I have used a few types of simulation software over the years, but am wondering what is the best tool for getting into simple circuits and learning how to simulate without too much overhead. Should I be using a desktop tool or a web tool?
I have been using LT Spice having learned it from this course since about 2013. I have tried some web ones, but ended up coming back to LT Spice.
I have used Falstad when I didn’t have LT Spice installed, it was o.k.
You question had me Google. PartSim is new to me. Looks nice, not sure how good it is.
I’m a huge fan of Falstad, simply for the visualization of current flow. I’m not sure if there is any way to get a local version for when I’m traveling. LTspice is always good for local simulation though.
Hey @sam thanks for the suggestion. I took a quick look after installing and it looks pretty interesting. I may have to look for some videos on how to use it.
I’m not a huge fan of the TINA interface, but I know they do some advanced stuff on there like utilizing IBIS modeling. This is important as you move to faster and faster circuits.
I have to say my favorite is National Instruments MultiSim. Extremely intuitive, tons of features, tons of components, adding new components with a SPICE model is easy.
Is that something they charge for? Or are there free versions around?
Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a free version. Actually, I am searching for the best free simulation option myself. I have been experimenting with LTspice, but the interface is pretty uncomfortable coming from KiCad and MultiSim. I’m still trying to figure out the ins and outs of SPICE itself and using ngspice a bit.
I would like to know more about KiCad’s simulation, but there’s 0 documentation on it and the way it interacts with SPICE is kind of…strange? It took me a bit even to figure out that you had to add a partial SPICE circuit as a text object. But I don’t even know what libraries they use or what. I’m pretty sure KiCad uses ngspice too, but I’m not sure about any of it.
The interface for Falstad looks a lot like the interface for the EveryCircuit Android app, visual current flow and all.