3 ms·
This looks pretty similar to when I tried it a few months ago. I used it once, and never used it again (not saying because it's bad or anything, but I like my t
by mercuryrising 14y ago
This looks pretty similar to when I tried it a few months ago. I used it once, and never used it again (not saying because it's bad or anything, but I like my tried and true Eagle to do circuit board layout, and I generally don't do analog so I don't really need simulation).
I think some things are really nice, but some things are obviously lacking.
It's very easy to use. This is great, it's not intimidating (at least for me). I'd like to see copy pasting elements not paste them directly over the other element, and I'd like it to paste it into 'my hand' where I can move it somewhere else right away.
Add some color. Try it. This interface is very, very bland. What is there, three colors on the screen? If you're shooting for beginners, adding colors will make a world of a difference. Color the wires. Things connected to V+ are red, things to GND are black. Signals (wires connected to transistors, etc) are yellow, or whatever. Let me pick the color of LEDs (start them blue or something). Let me tell you what color wires I have on hand, and you make the 'best' decision (or most standard) for laying my circuit out. Colors are one of the best way of rapidly signalling information, use it to your advantage.
Automatically connect close components. Say I have 1-2 grid steps in between components, just connect them for me. I wish I could tell you how many times I've hooked a transistor up to a resistor up to an LED in a schematic program. Save some time and just connect it. Luckily, signals generally go left to right, and power goes up and down. This could work nicely.
I really, really like how I can hop on and try it right away without signing up for anything. I'll never try Upverter (someone else mentioned it) because I have to sign up before I can even use the damn thing. Maybe it's awesome, maybe it's not, I'll never know. I do know about your product though - and the next time you make changes I'll know I can try it out without being hassled. Fantastic decision.
I'm not sure who exactly you guys are targeting - but if you'd like to include beginners, it would be a nice touch to be able to double click components (this operation currently just selects and deselects a component) and get a 'summary' of what the part does. Have a real world picture of them, or embed a wikipedia page, or open a new tab to the wikipedia page, something to more strongly couple the learning aspects to the simulation.
It would be nice if I could open up a series of schematics, and poke around with them. The simulation feature is your best learning tool, but if I can't design something yet, I can't really simulate anything. Giving me something like an LED connected to a switch, an 555 LED flasher, and an LED connected to a PWM controlled off a pot. Or something. Bonus points if you set up these basic circuits, and record videos of them at all the stages (for all input values), letting users see what they're doing (granted you could just compile a video from frames that you have from running a sweep with the circuit).
- compumike 14y agoThanks for the great feedback. We definitely appreciate how enormous the problem is and that we're just at the beginning! (Without giving away too much, we're already working on some of the things you mentioned.)