Poor Electronics Workbench Experiences?

[akg]

there is a simulator and schematic capture prog for linux (gnu), ktechlab and geda/gpsim . although i havn't used there

 

[BeeBop]

Thanks guys,
I just rushed out and bought me an LTSim package.
The price was right; it was FREE.
And that is free enough for me.

I spent too many years trying hard to do the right thing, and trying to be nice to others, only to discover that people who did the opposite have not only more funds to play with, but usually more friends too.

Regards,
Robert

 

[freeskier89]

Thanks guys for all of the info . I downloaded SwitcherCad and it is working well so far. If I would had more time, I would make my own pcb/schematic software because my C# programming skills are quite good. I think I will get DipTrace. The boardsize limit on Eagle would really get in the way for me. @Nullified, and Desparadogear: Yeah, it works for doing basic gates and some simulation, but for doing pcb work for fairly complex circuits it does Not work well.

btw: Electronics Workbench didn't reply to my latest email :lol:. How typical.

I pretty much sent them a message bringing up all of their overly skewed statements on their description of Student Suite on their site. I doubt it went over too well

I just thought I would bring up some rather interesting lines about the Student Suite from **broken link removed** that could probably use some revision.

"The Electronics Workbench Student Suite is a software package designed for use by college and university students in intermediate and advanced electronics
programs."

-Well, If you are designing for an intermediate to advanced university level, and it doesn't fit a sophomore in high-school, that is probably an indication that you have failed in providing a "perfect personal use platform".

"This suite provides the perfect personal use platform for students to explore their curriculum and expand their knowledge into areas of personal interest. The software will support their entire undergraduate studies from basic principles to advanced analysis and applied studies."

-For one I do not have a "curriculum". I am entirely self-taught. My personal interest lies in digital electronics, which there happens to be little support for in EWB. Yes you have the ability to use basic gates, but that is about it. I am not necessarily concerned about simulation, but I would like to be able to create a pcb where I do not have to set up every single IC myself, especially when I know that the ICs are in the commercial database. I really do not think that "support their entire undergraduate studies" bit is very accurate.

 

[Papabravo]

freeskier89,

I admire your determination to hold people and companies accountable for their words and actions. You must be in the early stages of life because the rest of us have had the idealism rung out of us. What has replaced it is deep cynicism.

Why don't you email them a pointer to this forum and ask them to respond?

Go get 'em!

 

[evandude]

we should set up a public contest to see who can make the simplest circuit/circuit with least components that can get multisim to crash trying to simulate it. That would be some great publicity for the company.

Every single time that I used it in the past, it would eventually crash trying to simulate my circuit, and I would have to needlessly re-work the circuit to get it to simulate at all... Even when I was only using less than a dozen very basic parts, and not trying to do anything "fancy".

 

[freeskier89]

@Papabravo, lol. Thanks! Well, I really really doubt I will get anywhere, but I guess I could give her a try ! Ill, give them I week to respond to my second e-mail, so I can have a little more reason for being so discontent

@evandude: I would love to . It would be quite fun actually! So am I working for a actual application crash, incorrect simulator error, or just a improper simulation? Fortunatly I haven't done much with the simulation yet I'll donate $10 via paypal to the contest winner!

 

[evandude]

I would love to . It would be quite fun actually! So am I working for a actual application crash, incorrect simulator error, or just a improper simulation? Fortunatly I haven't done much with the simulation yet I'll donate $10 via paypal to the contest winner!

any of those things could count, because I'm pretty sure I've had all of them happen to me at one point or another while using it The simpler the circuit, and/or the more severe and/or strange the error, the more humorous it is!

 

[Hero999]

there is a simulator and schematic capture prog for linux (gnu), ktechlab and geda/gpsim . although i havn't used there

The problem is there are GNU schematic capture programs around and there's a simulator, but I have yet to find a combination of them both, I'll give it a go.

Ron,
I don't know why Linear don't make it free since they're likely to increase their profits as more people will use it as well as contribute bug fixes and add new features. Many companies profit from free software, remember it isn't all about price.

To be honest I'm not really that much of a GNU purest, I was just making the point that many people don't give free software much thought, they confuse it with shareware or freeware which is totally different thing.

I don't really have a problem with proprietary software as an idea, fair enough not everyone wants to share their secrets. My only complaint with it is it can be used to inforce vendor lock-in and prevent competition. What I really am against is closed standards and mainly proprietary file formats, in an ideal world we should all be able to exchange documents and drawings between various platforms without fear for incompatabilities.

 

[akg]

Ron,
I don't know why Linear don't make it free since they're likely to increase their profits as more people will use it as well as contribute bug fixes and add new features. Many companies profit from free software, remember it isn't all about price

..???
if you are refering to ltspice/switchercad. you don't have to pay for it.

 

[Hero999]

Yet again I see someone confusing FREEWARE with FREE SOFTWARE!

akg,
Switchercad might be free of charge but it certainly isn't free software, you proved my point that some people (like you) don't know what free software actually is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software

 

[akg]

Yet again I see someone confusing FREEWARE with FREE SOFTWARE!

akg,
Switchercad might be free of charge but it certainly isn't free software, you proved my point that some people (like you) don't know what free software actually is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software

hmm....ok......

 

[Russlk]

Some people have weird ideas of what "free" means!

 

[Hero999]

Tell me about it. . .

Some people these days are so obsessed with money that they totally forget about freedom.

Here's an example of how software which is free of charge can restrict your freedom.

A company decides to write a program and allow you to use it free of charge but they don't allow you to modify it and the sourece code is secret. You like it and decide to use it (along with a million other people), so they decide to charge for their next version. Now as it's so expensive you decide that you no longer want to use this software and you want to switch to something else, the only thing is you can't since the files you created with the software can't be opened with any other software since the format is secret. Now you have two choices, you can either use the out-dated software or you can pay to upgrade, this is a classic example of vendor lock-in which wouldn't have happened if you'd used free software in the first place!

Having said that free software isn't the only solution to vendor lock-in, open standards would've also solved the problem, the file format could've just been made public. However with most proprietary software this isn't the case, notice how most programs can't both read and write other file formats?

I don't mind proprietary software, it's just the file formats I don't like, for example I don't have a problem with Opera as it doesn't have and closed web standards and it runs on most platforms, but I try to avoid programs that save my files in a secret format.

 

[Roff]

Hero999, is there a way a software vendor can keep his IP proprietary while still making it "free"?

 

[Hero999]

Well yes and no, a program can't be totally free and preserve your interlectual property (the whole idea behind free software is to avoid that kind of crap), however you don't have to make the program totally free as you can always make parts of it proprietary.

For example you could make a PCB CAD system and open source the editor but keep the error checking and autorouting proprietary, you could also make some free software and sell a non-free version with proprietary extensions - just look at what Sun have done with with OpenOffice.org and StarOffice.

 

[freeskier89]

Alright I just fired off the last message. I doubt I will get much of a reply (or any for that matter), but hopefully it will let them see that they should reakky reconsider their statements on their site and emails a bit.

:lol: I just found a place on their site where they said that their virtual instruments are unbreakable! Also I saw that if you google "Electronics Workbench Experiences" this thread comes up first . Does any mod want to rename it to EWB review ?

I wonder if any of the EWB people have been looking through this thread. I know a sales person from diptrace has

I am not trying to be argumentative, but your site and emails are littered with all-encompassing statements that really incorrectly portray your software. The only response whatsoever I got from you was:

"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."

Well, in the first 5 words, you managed to say something that is wrong. Diptrace, another schematic/pcb design suite, provides a return policy. If you are not pleased, they will refund your money. It can be found at this url: **broken link removed**.

I'll leave it at that, but all I have to say is that I have been extremely disappointed with a lack of support, and even more disappointed with your company's inability to make legitimate statements. I have no choice but to deal with a more responsive company. I would really recommend that your company reassess its support and descriptions of their products, because I happen to personally know that I am certainly not the only one that feels this way. Hopefully my extensive ranting will allow you to realize and prevent such widespread discontent.