Micro-Cap 8 - any opinions?

[Pessimist]

Hi,

Are there any technical reasons why Micro-Cap 8 shouldn't be bought as a direct
replacement for PSpice? Most of us are keen to ditch the "industry standard",
because, well, we decided today over coffee and buns that we simply don't like
it very much. Don't ask why, it's just us. Perhaps we're just looking for new
thrills... A few of us have briefly tested the evaluation version of Micro-Cap
8, and it seems quite impressive... Any longer-term users prepared to recommend
it? I'd be very interested to hear if anyone out there is currently having a
happy relationship with Micro-Cap 8... Why does it make you smile?

Or - even more interestingly - are there any bitter, twisted "Micro-Cap 8 ruined
my life!" folk willing to put the boot in? Now's your chance...

Naturally, for the last few years I've personally used the lean, mean LTspice
for all my simulations. PSpice makes me tense... Unfortunately, some of the
other guys are somewhat sceptical about something you can download for the
princely sum of bugger all. No matter how loudly I shout.

I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing to express sincere thanks to Mike Engelhardt
for his mind-boggling work on LTspice. I'm no hardcore Spice expert, but for me
it's one of the genuine wonders of the software world. It's ideal for analysing
a small circuit with a few op amps etc - very quickly, and remarkably reliably.
Treat it with the respect it deserves and it rarely lets you down. If ever.
Simply great stuff. And, for what it's worth, I'm a big fan of the interface...

The problem is, after reading so many of Mike's God-like comments on this
newsgroup over the years, I'm not entirely sure I trust any other flavour of
Spice any more... So, Micro-Cap 8? Is it a nice Spice, deep down?

Cheers.

-P

 

[xray]

I'm not entirely sure I trust any other flavour of
Spice any more...

And your point is... ?

Is this your webpage?
http://www.cyberclip.com/Katrine/NorwayInfo/words/troll.html

If not, get busy with something useful and start your own.

 

[Kevin Aylward]

Hi,

Are there any technical reasons why Micro-Cap 8 shouldn't be bought
as a direct replacement for PSpice?

What do you want your spice to do?

Most of us are keen to ditch the

"industry standard", because, well, we decided today over coffee and
buns that we simply don't like it very much. Don't ask why, it's just
us. Perhaps we're just looking for new thrills... A few of us have
briefly tested the evaluation version of Micro-Cap 8, and it seems
quite impressive... Any longer-term users prepared to recommend it?
I'd be very interested to hear if anyone out there is currently
having a happy relationship with Micro-Cap 8... Why does it make you
smile?

You want to pay the least for obtaining the features that *you* want.
There is no hard rule on what "should" be used.

I personally think PSpice and Micro-cap are not cost effective today.
That is, while PSpice (I don't know much about MCap) is quite a decent,
usable product, its features simply doesn't justify its high price. What
it does that others don't, is hardly worth bothering about. LTSpice, is
a usable product, and is free, therefore it is very good value for
money. However, I personally I find its GUI limiting, and some of its
basic features lacking, despite its excellent speed and convergence.

If I was a millionaire, I would still use my SuperSpice, because it is
the one that I, as a professional analogue designer, find is easiest to
use, and has all of the key features that *I* require to do both board
and I.C. level design.

What *you* require may be quite different.

Kevin Aylward
[email protected]
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

 

[Pessimist]

What do you want your spice to do?

Well, ultimately, we want it to assist us in creating cost-effective electronic
circuits that perform reliably, and within the specifications given to us...
We're in the industrial measurement instrument business, and as such we're
simulating board-level analogue circuit blocks, which (intentionally) tend to be
schematically rather simple. But we do like to see how new designs should/might
function in some depth, and clearly Spice can be of great help every so often.
It's generally a case of "Well, it seems to work as I thought, but what if I do
this... Yes, that's better." Or sometimes "Christ, I'm glad I checked that..." I
guess we're fairly typical users in that respect.

Here's what I certainly don't want my Spice to do:

- Give erroneous results that other Spices don't.
- Throw up convergence problems that other Spices don't.
- Slow down my rate of simulation with a clunky interface, or lack of
flexibility.
- Make adding vendor models a chore.
- Crash.

Personally, I treat Spice like Excel, or a calculator. Fancy features are fine,
and potentially useful in a future project, as long as it all works... It's also
very important that it can do all the really basic stuff without giving me a
headache, or making me swear too much.

You want to pay the least for obtaining the features that *you* want.
There is no hard rule on what "should" be used.

Agreed. That's why I use LTspice when I have no option but to work at home
Office tools are a different matter. To be honest, we're not overly concerned
about the price, as long as it keeps the majority of us happy.

I personally think PSpice and Micro-cap are not cost effective today.
That is, while PSpice (I don't know much about MCap) is quite a decent,
usable product, its features simply doesn't justify its high price. What
it does that others don't, is hardly worth bothering about. LTSpice, is
a usable product, and is free, therefore it is very good value for
money. However, I personally I find its GUI limiting, and some of its
basic features lacking, despite its excellent speed and convergence.

Having tested MC8 for a few more hours today, I have to say it's growing on me
rather quickly. The interface seems significantly more flexible, efficient and
user-friendly than PSpice. And it hasn't done anything noticeably strange so
far...

If I was a millionaire, I would still use my SuperSpice, because it is
the one that I, as a professional analogue designer, find is easiest to
use, and has all of the key features that *I* require to do both board
and I.C. level design.

I've never tried SS myself, but in the interests of evaluating various
possibilities, I may well do so in the near future.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

-P

 

[Jim Thompson]

[snip]

Here's what I certainly don't want my Spice to do:

- Give erroneous results that other Spices don't.
- Throw up convergence problems that other Spices don't.
- Slow down my rate of simulation with a clunky interface, or lack of
flexibility.
- Make adding vendor models a chore.
- Crash.

Sounds like a lot of operator error to me. In that respect Micro-Cap
isn't going to be any better than PSpice

[snip]

Having tested MC8 for a few more hours today, I have to say it's growing on me
rather quickly. The interface seems significantly more flexible, efficient and
user-friendly than PSpice. And it hasn't done anything noticeably strange so
far...

[snip]

I'd be interested in seeing examples where you thought PSpice erred
and Micro-Cap doesn't.

Now, if you're complaining about the OrCAD Capture interface, then you
have my heartfelt sympathies ;-)

I use Schematics as my PSpice front-end, but it's likely to be
discontinued this release.

At that point in time I will switch to a new simulator with a
Schematics look-alike. Watch for its official release... it's in beta
at the moment.

...Jim Thompson