Hey Guys, My lecturer at university has suggested that we install circuitry design software to have a go at designing some circuits our self, I have no idea what ones are out there let alone what ones are good. It must be able to do the internals of a CPU to be of use (but I assume they all can do that), are there any particular ones that you guys can recommend? Thanks for helping me out!
Was wondering this myself, though my needs aren't as demanding as I'm looking at designing an audio switching circuit for my speaker system and possibly making it computer controlled. Will be interested to see what people suggest. If not I'll let you know if I find a decent one which looks like it meets your needs.
When i was back in school, we used Eagle http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/?lang=en It´s easy to use and you can make nice layouts.
Damn, I JUST had a link to a really good one in my bookmarks, but I deleted it thinking I wouldn't need it. Just 3 days ago! I'll go searching for that link again. @Xeauron, you might want to use an arduino board if you know how to code a bit. EG- you have the sound I/O connected to the digital pins, and have the board interface with a simple java application that does the switching. Like a little tray icon you can click to switch it. All the boards can be powered over USB so it's a simple idea, albeit expensive.
Pretty sure this one's been covered before. Your lecturer should really have told you what to use or, specifically, what your college or university uses. They may well be able to offer educational discounts on proprietary software. In the industry, people often use OrCAD or EAGLE. There are free solutions, such as ExpressPCB or FreePCB. You'll have to look to see which proprietary software houses offer free or student versions. Also, you'll have to decide what's best for your needs - certain software does a mixture of (or is better at one of) circuit diagram design, PCB design / routing, simulation etc.
Cheers for the adviceDefect, I'll also have a look into eagle. I've started learning java very recently but I'm sure I'll be able to cobble a program together to interact with an electronic switch via USB (such a program should be tiny really), though I'll be looking to add a hard switch on there as well so it can be operated without a computer. I'll have a look at prices and see what fits best, I do already have an AVR USB dev board (minimus) I used to root my PS3, not sure what that's capable of though yet.
Well they suggested something called LogicWorks, but it's £80 and is only sold on Amazon which would mean it would get sent to my home while I'm miles away in a uni dorm, and even then my laptop doesn't actually have a CD drive, so I'll have to get an external one.
And I though the question was about circuit designs, not PCB layouts. You know, like Electronics Workbench. Can you actually use Eagle to design CPU internals? How small can you go with it? Been ages since I last looked at it.
I dint see any options to design the internals of a IC with eagle, I like Eagle for pcb/circuit design alott. for designing the IC I think LogicWorks is also a nice designer, but its more of a Simulator, If your uni actualy want you to build and "simulate" a circuit. thats a great program (Please pirate it, or ask school for a discount) your properbly never or almost never gonna use it anymore, for schematics, try eagle, its easy, fun and the free version is for most hobby/school project good enough. Im currently designing some "ic" for a fpga in Xilinx ISE. Also a free version availeble and has an free/eval version. its a bit diferent from "real" ic designing but well, I dont know what your teacher wants from you, simple ic simulation or complete ARM cpu simulation?
