Mouser's MultiSim Blue

[TimNJ]

Hi all,

Just got an email from Mouser. They are releasing a free Mouser branded/integrated version of NI's MultiSim. I dont know much about MultiSim so is this big news or is it nothing special?

http://www.mouser.com/publicrelationsmousermultisimblue2014final/

[nanofrog]

Interface is easy to use, and seems to be fairly popular in the education market as a result. FWIW, it was originally Electronics Workbench before NI bought it.

Worth giving it a go IMHO, and see if it will do what you need. Especially since it's free.

[miguelvp]

Good thing I did a search before posting the same thing

[T3sl4co1l]

Weird, PCB too?  So they're integrating Ultiboard with it?  For free?

Tim

[nanofrog]

FWIW, there's another thread going on this: Mouser puts out new schematic/simulation program! (SOON)

[nctnico]

I can't help noticing but this starts to sound like giving professional CAD software away for free. Multisim and Ultiboard have been around for several decades even though it never got very popular.

[nanofrog]

I can't help noticing but this starts to sound like giving professional CAD software away for free. Multisim and Ultiboard have been around for several decades even though it never got very popular.

They seem popular in the education market, but not outside it from what I've seen. NI even did a some decent price cuts a few years back too, but I don't think much came of it.

Also, they had a similar free release for Analog Devices' parts that's just recently been axed. Wonder if this upcoming free release had something to do with it? 

[M4trix]

Well, they are giving silly names for their software, Multisim Blue, Red, Purple, Gizmo... 

[TimNJ]

Never used MultiSim but it doesn't seem half bad. First party (??) schematic capture, SPICE, and PCB layout in one program (or suite) sounds like a dream come true. Not sure how they are paying National Instruments for the shitton of licenses they will be giving away, but I guess Mouser's doing well...or they see it as an investment that will really take off.

[miguelvp]

Never used MultiSim but it doesn't seem half bad. First party (??) schematic capture, SPICE, and PCB layout in one program (or suite) sounds like a dream come true. Not sure how they are paying National Instruments for the shitton of licenses they will be giving away, but I guess Mouser's doing well...or they see it as an investment that will really take off.

I will assume that the BOM and purchasing of the parts is only linked to Mouser

[glicos]

Just like Design Spark...parts link to RS...

[jeremy]

If you buy an academic board from digilent you can get multisim and ultiboard for $5. Otherwise I think it's still less than $100 from them if you just buy the software.

[Jeroen3]

I've used Multisim and Ultiboard 10 for a project.
I'd recommend you use Multisim only for simulation. It was a disaster with the connection between the programs. Especially the single file library, which still separated the schematic lib from the board lib.
Ultiboard on its own is fine, but you cannot route a board from only the netlist. You need a link with the schematic, which was absent.

But thats a few years ago, maybe they've revolutionized it. And fixed the library problems with mouser.

[free_electron]

Multisim is a co traption made from different tools put together with spit and (bad) glue.

Ewba ewbd, ultiboard and ulticap

[nctnico]

I've used Multisim and Ultiboard 10 for a project.
I'd recommend you use Multisim only for simulation. It was a disaster with the connection between the programs. Especially the single file library, which still separated the schematic lib from the board lib.

IMHO it is a good thing to have seperate libraries for symbols and footprints. Otherwise you get a lot of duplicate parts. I think I may have about 20 footprints for resistors by now. A good CAD package uses a database where each component has a value, symbol and a footprint (and part numbers, prices, etc).

Ultiboard on its own is fine, but you cannot route a board from only the netlist. You need a link with the schematic, which was absent.

Even though I'm using a package which highlights the parts and nets in the schematic while working on the PCB I usually print the schematic. It also helps to group parts by using a numbering scheme.

[Jeroen3]

IMHO it is a good thing to have seperate libraries for symbols and footprints. Otherwise you get a lot of duplicate parts.

In theory one footprint library with all IPC standardized types, and one for your custom parts should do the trick. But yeah... Standardization requires effort.

[rea5245]

I was all set to write a review of MultiSIM BLUE for my website, PCBShopper.com/cad, but as I was installing, I actually read the license agreement (!!) and:

• YOUR LICENSE TO NI MULTISIM - MOUSER ELECTRONICS EDITION SOFTWARE ENTITLES YOU TO A 12-MONTH EVALUATION LICENSE TO ULTIBOARD.
• THE LICENSE EXPIRATION DATE REFERRED TO IN SECTION 3 BELOW IS JULY 1, 2017. THE SOFTWARE MAY CONTAIN CODE THAT WILL, AFTER JULY 1, 2017, DEACTIVATE THE SOFTWARE AND RENDER THE SOFTWARE UNUSABLE.

So PCB layout will stop working a year after you start using MultiSIM BLUE and the rest of the package will stop working in 2017. Undoubtedly, NI has imposed these terms and perhaps, if Mouser makes enough money from people ordering parts through MultiSIM BLUE, those license terms will be extended. But there are no guarantees.

On the one hand, this is a lot better than a 30 day evaluation period. On the other hand, it's not The CAD Program For The Rest Of Your Life. This makes me sad. I was looking forward to using a professionally maintained, uncrippled PCB CAD package.

As for my review on PCBShopper: my criteria for my list of CAD programs there has been that the software be free (zero cost) and not time limited. When I made those rules, I was thinking of 30 and 90 day time limits. I'm not sure whether to allow a one year time limit.

- Bob

[ampdoctor]

I had it on my system for less than a day before I deleted it. It seems to be crippled in some very nasty ways that make this a deal breaker. First off there's no back or forward annotation between schematic and layout. OUCH! Of all the things to cripple in a piece of EDA software this should not be one of them. So if I missed a pull up resistor or make some sort of on the fly change to the design I have to recreate the whole project? Sure, I guess you could always go in and manually update the netlist but come on, really?!!! WTF were they thinking?!

Next, unless I'm missing something, it doesn't seem to give you the ability to maintain the database. No adding or modifying components. OUCH again. This probably has as much to do with tracking your BOM and other database info as much as anything else. I never ever rely on their master db, and always create my own user database. I don't like NI's naming conventions so I adjust things to the way I like to do them. Also their footprints have notoriously always been somewhat jacked up as well. With smd parts being off by a whisker and TH components with annular rings in the 5 thou range you're going to have to make changes and being locked out of the database is madness!

You can't import any files not created with EDA packages other than Blue and this includes other versions of MultiSim, so what's created in Blue stays in Blue. Another very big OUCH. I've been using NI software for years and have quite a few projects going back to MultiSim v10. So they're telling me I have to rebuild all these project in Blue even if it was originally generated with their own software? OH HELL NO! This pissed me the hell off right out of the gate and everything went downhill from there. I'll give you that if you're using a free version you don't want import or export with other vendor's software but to lock users out of their own paid software is just stupid! 

The final nail in the coffin is that NI and Mouser seem to be doing a hell of a lot of data mining with this software. It's borderline malware. They collect tons of personally identifiable information, system configurations, to IP addresses, to browsing habits, to components you're using in your design etc. There are also a number of exe files running in the background whether Blue is loaded or not that I had to manually terminate. Even after uninstalling, I don't fully trust that there's still not something left on my system, so I might recommend doing an OS rollback to a previous date should you decide to delete it from your system just to be on the safe side.

[Tarik]

I tried using it because of the BOM / Catalog integration. My expectation was to have Mouser's catalog in the tool during design time. OK: Some R's and C's are there. A 741 as well. But a 555 ? I was not able to find it. SI4431, TS912 ? Nothing to find. So even from that point of view: No need to use it. There are a lot other PCB Tools doing the job better.
What really puzzles me is the question, why Mouser and NI think, this tool will be of help to anybody and why they took the effort to bring it to public?

Cheers,
Tarik 

[rea5245]

I've written a review of MultiSIM BLUE at http://pcbshopper.com/multisim-blue-review/. It isn't complimentary.

- Bob

[0xdeadbeef]

I was sooo happy that there was again a free version of MultiSim after the version for Analog Devices was no longer supported and suddenly stopped working.
Now I tried to open my circuits created with the former AD version and guess what? BlueSim refuses to open them. Heck, it even refuses to open files created with the full version.
Come on, messing my system with NI crap is one thing, giving me a temporary license that Mouse/NI can redraw every day should really be enough to annoy me.
These crippling restrictions to open files created with other versions of the software really break this application's neck.
BTW: this also means of course that files created with this version will be binary garbage as soon as NI/Mouser decide to redraw the license one (not so far away day) and then my only option to open my work would be to buy a multi-thousand-dollar-per-year-license? This is outraging...

[u271D]

I could not even find a simple 1N4007, it only has a 1N4001GP. Uninstalled it, what a wast of time!  What was Mouser thinking when they gave us this castrated POS software 

[T3sl4co1l]

Uh, well... if your circuit drawing / simulation / layout imagination is limited to library parts alone, you must be a very sad player indeed...

That said, Multisim's original libraries were absolutely massive, and more complete and accurate (given the capabilities of the suite) than almost anyone else's.  It would be worth paying for that alone, just to import it into any other package (Altium, Eagle, etc...).

Tim

[Iliya]

I was all set to write a review of MultiSIM BLUE for my website, PCBShopper.com/cad, but as I was installing, I actually read the license agreement (!!) and:

• YOUR LICENSE TO NI MULTISIM - MOUSER ELECTRONICS EDITION SOFTWARE ENTITLES YOU TO A 12-MONTH EVALUATION LICENSE TO ULTIBOARD.
• THE LICENSE EXPIRATION DATE REFERRED TO IN SECTION 3 BELOW IS JULY 1, 2017. THE SOFTWARE MAY CONTAIN CODE THAT WILL, AFTER JULY 1, 2017, DEACTIVATE THE SOFTWARE AND RENDER THE SOFTWARE UNUSABLE.

So PCB layout will stop working a year after you start using MultiSIM BLUE and the rest of the package will stop working in 2017. Undoubtedly, NI has imposed these terms and perhaps, if Mouser makes enough money from people ordering parts through MultiSIM BLUE, those license terms will be extended. But there are no guarantees.

On the one hand, this is a lot better than a 30 day evaluation period. On the other hand, it's not The CAD Program For The Rest Of Your Life. This makes me sad. I was looking forward to using a professionally maintained, uncrippled PCB CAD package.

As for my review on PCBShopper: my criteria for my list of CAD programs there has been that the software be free (zero cost) and not time limited. When I made those rules, I was thinking of 30 and 90 day time limits. I'm not sure whether to allow a one year time limit.

- Bob

Umm, another Trojan Horse   Some S/W developers think we are all stupid. Here are my thoughts...

I bought both in 1998 for $1000. The auto-layout was not enabled. Contacted Multisim. Told I only had the educational edition.    This caused me to start developing AutoTRAX. 

Free but not free or “I’m off to Cancun”

You wake up and the sun is shining. Yep, it’s a great day. “I fancy a bit of that electronic designing that I keep hearing about” you proclaim as you drink your first coffee of the day. So you power up the laptop, click on Google and wow loads of free PCB design software, “I’ll have a bit of that” you announce to the world, but only the cat is in the room. The cat gives you a funny look.
You download the freebie feeling well pleased with your mastery of the internet and the bundles of cash you have just saved. You make a mental note to “book vacation in Cancun”.

You start up the software and off you go, Edison “eat your heart out”.

Your first Gizmo is a success.

A couple of months pass by. Now “let’s turn Gizmo into Super Gizmo” you say with a big smile. So off you go, the freebie is up and running and you are well into the new design then bang, smash, wallop a dialog pops up saying you have reached the freebie limit and it’s time to pay up. You yelp in pain. The Super Gizmo must be done; you’ve spent another 2 weeks on it. Out comes the plastic, you tap in a few digits ($500) then you are up and running.

The following week Super Gizmo is let loose on the world.

A couple of months later, you wake up with the cat licking your face, you thought it was the girl you meet last night but she dumped you as you both were leaving the bar. A bright idea enters your head “let’s turn Super Gizmo into Mega Gizmo”. So off you go, the not so free freebie is up and running and you are well into the new design then bang, smash, wallop that darned dialog pops up again saying you have reached another limit and it’s time to pay up. You yelp in pain. The Super Gizmo must be done; you’ve spent another 2 weeks on it. So you look for alternatives, you see DEX; it’s real cheap and no limits. , “I’ll have a bit of that” you yell. Download DEX but what’s this? You can’t move your design from the not so free freebie to DEX, the not so free freebie developers keep their file format secret. Nobody else can read it. You have been well and truly screwed.

Out comes the plastic, you tap in a few digits ($1000) then you are up and running. You make a mental note “cancel Cancun”. The cat hisses at you, turns round and legs it for the door.

The following week Mega Gizmo is let loose on the world and you wonder what to do during your vacation at home.
You have just been stung.

In the business it’s called the Trojan Horse.

Beware Greeks (and software developers) bearing gifts.

Free but not free. 

[JacquesBBB]

In addition,

unless I am wrong,  Multisim Blue does  not seem to let you export the netlist  file.

It is not present in the transfer Menu.
If fact this transfer menu only allows you to go to Ultiboard.

So for me its final. I will dump it  very quickly.

The only interesting thing might be to use the Mouser data base. Does anybody know how it could be
used in some other application ?

Best Wishes