Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

TI and Cadence Make PSpice Free

posted by martyb on Tuesday September 22 2020, @07:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-PSpice-must-flow dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

TI And Cadence Make PSpice Free:

We like simulation software. Texas Instruments long offered TINA, but recently they've joined with Cadence to make OrCAD PSpice available for free with some restrictions. You've probably heard of PSpice — it's widely used in academia and industry, but is usually quite costly.

[...] The program requires registration and an approval step to get a license key. The downloaded program has TI models along with other standard models. There seem to be few limits as long as you stick to the supplied library. According to the datasheet, there are no size or simulation complexity limitations in that case. If you want to use other models, you can, but that's where the limitations hit you:

Are there any Soylentils who have experience using PSpice? Is there some other similar product which is better?

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
TI and Cadence Make PSpice Free | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 9 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2020, @07:50PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2020, @07:50PM (#1055107)

    ngspice

    http://ngspice.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

  • (Score: 5, Touché) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday September 22 2020, @08:14PM (2 children)

    by Mojibake Tengu (8598) on Tuesday September 22 2020, @08:14PM (#1055113) Journal

    Calling a marketing pamphlet with no data a datasheet is an overstatement.

    I appreciate the newspeak meaning concept of free with some restrictions though:

    dog on leash: free with some restrictions ✓
    prisoner, inmate: free with some restrictions ✓
    serf: free with some restrictions ✓
    slave: free with some restrictions ✓

    --
    The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2020, @09:20PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2020, @09:20PM (#1055130)

      As in Beer, not 'Murica

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday September 22 2020, @09:22PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 22 2020, @09:22PM (#1055131) Journal

        Choose one:

        Free as in Beer.
        Free as in 'Murica
        Free as in Freedom.

        --
        Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by NickM on Tuesday September 22 2020, @10:50PM (1 child)

    by NickM (2867) on Tuesday September 22 2020, @10:50PM (#1055150) Journal
    If you use mostly pieces from Linear Technology (now Analog) there is LTSpice https://www.analog.com/en/design-center/design-tools-and-calculators/ltspice-simulator.html# [analog.com] (it work in wine, don't know about PSpice) .
    --
    I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by sgleysti on Wednesday September 23 2020, @03:04AM

      by sgleysti (56) on Wednesday September 23 2020, @03:04AM (#1055215)

      I mostly use components not from Linear Technology / Analog due to cost considerations. LTSpice will happily run with SPICE models from other manufacturers so long as you import them correctly. Encrypted models don't work, at least as far as I'm aware.

      I've had good luck with SPICE models from ON Semiconductor, Diodes Inc., and Infineon.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Rich on Wednesday September 23 2020, @01:14PM (1 child)

    by Rich (945) on Wednesday September 23 2020, @01:14PM (#1055465) Journal

    TI probably figured out that they need something to limit the mindshare that LTspice keeps occupying for AD/LT. And after that idea went past a good number of mid-level execs they ended up with the silly "not-really-free" scheme. Sorry, try harder next time. If it's a free download with a good part of the TI inventory, it might have a chance (I'd rather just click "LM324" than figuring out "LT1014" means something vaguely similar). If it's convenient and complete, it might even hold ground against the upcoming KiCAD built-in spice. I guess when their library is reasonably complete, it will become the go-to choice.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 23 2020, @06:24PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 23 2020, @06:24PM (#1055713)

      yeah, TI should get on the right side of history in regards to open source now, if they want to exist in the future.

(1)