LTspice, a great program, but that UI!

That "menial" labor resulted in $millions of sales and it wasn't menial at all - it can take weeks to find the best settings because it has to be tested under all conditions before committing a particular design to production. It is not simple and it cannot be automated.

What makes you think we don't automate with software? Before something can be calibrated there has to be something decent to calibrate.

Terry

I don't assume anything other than what you write. Actually I like your approach - the TCXO writeup was interesting. There are many approaches and what works for one thing doesn't always translate to other things.

Not lecturing just an observation - available spice models can make a big difference in what parts I choose to use. Or not.. don't really care about opamp models, for those I go by specs and pick something with a common pinout so if the one I choose doesn't work I can use another.

I've worked mostly as a service tech but have designed several tube and solid state guitar amps and related gear like pedals, intercom systems, mic preamps, testers for various things, main gig right now is ANR headsets and comm systems. Right now working on a DSP-like signal processor and it's driving me batty - 40 years of experience and now it comes down to soldering a stupid QFN32 without wrecking it.

Well... 9 or so I guess.. if you count a crystal earphone.. wanted hi-z cans but for headphones had to use a transformer. Sometimes with crappy germanium transistors... ha self biasing...

Terry

I have yet to find a *really* good analog guy that hasn't started pissing about at a young age. Its just the way it seems to be, imo.

I don't recall a really good Ballerina starting at age 20 either....

-- Kevin Aylward

Well, maybe a a bit too harsh a word

Well, usually that amounts to "mundane" work. One of the best jobs I ever had was mundane. It was during summer break from uni. Job was to put round metal disks onto a plate, and stamp a serial number on it. Bestobell Steam products. Quite relaxing.

Don't really see where was that conclusion was implied?

-- Kevin Aylward

Do you mean the XSpice referred to here? If not, then what does your XSpice do?

Clifford Heath.

I got a soldering iron when I was 8, does that count? :)

You have to start early to maintain a physique like that. Male or female, that's HARD work, AND fantastic flexibility! Gymnasts too, especially like, on the rings, free training like that. The way I heard it described (I long since forget what article read this in), you get all the force of lifting weights heavier than your body, say -- sheer pumping iron, bench press or what have you -- but it's done at such awkward angles that it simultaneously builds tremendous muscle strength, while retaining range of motion, flexibility.

Tim

Yes and No. SS does not use ngspice. ngspice is a derivative of the Georgia Tech XSpice, which is a derivative of Spice3. Georgia Tech added the digital mixed mode engine and "A code models".

SS uses my port and modified XSpice code.

My XSpice port has all the stuff I added to make it have the features that SS needs. For example, worst case and monte carlo support.

Details like allowing for direct access/plotting to BSim3 transient and dc terminal currents. The base code requires a manual insertion of 0V sources.

I recently added

I got my base code around 1996 or so. I have made around 10,000 lines of changes and additions.

-- Kevin Aylward

It sounds like the ngspice guys would be happy if someone found the energy to merge your improvements. I wish I had time for another project, but that's always been the case :)

I did give one of their Administrators by code for my magnetic non-linear hysteresis model. Its the same basic implementation that is in LTSPice, although don't converge as good.

I don't have any problems in ngspice implementing my MOS1 mods. I did that in part to put one over on Mike. It makes the MOS1 compatible with LTSpice's VDMOS model, but with some enhancements. It helps all by having a common implementation of a discrete mosfet.

-- Kevin Aylward

Yep. ...Jim Thompson

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