# Texas Instruments Multisim alternatives?



## DemonAbyss10

Does anyone know of any good Ti Multisim alternatives and their experiences with such? I am preferably looking for open-source/free alternatives. It has to have both the AC/DC circuit functions along with logic design. Either that or individual programs for both.


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## Archetype

Are you using mac, pc, or ubuntu?


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## DemonAbyss10

PC at the moment (and only because I do heavy amounts of gaming). Setting aside money for a 2nd external hard drive which I will be using for an Ubuntu installation. So suggestions for both PC and linux will work for me.


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## ptarmigan

Assuming you mean the Multisim owned by National Instruments? You can do AC or DC analysis of circuits using free SPICE simulators like LTSpice, or, speaking of TI, they recently created their own free SPICE simulator, called TINA I think. There are others but I use LTSpice quite a lot at work. My understanding is that Multisim is also a SPICE simulator, just wrapped up with some abstraction tools and a nice interface. I haven't used it since I was taking classes in a tech school. When you say "logic design", do you mean FPGA design?


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## DemonAbyss10

ptarmigan said:


> Assuming you mean the Multisim owned by National Instruments? You can do AC or DC analysis of circuits using free SPICE simulators like LTSpice, or, speaking of TI, they recently created their own free SPICE simulator, called TINA I think. There are others but I use LTSpice quite a lot at work. My understanding is that Multisim is also a SPICE simulator, just wrapped up with some abstraction tools and a nice interface. I haven't used it since I was taking classes in a tech school. When you say "logic design", do you mean FPGA design?


FPGA, and just general logic circuits. But yeah, going to look into those. I just hope for the SPICE sims, I don't have to do any sort of scripting or anything. And yeah that is why I like multisim, it is the interface. Granted, I just bought the EveryCircuit android app, which is nice design app, $10 and you get loads of functionality. The free version isn't worth it since you barely get any room to work with.


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## RobynC

What's a multisim?


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## DemonAbyss10

RobynC said:


> What's a multisim?


I would say, "look it up" but I really am not in the mood for that (let alone I am not a cranky asshat today.). Multisim is an electrical/digital design application. If you know what breadboards are, it is basically a simulator for that, various electrical components and measuring devices.

or if you feel like having a different explanation: NI Multisim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## blit

DemonAbyss10 said:


> Does anyone know of any good Ti Multisim alternatives and their experiences with such? I am preferably looking for open-source/free alternatives. It has to have both the AC/DC circuit functions along with logic design. Either that or individual programs for both.


For OS projects, searching on github.com is usually a good start.
https://github.com/search?q=circuit+simulator&type=Repositories&ref=searchresults

Here's what I used in the past:
https://www.circuitlab.com/
About - iCircuit - The Realtime Circuit Simulator and Editor


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