MICROCAP simulator now free

[moodz]

Dunno if someone has posted on this before but I noticed the other day that Microcap simulation software is now free ( used to cost lots of $$$$ for a licence ).

http://www.spectrum-soft.com/index.shtm

Get a copy before the price ( free ) changes or the site closes.

This was the previous pricing ... over $4000 https://www.spectrum-soft.com/price.shtm



You can do some pretty cool simulations of digital and analogue circuits.

moodz.

[6666]

Thanks will try it

[Carl-NC]

It was brought up in some thread along the way. Back in college (35+ yrs ago) I had the full version of both MicroCap and MicroLogic. Then switched over to PSpice. LTSpice has pretty much killed the market for simulators.

[WM6]

Thanks moodz.

It is interesting that free version "comes with a full, unconditional, 30 day money-back guarantee."

I wish it comes with Linux executable feature.

What in fact mean: "PCB interface to popular packages"? Is this sim able of PCB design?

[Qiaozhi]

What in fact mean: "PCB interface to popular packages"? Is this sim able of PCB design?

That appears to refer to the ability to generate a PCB netlist for various 3rd party vendors. Not sure how useful that would be, as virtually all popular ECAD packages include schematic capture with much closer communication with their own PCB software. Why would you want to use a disconnected schematic netlist to drive your PCB layout?

Anyway, this is basically a dead duck. No further development and no support.
Also, doesn't run under Linux, even using Wine.

[eclipse]

I gave this a try. Looks like development got stuck back in the 90s it's just not very appealing.
Maybe not a bad idea to put the sources in Github - in a community driven environment this duck may get another shot but I highly doubt the author will make such a move.

[moodz]

Well .. dont shoot the messenger - I am only passing on the news .. being free is probably only useful to people who have used it in the past and found it useful.
BTW ....32 bit version works fine in WINE ... on linux ... the 64 bit you are going to have to do some hacking.
It does smith charts ... thats why I was using it years ago. :-)

[Carl-NC]

It does smith charts ... thats why I was using it years ago. :-)

That's good to know.

[Skippy]

I'm currently looking to improve my circuit simulation skills, and was intending to use LTSpice as my simulator choice.
However, I remembered reading that MicroCap was now free, so searched for it. Sadly, the spectrum-soft website is no longer functioning.
But .. thanks to Archive / Wayback Machine , I have tracked down a page where it can be downloaded still. I haven't actually tried these links yet, but they seem legitimate.:
wayback archive:

Micro-Cap User Downloads (archive.org)

No doubt it's available elsewhere, but some of these 'file sharing sites' seem a bit suspicious.

I hope this is of use to someone.

[ivconic]

Up and running... updates are not available.
There are examples though: