Poor Electronics Workbench Experiences?

[freeskier89]

Hey there,

I have EWB Student Suite, and I was wondering if any of you have had really poor support by the company? I bought the student suite, assuming it would suit my needs, but it comes far from. The components included in the app are minimal, heck, it doesn't even include an RS-232 transceiver. I am well aware that I can make components in it, but I feel like I will be spending more time doing that than designing circuits. I am (well, I guess was now) a sophomore in high-school, and it doesn't fit my needs.

Well here is what really makes me mad. I haven't ever received my ultiboard activation key. AND when I try to send them an email or two about this, politely expressing my concern, I get absolutely no response whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong, I love the fully featured software, but the Student Suite is a joke. Do any of you have experience dealing with the company, and do you know how I could get any response? Ultimately, I am trying to get them to refund my purchase, but I don't know how feasible that is.

Thanks a ton!

edit: I suppose I could try calling them, but I would prefer to use email as primary communication.

 

[evandude]

The few times I've used that company's products, I haven't particularly liked them.

However, to be fair, I wouldn't expect to see an RS232 transceiver in a simulation package (assuming you mean something like a MAX232). Generally when I think simulation software I think primarily analog, with things like opamps, transistors, and discrete components, the kind of general-purpose building blocks that are so flexible that simulation is a real benefit... specialty, proprietary chips don't seem like they belong, because they're usually the kind of thing where generally you just follow the circuit in the manufacturer's datasheet and things just work. What kind of stuff are you hoping to simulate?

just my $0.02...

 

[freeskier89]

Well finally I got a response after I emailed them a second time.

"As any other software company, Electronics Workbench also has no return policy. Therefore we regret to state that once the software is opened it cannot be returned."

Not even a "Sorry it did not suit you needs" or anything in the reply. That is it.

Well, I would be using the software for primarily digital circuits. The MAX232 was just one example of a component that isn't there. See, the commercial version contains everything i need, but the Student Suite's library is so watered down that it is virtually unusable. Oh, and later I figured out that the PCB software has a 350 pin limit. That works for basic circuits, but as you get to more complex ones, that comes far from sufficing.

Well, for anyone needing an electronics workbench review, here it is. I would highly recommend not purchasing Multisim or Ultiboard. The support is exceptionally poor (if you ever get it lol). The Student Suite is so watered down it is unusable, unless you are doing some basic analog work.

*Prays that google indexes this well *

So, do you know of any cheap software that would allow me to make schematics then autoroute pcbs? I have tried diptrace and like it, but since I won't get my money back for EWB, even the non-profit version is a bit expensive.

 

[tinman10011001]

I use EagleCAD and it does autorouting. http://www.cadsoftusa.com
The free version is limited to about 4" x 3" area or half a Eurocard. It also doesn't do simulation.

 

[Russlk]

I have Ultiboard, but don't use it. The layout module is OK but the schematic capture was awful. I don't use autorouting, I think analog circuits are best done by hand. I use Eagle with schematic capture and layout, I found support to be excellent; I asked a lot of questions in the beginning. I think simulation is over-rated, the results are only as good as the models. I use Switcher Cad III when I need to do simulation.

 

[Papabravo]

I was excited when I got the student suite also. I had a question about simulation and ran into the same wall. Once I found LTSPICE, I flushed this ill-begotten piece of cane toad dropping with nary a regret.

 

[chemelec]

Years Ago I bought the 5.1 Professional Version of EWB.
It worked Very Poor for circuit analysis.

Some circuits that did work in real life, didn't work at all in there simulation, And Dealing with the companies Support Line was a JOKE.

Even they couldn't get there program to work on these "Quite Simple Circuits.

I would Never recommend them to Anyone.

Sorry I have No Experience with any other Simulation Software.

Well That is My Opinion.

 

[Hero999]

"As any other software company, Electronics Workbench also has no return policy. Therefore we regret to state that once the software is opened it cannot be returned."

Firstly that depends on the law in the country you bought in.

Secondly it also depends on whether it doesn't suit your needs due to bugs resulting from poor programming.

If the latter is true then you may have a case, otherwise you may/may not, here in the UK it depends on whether it's defective so your case would rely on the first arguement.

Did you try ot the shareware version first (assuming one exists)?

I think you should've and if they didn't offer you that option you should;ve asked them.

Anyway it's a shame there isn't any decent free simultion software around.

 

[Russlk]

Anyway it's a shame there isn't any decent free simultion software around.

What is your problem with LTSpice (SwitcherCad III)?

 

[Papabravo]

Yeah! What Ruslk said goes double for me.

 

[Roff]

Yeah! What Ruslk said goes double for me.

Double that again for me!

 

[Papabravo]

This is starting to sound like No Limit - Texas Hold 'Em. That's a call and two raises for LTSpice.

ROFL

 

[Roff]

This is starting to sound like No Limit - Texas Hold 'Em. That's a call and two raises for LTSpice.

ROFL

LOL! (this danged forum wants 10 characters minimum, so this is them).

 

[Hero999]

What is your problem with LTSpice (SwitcherCad III)?

Never heard of it, but I've done a quick Google and it appears to be intended for simulating circuits made with Linear's chips, I'll give it a go though.

ps, it isn't free software.

 

[Roff]

Never heard of it, but I've done a quick Google and it appears to be intended for simulating circuits made with Linear's chips, I'll give it a go though.

ps, it isn't free software.

My definition of "free" is you don't have to pay for it. You're "free" to adopt someone else'e definition. LTSpice (SwitcherCAD III) is totally free. It is optimized for running Linear's switchers, but it is truly a general purpose Spice, and works very well. You do need to know something about Spice to use it, as it sometimes requires that you enter some text on the schematic, such as a .op, or a .lib, etc. It is very flexible. You can import models from other mfrs, create your own symbols, etc.

 

[Nullified]

I used MultiSim 8 in my first computer engineering class to design and simulate some digital circuits and found it quite useful and it seemed to work fine, although a bit slow when simulating.

 

[desperadogear]

even im using multisim 8 . its fine for not so complex circuits.whats the problem with multisim 8??

 

[Hero999]

My definition of "free" is you don't have to pay for it. You're "free" to adopt someone else'e definition.

This is a big debate but in my opinion there's free as freedom i.e. you're free do what you want with the software and there's free as in price, and strictly speaking free software means the former but people often incorrectly assume the latter.

I'll give it a go but as I'm a Linux user it's a pain it being non-free as I'll have to reboot to Winwoes to use it, if it was free I could've had a go at recompiling it, but there again I might be lucky with Wine.

 

[Papabravo]

It is free because it simulates Linear Technology SMPS chips very well. It will also give you a canned design if that is what you want. They had to build this capability on top of the existing public domain SPICE package. I'm with you Ron, I have too many things to do with it to worry about being a GNU/Linux purist.

I'd like to mention the active and capable Yahoo group for LTSpice with a large number of examples and folks who answer questions. You need to show that you have made an effort to solve your own problem before posting, or face mild suggestions to read the FAQ file.

We had a simulation problem with an Instrumentation Amplifier(INA118) that was solved by Helmut(a very bright guy) in less than 24 hours. You don't often get this level of support with a commercial software package.

 

[Roff]

This is a big debate but in my opinion there's free as freedom i.e. you're free do what you want with the software and there's free as in price, and strictly speaking free software means the former but people often incorrectly assume the latter.

I'll give it a go but as I'm a Linux user it's a pain it being non-free as I'll have to reboot to Winwoes to use it, if it was free I could've had a go at recompiling it, but there again I might be lucky with Wine.

Hero, I understand where you're coming from, but to expand a little on what Papabravo said, SwitcherCAd is "free" (in the limited sense of the word) because it makes money for Linear Technology. Profit is a powerful motivator. If they made it truly free, as in your definition, I doubt that it would long continue to handle their switching regulators in exceptional fashion. What is their motivation to make it free (open source), if that's the case?
The GNU guys are free to develop a nice simulator package with a decent schematic capture tool, but I gather from your comments that that has not happened. Why is that?