This week I have presented NL5 Circuit Simulator at APEC-2010 exposition. Still under impression, so this note might be too emotional…
I talked to many engineers: “freelancers”, working for their own small companies, as well as employees of worldwide-known semiconductor “monsters”. I was prepared to discussions and arguments about why would anybody need anything other than old good SPICE. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to demonstrate my “oratory” abilities: there was surprising consensus on what kind of simulation tool engineers really need, and what they are forced to use instead.
No doubt, SPICE-based simulators are more or less adequate for detailed analysis of circuits with accurate component models (hopefully… but who knows?). However, they are absolutely not suitable for development stage: i.e. evaluating a concept, proving basic functionality of a design, performing fast, reliable, and trusted simulation with very simple models. So far, I’ve not seen anybody happy with SPICE, even really advanced (and free!) LTSpice. Complains, complains - that’s all I’ve heard. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I’d like to ask engineers: if you do not like SPICE, why are you still using it? I’d like to ask managers and directors: do you aware of your engineers’ needs? Do you provide (or allow) engineers a right tool for efficient development? And what do you think right tool is?
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ReplyDeleteYes, I have adding "true non-linear component" in my list: just as PSIM did recently.
ReplyDeleteLTSpice GUI is the worst I've ever seen, and this what I've heard many times from my friends as well.
What about combining NL5 GUI with LTSpice? That would work for me! :)
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DeleteI never used any other's software for my work, I only tried some to compare with NL5, and I see that if you want something you like, you had to do it yourself. Then I found that many people like what I did, just because they have the same level of "common sense" as I have.
ReplyDeleteIcons cannot be larger. You probably have high DPI display settings, and unfortunately NL5 is old enough to support that.
Don't understand comment about text/values moving. Select a component, then click on the text and move it anywhere you want. Or, is it something different?
Have you tried to autoscale traces ("Fit the screen" button)? I hope you can see many traces when you run demo circuits?
Help: please read instructions on the web site: nl5.sidelinesoft.com/index.php?page=download, "Attention first-time users" on the bottom. This is Windows "feature" for chm files.
Hope this helps. For future questions could you please write to nl5@sidelinesoft.com: the Blog interface is very bad.