What is correct names for GOOD user friendly circuit drawing program?

[gary350]

I would love to have a good affordable easy to use circuit design program. I want to design a circuit before I build it.

My laptop computer has no CD drive. Years ago I had a CD circuit drawing program that would never work, try to connect a resistor to a transistor the program would not allow it, message says, that part does not belong there. ???

I think it will be fun to type in a existing circuit that I might like to build to see if it really is a good circuit. Lots of online circuits don't work. I'm tired of TV & YouTube.

How do the circuit programmers work, are they a down load or play them online? I hope they are easy to use and easy to understand.

I'm almost blind I have eye surgery in 3 week, then new glasses, maybe I can see again.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

I use Kicad, free and does everything I need from schematic to finished board production files.
A bit of a learning curve, but worth it.

 

[Papabravo]

The name you are searching for is "Schematic Editor". To produce a circuit board you feed the output of the "Schematic Editor" to the "Layout Tools".

 

[For The Popcorn]

I'd recommend EasyEDA standard edition from JLCPCB to you if I didn't know you'll just gripe and complain about it.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

gary350

Are you (A) trying to draw a circuit to simulate its behavior with a virtual oscilloscope and so-on or...

Are you (B) trying to draw a circuit to submit to a PCB manufacturer to make boards?

 

[gary350]

gary350

Are you (A) trying to draw a circuit to simulate its behavior with a virtual oscilloscope and so-on or...

Are you (B) trying to draw a circuit to submit to a PCB manufacturer to make boards?

I want to draw a circuit then simulate it to see how well it works. Then edit the circuit to make improvements.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

I want to draw a circuit then simulate it to see how well it works. Then edit the circuit to make improvements.

Do you want a fairly simple tool to get started or do you want an exacting tool that will be more difficult to learn?
For simple, I recommend icircuit (there is an iPad app and a windows app). Each are about $10-$15 depending on the platform.

Otherwise, for a better, more exacting tool, get Tina (from Texas Instruments) or, better, LT Spice from Analog Devices. Tina and LT Spice are free.

 

[ChrisP58]

I want to draw a circuit then simulate it to see how well it works. Then edit the circuit to make improvements.

If simulation is your primary goal, then I suggest LTspice. It is free and very popular on this forum.
There are a lot of tutorials on Youtube.
https://www.analog.com/en/resources/design-tools-and-calculators/ltspice-simulator.html

 

[gary350]

If simulation is your primary goal, then I suggest LTspice. It is free and very popular on this forum.
There are a lot of tutorials on Youtube.
https://www.analog.com/en/resources/design-tools-and-calculators/ltspice-simulator.html

I will try LTspice. I have win11.

 

[alec_t]

Be sure to read the 'Help' files if using LTspice as a beginner.

 

[gary350]

I have been watching YouTube videos and taking notes for several hours before I download LTspice.

 

[gary350]

I clicked Windows 10-64 down load. I says it will be in file LTspicer64 but there is no file. No download. ??? Did I click the wrong thing?

I downloaded it again computer showed it downloaded another file but is not on my computer???

Does the download only take 1 second?

 

[ZipZapOuch]

Check your download folder. It may have just downloaded an installer app.

 

[bill_L]

Hi!
EasyEDA allows you to design and test new circuits. Tinkercad Circuits supports real-time circuit simulation.

 

[ChristianThomas]

I would love to have a good affordable easy to use circuit design program. I want to design a circuit before I build it.

Look no further than LTspice. It's effectively the industry standard now and is pretty much instinctive to use once you realise that the gate component on the header bar means "components" - and there you'll find your voltage sources, NPNs and PNPs and route to opamps (including its generic versions which don't always need their own power supplies) and other specialist items. You can later use it with Kicad for 3D renderings of what your board will look like and I believe KiCAD also has some integration with FreeCAD so you can knock up 3D printed components or integrate your board into either its own casework or its part of another project. I've used LTspice for about 15 years now and have nothing but praise for it. There are a few quirks but they come fairly deep into using it and for this you should ideally be a member of the LTspice Groups.io group where you'll find a glittering array of experts who won't get snotty with you in a way that you might have come to expect on StackExchange or GroupDIY. Membership is free and you might find it worth keeping notes on the hurdles you come across in your early days on LTspice as this is an area that many of us have forgotten and so are not always as helpful as we could be with raw newcomers. If you can remember whatthe problem was and how you worked around it you could be of considerable help to future newbies. Good luck, and you'll love it!

 

[gary350]

Look no further than LTspice. It's effectively the industry standard now and is pretty much instinctive to use once you realise that the gate component on the header bar means "components" - and there you'll find your voltage sources, NPNs and PNPs and route to opamps (including its generic versions which don't always need their own power supplies) and other specialist items. You can later use it with Kicad for 3D renderings of what your board will look like and I believe KiCAD also has some integration with FreeCAD so you can knock up 3D printed components or integrate your board into either its own casework or its part of another project. I've used LTspice for about 15 years now and have nothing but praise for it. There are a few quirks but they come fairly deep into using it and for this you should ideally be a member of the LTspice Groups.io group where you'll find a glittering array of experts who won't get snotty with you in a way that you might have come to expect on StackExchange or GroupDIY. Membership is free and you might find it worth keeping notes on the hurdles you come across in your early days on LTspice as this is an area that many of us have forgotten and so are not always as helpful as we could be with raw newcomers. If you can remember whatthe problem was and how you worked around it you could be of considerable help to future newbies. Good luck, and you'll love it!

There are a dozen textural videos online i am still watching them. Every time I click download it shows it downloaded in less than 1/2 second and message showed file is LTspice. Second download is LTspice1. If I download again it will probably be LTspice2. I searched all the files on drive C it is not there. I have no other drives. Maybe its not really a download, maybe its an online program. What ever it is I can not find it on my computer. ?

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Look no further than LTspice. You can later use it with Kicad for 3D renderings of what your board will look like and I believe KiCAD

Free KiCad was first released in 1992 (32 yrs now) ! It will handle Schematic Capture, PCB Layout with Gerber and IPC-2581 output & 3D imaging. The suite runs on Windows, Linux and macOS Bit of a learning curve, but worth it IMO.

 

[alec_t]

What ever it is I can not find it on my computer. ?

The initial download will just be an installer .exe file. Do you need admin rights to run that?

 

[For The Popcorn]

To find your files:

Go to the three dots menu at the upper right corner of your browser, and click.

● ● ●

You'll see options like this. Click on downloads.

Then you'll see a list of recently downloaded files.

Click on "open file" or "open folder".

If it's a zip file, you may have to unzip it before it will run.

 

[gary350]

3 dots gives this.