Qucs-S: Qucs with SPICE
You can run Qucs-S on all Linux platforms using AppImage without building it from source. AppImage already includes Qt4 libraries and you don’t need to install them explicitly. Simple make AppImage executable and run it from console or your file manager. Please note that AppImage doesn’t include Ngspice and you need to install them using system package manager.
Binary packages
- The DEB and RPM packages for Qucs-S are prepared with openSUSE build service. Check the package for your distribution here Then click on distribution icon and find the installation instructions. You may need to install ngspice manually.
- Arch and Manjaro users may install Qucs-S from AUR
- The packages for AltLinux are available from Sysyphus repository here
Building from source
- Install all necessary dependencies: Qt, C++ compilers, etc.
- Install desired simulation backends: Ngspice, XYCE, SpiceOpus. You can use all these backends together or only one of them. Install basic Qucs (0.0.18 or newer) if Qucsator is needed.
- Download and unpack tarball
- Use CMake to compile.
- Invoke make and make install
tar xvfz qucs-s-0.0.21.tar.gz
cd qucs-s-0.0.21
mkdir builddir
cd builddir
cmake ..
make
make install
The last command make install should be executed from root user. It will install Qucs-S into default prefix /usr/local/. Use -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=. to override the default locationNo additional configure options are needed now.
Slackware SlackBuild
- Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/ra3xdh/QucsS.SlackBuild - Run SlackBuild as root:
cd QucsS.S.SlackBuild
./qucs-S.SlackBuild - Install txz package with installpkg command
FreeBSD
- Execute the following command to install port:
Windows
- qucs_s_win64_0_0_24.zip 64-bit (x86_64) portable Windows version;
- qucs_s_win32_0_0_24.zip 32-bit (i686) portable Windows version;
Important note for Ngspice on Windows: Install package strictly to the C:\SPICE64 location. Otherwise XSPICE model will not work! If you are getting strange errors with Ngspice on Windows and cannot simulate even simple circuit, please check that Ngspice is installed strictly in C:\SPICE64.
Usage
Linux
Run qucs-s from the the command line or launch Qucs-S icon in your desktop environment menu after the installation. You will need to select default simulation backend at the first run. You can change it later in the application settings.
Windows
For portable package run the qucs-s.exe binary to launch application. You may create a desktop shortcut for it.
Authors
Contribution guide
Steps to contribute
Source code of the Qucs-S is hosted at the Github in the following repository: https://github.com/ra3xdh/qucs_s. You need to clone this repository if you wish to contribute.
git clone -b current https://github.com/ra3xdh/qucs_s
cd qucs_s
git checkout -b your_feature
Use CMake to compile Qucs-S. After you make changes, prepare a pull request to Qucs-S repository.
Branching model
- master is release candidate for the next Qucs-S release. This branch provides side-by-side installation of Qucs and Qucs-S. Main application executable is named to qucs-s. Only CMake is supported.
- current is development branch. Use this branch to target patches. It uses traditional Qucs build system. There may exist some experimental branches forked form this branch. I merge current into master time to time.
Release tarball is obtained from master with some Bash script. I distribute only Qucs-GUI and some utilities with Qucs-S package.
My changes only concentrated on GUI side, and you need to rebuild GUI only to test Qucs-S. You may take Qucsator from usual Qucs installation.
Build instruction (development branches)
For qucs-s-stable you need to set WITH_SPICE cmake key. Autotools will not work. Perform the following commnads to build all: git clone https://github.com/ra3xdh/qucs_s/
cd qucs_s
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/some_path
make
Then install and launch qucs-s executable. (to top. )
Documentation
- Main documentation page at readthedocs.io
- Presentation at the Spring MOS-AK 2016 at Lausanne
- Presentation at the Spring MOS-AK 2017 at Lausanne
- Presentation at the MIXDES2017 conference: Part 1 and Part 2
Publications
- Brinson, M. E., and Kuznetsov, V. (2016) A new approach to compact semiconductor device modelling with Qucs Verilog-A analogue module synthesis. Int. J. Numer. Model., 29: 1070-1088. (BibTeX)
- D. Tomaszewski, G. Głuszko, M. Brinson, V. Kuznetsov and W. Grabinski, «FOSS as an efficient tool for extraction of MOSFET compact model parameters,» 2016 MIXDES — 23rd International Conference Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, Lodz, 2016, pp. 68-73. (BibTeX)
- M. Brinson and V. Kuznetsov, «Qucs-0.0.19S: A new open-source circuit simulator and its application for hardware design,» 2016 International Siberian Conference on Control and Communications (SIBCON), Moscow, 2016, pp. 1-5. (BibTeX)
- M. Brinson and V. Kuznetsov, «Improvements in Qucs-S equation-defined modelling of semiconductor devices and IC’s,» 2017 MIXDES — 24th International Conference «Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, Bydgoszcz, 2017, pp. 137-142. (BibTeX)
- M. Brinson and V. Kuznetsov, «Extended behavioural device modelling and circuit simulation with Qucs-S» International Journal of Electronics, 2017, pp.1 — 14 (BibTeX)
Вышел симулятор электронных схем Qucs-S 1.0.0
Сегодня, 30 октября, состоялся релиз версии 1.0.0 симулятора электронных схем Qucs-S. Программа предоставляет удобный графический интерфейс для консольного симулятора Ngspice или других SPICE-совместимых движков. Начиная с этого выпуска, проект перешёл на нумерацию версий 1.0.x вместо 0.0.x. Здесь событие скорее формальное, так как проект уже давно вышел из стадии беты.
Ниже краткий список новшеств релиза 1.0.0.
- Добавлена возможность моделирования логических элементов при помощи Ngspice (требуется версия 38 или выше). Пока реализованы не все цифровые компоненты.
- На графиках теперь можно установить инженерную нотацию с префиксами (например 1k, 100u) для чисел (см. скриншот).
- По оси Y можно установить масштаб в децибелах в свойствах диаграммы, не прибегая к использованию уравнений.
- Бэкпортированы из Qucs-0.0.20 (это релиз, который так и не вышел) утилиты для синтеза аттенюаторов, делителей мощности, расчёта длинных линий.
- Добавлен поиск по библиотекам с предпросмотром компонента в левой части главного окна программы (см. скриншот).
- Удалена утилита Qucs-lib. Теперь вся её функциональность доступна в главном окне, и отдельная утилита менеджера библиотек больше не нужна.
- Бэкпортировано улучшенное дерево проектов с навигацией по подкаталогам, как в Qucs-0.0.20.
- Примеры (из подкаталога examples) подвергнуты ревизии, схемы исправлены и закачаны заново. Несовместимые с Ngspice примеры перемещены в подкаталог qucsator. Бинарные файлы удалены из дерева примеров.
- Добавлены новые символы для 3- и 4-выводных МОП-транзисторов и 4-выводного биполярного транзистора.
- Закрыто множество отчётов об ошибках.
Ссылки на репозитории для Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE и Fedora, а также инструкции по установке можно найти на странице релиза на Гитхабе.
Программа написана на C++ с применением Qt5 и распространяется на условиях GPL 2.0 или более поздней.