, e.g some of the PSpice bits and bobs, but I would be very surprised if it had any real improvement in speed and convergence over the basic spice. Nothing in the documentation mentions speed and convergence enhancements. So, with that in mind, its way, way, overpriced at $9k5. Tanner is similar priced
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but they have the full ic layout bit as well. I don't see that i.c. design companies will want to spend that sort of money on a, as Mike would say, a "me to" product, with no/little proven layout support.
Gut feel. The company won't make it.
Kevin Aylward snipped-for-privacy@anasoft.co.uk
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SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture, Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.
Hi Jim, Sorry, I have been on vacation, so I haven't stepped in earlier.
First, the symbol he needed was 0, not GND. In Capture, they have provision for multiple ground symbols with different names (all those PCB layout guys want to fool around with multiple ground planes... 8-) so for simulation, he needs to use the 0 symbol, or rename the SYMBOL to
Setting the net alias doesn't work, because a named port (like a GND symbol) overrides the net alias.
So, on TT, what is not quite there yet? I don't get to speak with those guys much anymore, esp. since I am still in the 'enemy' camp!
Charlie
-- Edmondson Engineering Unique Solutions to Unusual Problems
Ah so. I'll try to remember that the next time some poor student is screwed over by Capture ;-)
Their library configuration method doesn't fit with my need to handle hundreds of foundry variations.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
AH-HA! Thanks for that, just tried running the pspice AD version 10 and it had the same reaction as version 9.1 when I tried to generate a netlist using a GND symbol, so I realised it wasn't just corrupt software but some trick I hadn't learned. I'll try your suggestions,
Yep, you have been bitten by one of the basic FAQ bugs, Why do I have floating nodes! I actually tried to get them to change the error message to say "Did you use a 0 symbol for ground?" but, once you have learned the answer, it is no big deal!
The second big question is "Why do I have unmodeled pins on all my parts?" That is when you look, and see a whole bunch of libraries that are not in the PSpice directory, and decide to use some of them in your design. You then find out that only the parts in the PSpice directory are set up for simulation with models and PSpice Templates. Then you go, Darn! There were some great parts in there (micro's and other big parts). 8-)
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