Seeking a specific simulator...

[DigitalMan]

Hey all! Somewhere between five and 15 years ago (I've been out of the game a while), I had a lumped circuit simulator. And it was extremely useful, for a few reasons;

A) It was interactive. The time step was very low (I think it was adjustable), but you could actually click to trigger buttons and switches and actually see the results in real-time. As a bonus, it also highlighted which connections were "live" at a given time (mostly useful for digital simulation).

B) It never failed. This is important to me because the current simulator I'm messing with (QUCS) usually fails, and I'm sick of building designs based on what the computer can or can't calculate. In the program I used, the circuit might fail if you messed something up or had no idea what you were doing, but the simulation would always run.

C) It had virtually every feasible component. Every Zener diode, every transistor, every op-amp, and more IC chips than I'd ever be able to count. Its only limit for the latter category would be for complex chips (it seemed to top out at buffers, shift registers, and 7-segment drivers; things composed of only a few logic blocks).

Now, I'm wondering, does anyone know what program this could have been? Or, probably just as useful, are there any other current analog/digital simulators with those same features?

 

[(*steve*)]

Some SPICE variant?

Your description doesn't help me much because it doesn't tell me anything about the software.

Can you remember any part of it's name, or where you used it, or who provided it, or what the screen looked like, or something that could jog my memory (or someone else's)

 

[DigitalMan]

Unfortunately that's about all I remember. The interface for placing elements was pretty standard (schematic symbols, on a point grid). It being interactive was the most unique aspect and what I seek most, after having to deal with various programs that have to actually take time to simulate and then spit out results in a graph.

 

[jackorocko]

Multisim possibly? I don't know how long it has been around though. But either way you might like it.

Maybe NL5, the author states he has used his program since the early 90's

 

[DigitalMan]

Multisim! Yes, that is most certainly it. The interface (at least from the screenshot on its Wiki article) brings up memories.

 

[Ian]

D-Man, Not sure what happened, but the following link will let you activate a fully licensed version 12 multisim for free regardless of Pro, Standard, or Educational. You can even actually stack different licenses.

<snip>

The link was removed as you posted a crack for an otherwise expensive application - please don't repost it (as it's illegal!). Please consider this a warning, as we don't allow cracks/warez on here.

 

[DigitalMan]

Yep, definitely Multisim, which is also what ITT Tech uses. Got it installed and had my design prototyped within an hour or so (because interfacing medium voltage to a microcontroller definitely calls for simulating first!), and it's all worked out. Thanks guys!