Beginner-- suggestions for PC programs

[Baxter]

Hello everyone, this is my first post to this forum.

Please can someone recommend to me some good, but not too expensive, PC programs for doing the following:

1. Amp schematic creation and printing
2. Amplifier circuit simulations (solid state and tube)
3. PC Board layout program for creating the PCB design

I would like to try designing an amp at home-- using either my Dell or Apple PC. I have an electrical engineering degree, but it has been years since I have worked on any circuits!

Thanks for any help!
Baxter

[Earl]

I use an old PSpice program (free) called MicroSim PSpice EVAL V8.

The libraries come with quite a lot of part models, and you can even get some nice tube models for it.

Not positive about the PC Layout section...never used it, but the simulations are excellent! This program was used in Engineering College courses, and you can find copies out there on the net.

[Baxter]

Earl,
Thanks for the quick reply! When I searched the internet for possible programs, it was a little too much to decide which one to pursue. I will check out the MicroSim PSpice and let you know how it goes.

Baxter

[Earl]

I've used a number of the PSpice programs (at work), and to me, the MicroSim version is the most intuitive...at least for simple minds like mine.

This V8 is an EVAL version, and has some limitations, like you only get one page for a schematic, the librarys are limited to 10, and there's some limit to how many parts for each library. But for building up not-too-complex designs, it works really well.

For instance, I modeled a phase shift oscillator with a 12AX7...and the darn thing actually oscillated!

[Don Moose]

A very good, free schematic (and layout) program I've been using for several months is called KiCAD.

There's a _very_ good spice thing I used to use when I had a Windows box - Kevin Aylward's SuperSpice, which is free for smallish circuits (most tube amps are smallish circuits).

Oh - and get Firefox to use in place of IE, and Thunderbird to use in place of Outlook/OutlookExpress

Hope this helps!

[Tubenit]

ExpressSCH

I use a FREE program called ExpressSCH and it will also convert to PCB board layouts.

http://www.expresspcb.com/


And there is an entire library of editable schematics that you can use to modify easily here:

http://www.el34world.com/Forum/yabb2...ard=Schematics