Circuit Simulation (Sticky?)

[Rerouter]

http://www.falstad.com/circuit/

Another vote for this one, its my go to for go / no go, on bashing out bits of circuits,

Is it 100% accurate, almost certainly not,
does it let me work through for a solution in 15 minutes vs 5 hours of hunting down the correct models, very much so.

[T3sl4co1l]

How can you simulate electronics circuits in Octave? I don't know if it is possible or not.

Linear networks (i.e., RLC circuits) are just systems of equations, which MATLAB is made for.  Nodal analysis, it's EE101 stuff...

Tim

[G0HZU]

My background is mainly RF and if I go back to the start of my design career the thing I most wanted (at home) was not the exotic RF test gear we had. It was the RF simulation package(s) we used. I still value a decent simulator as the most powerful tool available to me in a typical RF design lab. It's a great tool to use for learning, for research, for troubleshooting and for processing real measured data from test gear.

[Nerull]

If people wanna be SO picky, I would respond with, first prove that this program was used on a significant way.

It's more or less like being prudent. Spending time and effort on learning an unlicensable or unaffordable software may end up wasting time.
It reminds me how software market works in China. Simple, piracy everywhere, so not the most affordable, but the most powerful tools get learned and used.
No copyright holders will sue a student nor an individual -- they won't get a red cent, and they will get bitched over the Internet.
Then, copyright holders simply sue those companies who hires employees using pirate software, and get a big fat chunk of money.

Ehm I don't see a difference to be very honest???

These licenses are ALL about people with the biggest wallet.
Ones you start with disclaimers, you have to hunt them and sue people who 'infringe' them (whatever that means)
In my opinion, if you start a free tool, it's free. As simple as that.
Otherwise, you WILL end up in a big ship container of worms, where everything is grey (besides the fact it is EXTREMELY easy to bypass all security keys, even for professional companies)

Are you willing to lose everything when you get caught? A lot of companies aren't.

There are companies who will pay your employees thousands of dollars to rat you out for using software you haven't paid for. Then you will be on the hook for a lot of money and a possible loss of your business. It's easy for an individual to say "Who cares what the license says", it's a lot harder for a company.

And if you're using ltspice as an individual, you almost certainly aren't designing semiconductors.