Newbie Question: Which tool(s) to use?

Hi, all. I'm a tech writer, and recently decided to learn more about electronics. Along the way I've picked up four or five textbooks, most of which came with various software -- some student versions, some trial versions, etc.

I finally signed up for an actual course on introductory Digital Design, and we are using a book Digital Design by Morris Mano. The book comes with software from SynaptiCAD, but most of the stuff only runs in seriously crippled mode (no Saving, for instance); you can get a 30-day trial license, but after that you have to pay huge sums of money to run the software. (I went to their Web site, and could not find personal or student versions for most of this stuff, with one exception:)

It does come with one "lite" version that seems to be operational, a program called WaveFormer Lite. (The other, cripple-ware programs are called VeriLogger Pro, Timing Diagrammer Pro, and DataSheet Pro.)

Now -- and I'm working my way up to my question -- the professor already told us that we don't need to use any of the software for the class. (And, apparently, he plans to offer no instruction on how to use the software.) But it seems to me it might help me to use some CAD software, both to better understand the material, and to work more effectively with the EEs that I deal with on the job (which is the real, main goal of this exercise).

So, the question is, of all the various software I've accumulated, which of this stuff should I try to learn? There's a lot of software, and I have no idea which of it is really applicable for my current needs. The criteria, at least for now, are:

1. Is relevant for learning the basics of digital design. (Some major chapters in the book: Combinational Logic, Synchronous Sequential Logic, Registers and Counters, Memory and Programmable Logic, Register Transfer Level, Asynchronous Sequential Logic). The back cover indicates that the book uses Verilog HDL.

1. The software can be a limited, student version -- perhaps it won't let me build a commercial-scale application -- but it has to let me build applications large enough for typical student purposes, and to save them.

2. If the trial version expires after 30 days, the student edition (or something similar) is cheap cheap cheap. I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on this stuff.

As I say, I have a bunch of stuff sitting here, and I'm not even entirely sure which of it is trial software and which isn't -- I don't want to install all this stuff, without knowing which items I really need. Anyway, the criteria are listed above. The options are:

(A) The WaveFormer Lite, that came with the book. (B) A whole slew of programs from XiLinx that came with another book. The programs include: Project Navigator, Chip Viewer, Constraints Editor, CORE Generator System, Design Manager, Floorplanner, FPGA Editor, HDL Bencher, iMPACT, LogiBLOX, PROM File Formatter, StateCAD, Timing Analyzer, XPower. This all sounds like ASIC and FPGA design stuff to me, rather than basic Verilog HDL stuff, but I could be wrong. (C) I have a CD called Electronics Workbench/MultiSim that came with one of the textbooks I purchased. (D) I have another CD called Schematic Capture Using MicroSim PSpice, that came with another textbook. For both (C) and (D), I have no idea if these are trial versions, or cripple-ware, or what. (E) Finally, with a book called Fundamentals Of Electronic Circuits, the included CD has software called MultiSim 2001 Textbook Edition. (Which may be the same stuff as on the CD listed in (C) above.

So, can anyone -- perhaps a student or teacher who has worked with these CDs, and this software -- tell me both which of this software is relevant for my current studies; and which also either comes in adequately functional form on the CDs that came with the book (like, I can Save the files I create), or can be purchased (at least at the student level) at very, very modest prices?

Also, if there is yet another option I've missed -- perhaps some Open Source tool -- please let me know.

While you are at it, and if you really have time to burn, you might let me know -- for future reference -- what some of these other programs are for, even if not relevant for my immediate needs.

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.

"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is the Best Match for a high school student's needs.

Mano is probably the most widely used textbook at the introductory level. Use the *simplified* cripple-ware that came with the book to work the exercises and it will be good enough. Anything more specialized will require that you spend more time struggling with bug-ridden and complex CAD than with the essential course material itself- and that would be STUPID. Most competent people work through the entirety of Mano in a week's time anyway.

Okay, fair enough. But again, I want to focus my time effectively. Of the various programs that came with the book, is there just one that primarily would relate to the content? The options are WaveFormer, VeriLogger, Timing Diagrammer, and DataSheet. In other words, which one should I try to learn, or at least learn first?

Also, did Synapticad ever sell student versions of these programs, perhaps in earlier releases, and if so, are they available someplace for sale? Again, it would be nice to save files I create for practise.

Well, this is a community college class, so we're taking it a bit slower....

Thanks again.

Steve O.

"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is the Best Match for a high school student's needs.

The best "software" out of that lot for playing around with basic digital design is Electronics Workbench. Forget anything that involves FPGAs and their associated VHDL/Verilog tools, they are too advanced for what you want.

I don't know what your course is teaching but any introductory digital design generally means your basic digital building blocks like logic gates, counters, shift registers, flip flops, and theory like boolean algebra, Karnaugh Maps etc. Simulators like Electronics Workbench will allow you to build virtual digital circuits and then probe them with virtual logic probes, oscilloscopes, and LED displays. This is pretty handy and is *exactly* what you want in a digital simulator or leanring tool. The others you mentioned don't really work like this, they are more complicated, will confuse you to death and won't teach you anything. The tradiational (and best in many peoples opinion) way to learn digital electronics is to get 74HCxxx series logic chips, a breadboard and a logic probe and start building circuits. You can't beat hands on work like this. Be careful with using software to learn hardware, you want to spend as little time learning the software and maximum possible time learning how the hardware actually works. If your software takes you more than a few minutes to figure out how to wire up a NAND gate and turn on a LED then uninstall it quick smart.

Dave :)

Hmm, maybe I can add that to my excuses for still not having mastered PICs! I reckon it was several *hours* before I got my first flasing LED...

One of my textbooks came with that program, but a lot of features are disabled. Does anyone have a version that's a few years old, that they can sell for a reasonable price, and that's pretty functional?

Please c>> Hi, all. I'm a tech writer, and recently decided to learn more about

"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is the Best Match for a high school student's needs.

Steven O. ( Thu, 16 Sep 2004 04:12:00 GMT ) to sci.electronics.cad:

Some oldish versions are found on P2P programs.

I have EWB 5.0 here. If you want I can e-mail it to you, 5MB attachment.