Atanua is a real time logic simulator to help people learn some of the basics of electronics. Focusing mainly on logic, as opposed to power, this is a fantastic tool to learn with. They have done a fantastic job of making it easy to use as well as good looking. We can see this as being a must have piece of software for any hacker. There is a free version available as long as you aren’t using it commercially.
[Thanks ellisgl]
Cool I liked making electronic stuff on garry’s mod, now I can go 1 step further :D
lol me to, have you used the cpu yet ?
Sweet. I’m going to build a supercomputer with this thing.
This looks like fun, but as a coder the logic side of things isn’t what I need most help with – I want to get familiar with good circuit design. I know there are full electronics simulators out there; what do people recommend?
josh: get LTSpice. It’s free, updated frequently, and allows you to use SPICE models from part manufacturers.
macegr: that looks perfect, and last update was only 16 days ago!
I also recommend Linear Device’s SwitcherCAD; it’s ostensibly for designing switching power supplies, but it works just fine for other SPICE-y purposes.
This is very cool, I’m trying this out for sure. This would come in handy for prototyping stuff if you have it on a laptop and are traveling or something and spending time away from your work bench.
I just tried it, and it is very cool indeed. Recommended!
this looks fantastic. Thanks to josh/macegr/rak0ribz for the other recommendations. this is one of those things that I’ve always been looking for but didn’t really know it…
anybody tried this in wine?
No need to try it in wine, there is windows and mac and linux versions available for download.
it’s windows(and wine) only, but there’s been a fairly decent (open source) logic software free from http://www.softronix.com/logic.html for years. It’s pretty good and I still use it every now and then, although this one looks a bit “cooler” and more fully featured.
anyone looking for a decent free circuit simulator might want to try circuitmaker. it has both sampled analog and real-time digital modes. :)
how does this software differ from LogicWorks, other than being free??
Does logicworks have chips so you can do more a circuit design?
Very cool. the example library demonstrates many different 7400 series chips and is very educational.
“For corporate, government, _EDUCATIONAL_ or commercial use, a license key is required.”
Way to make a crap license. So if I learn something, I have to pay…awesome.
@mike…thanks, I just assumed it was windows only based on the windows screenshot. had I done 10 seconds of investigation….
@bencoder…thanks for the softronix link….
It’s probably stating something like if you are an education institution.
Could any of you guys suggest an ebook for basics of electronics?
Thank you!
~johnny
I don’t know of any ebooks off the top of my head, but google electronic tutorials and you’ll get a ton of stuff.
One place that I have found useful for grasping some concepts is http://electronics.wisc-online.com/DCE.asp
I find the way they break down a concept and animate what’s going on really helps.
They also have tutorials on AC and solid state electronics.
@michael: Got watch out, because you can’t just follow that one page to page.. I remember reading something about the order in which you should read that site.
Thank you all for the replies :)
~johnny
@M4CGYV3R: An educational license is specifically for educational institutions, not those who choose to educate themselves.
Does it come with a breadboard router? lol, j/k
@darkfader: It would be cool if it had that or Eagle CAD integration. Of course it would be cool if Eagle CAD had bread board routing.. hmmm..
I much prefer logisim. Free and open-source from http://ozark.hendrix.edu/~burch/logisim/ .
@jumbobrian: But it doesn’t have chips..
I cant get this to install. what should i do??
well, there’s the national instruments circuit suite design….and its a full simulator…and of course its not free….but its really good so you might wanna invest and get it…