Spice Simulators - ngspice v. ltspice ?

I've never used ltspice / circuit simulators before; though based on seeing posts to the group from various people seems it's something I might find useful (noting, of course, this is a hobby rather than something I get paid for).

Looked it up, and seems ltspice is a windows/mac application, whereas the native equivalent on linux would be ngspice. To avoid starting with one and switching because it's "bad" later on; has anyone used ngspice and found it a decent alternative to ltspice?

LTspice installs and runs well under wine in linux. (Use winetricks. )

I’ve been using it that way for years and years.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Ltspice is pretty good, the interface is a little clumsy, but once you get past that it's ok. You can plop down your own text models and connect them to the components with out much trouble.

Cheers

I just use hotkeys for everything in LTspice.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Schematics for PCB layout have requirements so different from schematics for simulations that I don't even *want* to use the same tool for both.

I have KiCad for one and LTspice for the other, both on a Linux machine. I never simulate complete designs; only sections that need closer attention.

It appears KiCads's eeschema can be used as a schematic entry front-end for ngspice. I never yet bothered.

Jeroen Belleman

Allow me to confirm how KiCad's eeschema can indeed be used as a schematic entry front-end for ngspice.

As alluded to above by Wanderer, KiCad keeps me from doing double work. eeschema is also more intuitive, comprehensive, and easier for me to use. YMMV.

Danke,

Use Spectrum Software's Micro-Cap (latest version is 12.2.05) instead of either of the above. Although popular, unless you want to simulate Linear Technology's controller IC's, I cannot see any reason why anyone with any sense would use it.

(Just to be clear I'm referring to LTspice.)

I agree. I only Spice subcircuits and don't use the same parts as will be on the PCB.

Spice happens way before the PCB design.

I have 1616 LT Spice sim files in my project folders on this PC. I must be really dumb.

You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment.

I don't mind being dumb, but do I have to give all the money back?

Seems this one's abandoned now? Which I guess isn't necessarily a problem, unless the "download" links at archive.org don't work...

Thanks for the alternative suggestion too!

Thanks Phil, google was hinting that LTspice via wine "might" be the way to go ... but then again, search results can be misleading, especially when one doesn't know any better.

I ran across that myself yesterday evening, but not going to touch it until I have a better handle on what rabbit hole I'm falling into here (although it does seem that one "must" use ngspice to work with KiCAD, if I'm read and understood the brief overview properly).

For a while I happily used LT spice in a vm box on Linux then acting on advice of folk here found it was even easier under wine. Went down a rabbit hole on first attempt using wrong repo of wine but within an hour had sorted. Since then l use LTS under wine on most of my machines with no problems.

That’s where winetricks comes in. Super easy.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

It’s much easier if you parameterize each section in terms of f_0 and Q, rather than L and C directly. That’s what makes dip meters so useful for hacking together filter protos.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

eeschema allows users to export netlists. ngspice is not a necessary adjunct as anything able to input a netlist will work. eeschema's export even enables enthusiastic LTSPice proselytes to remain on familiar turf in their own rabbit hole:

Regardless, you seem to be a SPICE newbie. So LTSpice is probably your best bet. Because it offers the shallowest rabbit hole to master.

Danke,