Circuit Analysis Software

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 23:52:33 -0500 Date: Tue, 26 Oct 93 13:22:45 EDT From: Tom Coradeschi <tcora@Pica.Army.Mil> Subject: PSPICE Wally Patterson <patterwc@tigershark.ml.wpafb.af.mil> wrote: >I'm looking for a MAC-based circuit simulator call PSPICE. >Please, tell me where I can find it. SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE MACINTOSH [These opinions are posted by Professor A. E. Siegman, E. L. Ginzton Laboratory MC-4085, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305. Email responses directed to siegman@sierra.stanford.edu on Internet or RW.AAP@STANFORD on Bitnet will be welcomed.] ----- Messages keep appearing on Mac newsgroups asking about analog and digital circuit analysis programs and other EE-related educational programs for the Macintosh. This is a brief summary of Mac-based digital and analog circuit analysis programs I know about, plus a few additional programs that may be of interest to electrical engineering students and teachers. The programs reviewed here are: * B^2 Logic: a moderately priced digital circuit analysis program. * B^2 Spice: a very good moderately priced analog circuit analysis program based on SPICE; RECOMMENDED * CircuitMaker 3.0: commercial but relatively low-cost program (list price $200) combining circuit layout and drawing tool and digital circuit simulator. Haven't tried it, but review looks good. * Design Center PSPICE: an expensive professional-grade version of PSPICE, operable in the Mac but only in a primitive text-file-drive form. * DigSim: a very neat little shareware digital circuit analysis program; RECOMMENDED. * Electronics Workbench: described as "powerful (and modestly priced) software to build and simulate analog and digital circuits, on screen, with click-and-drag capabilities for adding components and connecting wires". Haven't had a chance to try it; but ads look good. * : an OK but not great implementation of SPICE for analog circuit analysi * LogiMac: another quite good small digital circuit analysis program. * LogicWorks: said to be a student version of DesignWorks -- haven't seen this one myself. * Micro-CAP II: student version of a SPICE-based analog circuit program; OK but not great. * Micro-CAP IV: commercial version of this SPICE-based analog circuit program. * PARAXIA: A package of laser beam and resonator analysis programs from my own lab, now commercially available; RECOMMENDED??? - well, others like it. * PSpice: A shareware version. * TLS: A very good wave propagation and transmission line simulator; RECOMMENDED. The date of writing or updating is indicated for the more recent reviews below. Undated reviews are from 1989, 1990 or possibly earlier, and may be out of date at this point. ----------------------- B^2 Spice ********* (Version 1.1, review updated May 1992) This is an neat small-scale implementation of Spice for the Mac from a new small company, Beige Bag Software, located in Michigan. The program allows you to graphica…