Freeware Analog and digital Electronics Simulator

mauritz wrote in news:01444654-aa9b-4bae-8cf5- snipped-for-privacy@c9g2000yqm.googlegroups.com:

Try LTspice. Not sure how much digital stuff it can do without you finding models for it, but it's often been mentioned here for analog use. Linear Technoogy made it but it's available for free and is used for general stuff, not just theirs.

If you're looking for "mixed-mode" simulation, there is no freeware.

There are some Free Software packages for electronics. Most require Linux.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-win32-port-*-*

These guys will even show you how to make a bootable Linux CD so you don't have to **install** anything.

(It helps if you speak Spanish.)

A BitTorrent client will allow you to pirate all the software you want. There was one scummy company that has a much-pirated product which deserves to have that pirated IMO (after they changed the name of it and claimed they no longer owed support to old customers).

...and it seems odd that you posted this to s.e.components. This kind of thing belongs in sci.electronics.cad.

JeffM wrote in news:af950c6e-cc2c-4d53-b0fe- snipped-for-privacy@f19g2000yqh.googlegroups.com:

Who? With an assertion like that it's worth citing the source.

Lostgallifreyan wrote:

The platform of The Pirate Party of Sweden relects what should be done WRT "intellectual property" due to the way it's become an abuse (e.g. by the corp in question):

*-rid-of-*-patent-*+*-promote-culture-*-*-*-*+*-*-to-privacy=+*-*-*-*-surveillance-state+DRM+mature-*-*+*-reform-copyright-*+*-methods+a=.balance+*-*-*-*-*-*-*-staggeringly-*-*-*-*+*-*-*-*-*-*-*-pandemic-*-*-*-*-=*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+non.commercial+se+*-panic-*+*-clauses+*-organisms+five.ye=ars+software+*-*-severely-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+seventy-*-*-*-*-*+Pharmaceutica= l&strip=3D1

Cite:

*-*+zz-zz+lethal.bugs+dishonest.=business.practices+Electronics.Workbench+*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-on-Kazaa-for-fre=e+*-dreadful+SUCKS+*-screw-the-*-*-*-*-*-promised-lifetime-free-upgrades+*-=changed-the-name-*-*-*-*+qq-qq+useless+Illegal#65fbdc1ef2b8ea23 *-changed-*-name+zz-zz+*-screw-*-*-existi=ng-customers+qq+*-*-lifetime-*-updates

Others have remarked about that corp's scummy business practices

*-*-*-*-sell-software+zzz+Save.you.money.and.time+not.support.it+*-*-*-scre=wed-again+Electronics-Workbench+Multisim-6.0+now-I-know-why-*-*-*-*-* *-*-*-*-*-the-new-one-*-*-*-likely-to-ha=ve-defects+zzz+*.has.been.noted.*.many.times.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*+Electronics-Wo=rkbench-screwed-me+*-sucks+qq+*.*.treat.me.*.*.*+*-told-me-*-if-I-bought-th= e-newest-version-*-*-*-*

as well as the general poor quality of the product technically. (Again, Larkin sums it up nicely.)

*=.*.*.*.suck+*-crap+Electronics-Workbench+Multisim+Not.surprising

JeffM wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g1g2000yqh.googlegroups.com:

Nice. And the rest. Looks like they believe that "a job worth doing is worth doing badly so long as no-one else is allowed to do it better and get paid and respected for it."

Re patents, I agree, they're a mess, more abuse than use, probably, and most of it would be better served by copyright law anyway, even if the reforms wanted by that site you linked to were implemented. Patents do little to protect their owners, and a lot to halt progress by others, and rediculous patents are granted for vague text written by people who use it to baffle and restrict rather than to make a specific protection.

Not sure if Eagle does any simulations but if so, great, I just got introduced to it yesterday to look at some Sparkfun Electronics board layouts, as they use it. There's a freeware version...

On the subject of poor quality software, it's true, I remember looking at Orcad and other stuff about ten years ago, and the hodge-podge of incompatibilites and weird hangovers from Windows 3.1, and even DOS, were evident, it was like no-one could be bothered to rewritew a coherent and integrated structure at all! Not one of them! Given the asking prices fo teh software, it was unforgivable in my view. One shining example included amongst the murk was Gerbtool. For a while I used a copy of that solely. I didn't bother with any tools for routing (my work was simple enough) or netlist generation (pointless for me) or any of the other fancy stuff. I just drew models of parts for layoutrs and schemtics and did everything in Gerbtool because it was great for modelling accurately right through to printing masks or sending files to PCF makers. Not bad, given that it constituted less that a TENTH of the asking price of a suite of software meant to do all that, most of it far worse than Gerbtool did... And Gerbtool actually looked good doing it too, and that was unique.

Beige Bag had a relationship with Cadsoft but I haven't looked in ages.

There's also this:

?page=3D/home/cadsoft/html_public/download.htm.en%26dir=3Deagle/user=files/misc+a.SPICE3.simulation.upgrade.and.library+cgi+EAGLESP3&strip=3D1

I *used* to be a fan. Not any more. Cadsoft is in the DRM business now. Anyone considering investing in that brand should read this:

**The Downside of EAGLE** aka **The EAGLE Virus** by Markus Zingg *-*-website+reuse+paying.*+*-I-will-switch+c=racked-*+*.would.not.help.*+zzz+after-*-*-version-*+copied+*.*.unlock.*.des=igns+*-*-*-*-exchange-*-*-*-*-third-party+reused+qq+*-*-single-bit-*-*-*-*+=useless+*-*-*-projects-could-no-longer-be-opened

Open Source Software tends to not pull that shit. I recommend that folks look at KiCAD, gEDA, and FreePCB/TinyCAD when seeking out an ECAD.

JeffM wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@n21g2000vba.googlegroups.com:

Noted. That behaviour is unacceptable. If people treat verified paying customers in ways that might drive them to counterhacking just to get what they paid for, that is a classic case of footshooting. If people take it even further by using patents and DRM to stifle open source contributions of genuinely new work that appears to emulate a vague patent, that's worse, it'a obscene in my view, and fully justifes whatever required counterattack might be used to get the full use the buyer was promised at the time of sale. Hell, a clever hacker can even legally SELL their work under thew DMCA 'interoperability clause'! So it cuts both ways. Software sellers, be warned! Treat people right. Potect yourselves, sure, but if you treat your paying customers with all stick and no carrot you only have yourselves to blame for any direct consequences. The DMCA isn't there only to protect you.

(As if they read this, but you never know...)

Lostgallifreyan wrote in news:Xns9C2F321D35A38zoodlewurdle@216.196.109.145:

That paragraph is a mess, posted too early in the morning... What I mean is that what JeffM pointed out with that link was a case where the protection was too ruthless, it prevents propogation of third party work at the expense of innocent buyers. It's unacceptable because the appropriate fix is to load the data, warning the user that they cannot save a copy, edited or otherwise, unless done so by a manual copy that takes a human interaction, or uses some other means to let the user keep the data while putting an obstacle in the way of automated propagation of data that originated on a dodgy copy of the program. THis solves another problem too, if an earlier version had a bug, the seller can use this method to prevent the effects of that bug propagating via data files to other, later copies of the program. Just enforcing that the user has to use their paid-for copy of the program to do a manual copy/paste of the suspect data using the internal methods should be enough, as most unpaid software doesn't allow resaving anyway.

(And now I really hope they DO read these things, this one might do them good)