Virtual Electronic Circuitry - A New Idea
Hello friends, I have an idea of a new software which I would like to share with you all.
The idea is to develop an application which can simulate real electronic circuitry. It should be graphical and based on the object oriented concept. Where every electronic components like resistor,capacitor, ICs, transistor, LED etc. would be a class so that user can make them easily and connect them on the virtual circuit board according to their needs. The most interesting advantage of this application would be that it could produce the actual result/output.
For instance, if user place a cell object and a LED object on the virtual circuit board (container?) and connect them properly, the LED will glow.
The idea is to develop an application which can simulate real electronic circuitry. It should be graphical and based on the object oriented concept. Where every electronic components like resistor,capacitor, ICs, transistor, LED etc. would be a class so that user can make them easily and connect them on the virtual circuit board according to their needs. The most interesting advantage of this application would be that it could produce the actual result/output.
For instance, if user place a cell object and a LED object on the virtual circuit board (container?) and connect them properly, the LED will glow.
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They already exist.
http://dcaclab.com/
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
There are countless others, but this should prove my point. SO while it would be very good to make one (for educational purposes) it is not "new". Sorry to burst your bubble.
http://dcaclab.com/
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
There are countless others, but this should prove my point. SO while it would be very good to make one (for educational purposes) it is not "new". Sorry to burst your bubble.
In one of my classes we used logisim. It's a pretty cool program that can do everything you mentioned and more with. Also it's free and open source. For me it was easy to install also -
http://ozark.hendrix.edu/~burch/logisim/
sudo apt-get install logisim. Maybe it would helpful for you to view the source code. http://ozark.hendrix.edu/~burch/logisim/
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Just cause it already exists doesnt mean you cant make one :D
plus i think it would be really cool( yet probably challenging ) if you made it so you could add MCUs and add code to them to simulate that as well( that might exist in the software listed above, never the less, it would be quite a challenge)
plus i think it would be really cool( yet probably challenging ) if you made it so you could add MCUs and add code to them to simulate that as well( that might exist in the software listed above, never the less, it would be quite a challenge)
Great idea. Now, seriosly, any ideas *how* you're going to accomplish this?
It is easier said than done.
BTW:
Logisim does not offer analog or mixed-mode simulation, and the GUI looks like from deep 90s. Creating a digital-only simulator is a piece of cake compared to analog one.
dcaclab.com - crap, don't even mention this
circuitlab.com is much better, albeit, very very slow, the editor could be much better and offers only batch simulation
There is also a dozen of SPICE-based desktop simulators, mostly for Windows. Some of them are good (and costly), some are free.
Actually there is still lot of place for innovation and creating something awesome, however this would be a huge project.
It is easier said than done.
BTW:
Logisim does not offer analog or mixed-mode simulation, and the GUI looks like from deep 90s. Creating a digital-only simulator is a piece of cake compared to analog one.
dcaclab.com - crap, don't even mention this
circuitlab.com is much better, albeit, very very slow, the editor could be much better and offers only batch simulation
There is also a dozen of SPICE-based desktop simulators, mostly for Windows. Some of them are good (and costly), some are free.
Actually there is still lot of place for innovation and creating something awesome, however this would be a huge project.
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Yes the idea is awesome. I am aware of QUCS project (Quite Universal Circuit Simulator) but i don't know whether they are continuing to develop it.
Possibly a "slightly" simpler project would be to develop a Power Electrical simulator rather than an electronics one.
Possibly a "slightly" simpler project would be to develop a Power Electrical simulator rather than an electronics one.
BTW: There is quite a lot web-based circuit simulators now and as for general usability they are all just as terrible as their desktop counterparts, or even more - they are usually much slower and less powerful than SPICE-based simulators.
Anyway I don't think this is a niche you can get any money from (too narrow market), so hiring a professional team of coders for doing such thing professionally would be very hard. Most of those software is being done by enthusiasts with no deep experience in building GUIs nor simulation engines.
It is like writing an IDE - it might be quite easy to create a basic notepad editor with syntax highlighting, but making something really useful with excellent user experience requires lots of effort.
As for QUCS, last time I checked, it couldn't even do LU or QR of sparse matrices, so it probably didn't scale beyond 15-20 transistors (assuming SPICE accuracy of transistor models).
Anyway I don't think this is a niche you can get any money from (too narrow market), so hiring a professional team of coders for doing such thing professionally would be very hard. Most of those software is being done by enthusiasts with no deep experience in building GUIs nor simulation engines.
It is like writing an IDE - it might be quite easy to create a basic notepad editor with syntax highlighting, but making something really useful with excellent user experience requires lots of effort.
As for QUCS, last time I checked, it couldn't even do LU or QR of sparse matrices, so it probably didn't scale beyond 15-20 transistors (assuming SPICE accuracy of transistor models).
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I have an awesome idea for a new game. We'll have this plumber jump from various platforms and obstacules. The game will be set in a kingdom of mushrooms and he will try to rescue the princess of the "mushroom kingdom". What do you think?
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