Ask shares some good projects of QUCS software - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: abdulbadii
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2021, 06:33:07 pm
content: Anyone please generous enough to give and share away most of good/excellent projects in the format on which QUCS software makes use of ?Just badly felt aghast found the S/W sample/project is completely nillas feel it the only motivation if it's fulfilled

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2021, 10:57:26 pm
content: Quote from: abdulbadii on July 07, 2021, 06:33:07 pmI'm pretty sure that QUCS is dead. Why bother, when LTSpice and ngspice exist?

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2021, 11:58:49 pm
content: abdulbadii: QUCS does have example documents. Are you having trouble finding them? I also didn't realise they were there until I looked, they do not make them obvious.I found the example docs very useful for understanding how to use QUCS.Code:$ ls qucs_examples/Amp_Baseband_Low-noise.pro bpf_10Ghz.sch groupdelay_sp.schAmp_Baseband_Low-noise.sch bridge.sch gyrator.schAmp_Two_Tone.dat buckboost.dat lc_osc.datAmp_Two_Tone.dpl buckboost.dpl lc_osc.dplAmp_Two_Tone.sch buckboost.sch lc_osc.schAmp_baseband_noise.dat buckconverter.sch lf_osci.datAmp_baseband_noise.dpl charac.dat lf_osci.dplBPF_1550_edge_cpld.sch charac.dpl lf_osci.schBPF_2000_Co-ax.dat charac.sch microstrip.schBPF_2000_Co-ax.dpl chargepump.sch mixer.schBPF_2000_Co-ax.sch chebyshev1_5th.sch mscoupler.schComb_Gen.dat classic_osci.dat multiplier.schComb_Gen.dpl classic_osci.dpl notch.schComb_Gen.sch classic_osci.sch opamp_gyrator.schIdealBalun.sch colpitts.dat pentode.schLPF-Balun2.sch colpitts.dpl preregulator.schLPF-Balun3.sch colpitts.sch resonance.schLPF_1000_Coplanar.sch colpitts_base.dat rf_osci.datLPF_1000_Radial-Stub.sch colpitts_base.sch rf_osci.dplLPF_1250_Elliptical.sch diff1.sch rf_osci.schPuls3b.sch diode_hb.dat rgummel.schSmithChartTest.sch diode_hb.sch sawtooth-1.schVCO_100.sch elliptic_5th.sch sawtooth-2.schX2_100_Bipolar.sch fet.sch sawtooth-3.schX5_500.sch fet_noise.sch sawtooth-discreet.schactive_bp.dat fgummel.dat schmitt.schactive_bp.dpl fgummel.dpl selective_amp.schactive_bp.sch fgummel.sch shot.schactive_lp.dat fhr01fh.sch singleOPV.schactive_lp.dpl filter_optimization.sch single_balanced.schactive_lp.sch flicker.sch stab.schactive_mixer.sch fullwaverectifier_1.sch supply.schbbv.dat fullwaverectifier_2.sch swr_meter.schbbv.dpl gain.dat sym_osci.schbbv.sch gain.dpl time_resistor.schboostconverter.dat gain.sch triode.schboostconverter.sch giacoletto.sch wilkinson.schbpf_10GHz.dat gilbert.schbpf_10GHz.dpl groupdelay_ac.schQuote from: Bassman59 on July 11, 2021, 10:57:26 pmNo one SPICE package is the same and everyone will prefer something different. The concept of software 'dying' is a relatively new thing, the laws of electromagnetism don't change from one year to the next.ngspice: doesn't provide a GUI for drawing circuits; you need to get some other software to do that. Doesn't draw graphs either?ltspice: I prefer QUCS' option of graphs-on-schematic (rather than graphs being on separate page/window). That and yellow>greyqucs: I run the windows version of it under Wine becausequcs uses qt4and my distro doesn't ship those libs any more. Navigation between part types is a bit slow. The key shortcuts for wire (Ctrl+E) and ground (Ctrl+G) are useful but not shown in the GUI (only the full docs). I always turn the grid dots off, they hurt my eyes. Absolute PITA when the solver hits problems in transient analysis ("jacobian error"), but I'm not sure how other SPICE suites fare here.micro-cap: did a side-by-side sim comparison with QUCS, it turns out QUCS was a magnitude or so faster. Was very surprised (perhaps mc was redrawing the window each sim cycle so it could live update its graphs?). Interface is very complicated and doesn't seem straightforward.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2021, 05:40:27 am
content: Live update of the plots can be turned off in LTspice. The simulation speed might come from the fact that QUCS is not based on SPICE, it has its own engine/solver, or that's what I was told.Anyways, the simulation time for a given circuit, or even the success/fail to converge to a solution for either of these can vary widely by adjusting the max allowed steps/errors or other tuning parameter of the solver. At this aspect LTspice might be advantageous because it has a wider adoption, and solutions to problems are already known, so it's easy to find online how to get out of LTspice troubles.QUCS still have some nice RF goodies, filters, microstrips, Smith charts, etc. but other things like placing a measuring probe are cumbersome in QUCS when compared with LTspice. That's what makes me use mostly LTspice. Only very rare I found myself using QUCS. QUCS has a lot of examples and a nice PDF with a few examples and how to use QUCS in general, some in the Help menu from QUCS, or online:http://qucs.sourceforge.net/docs.htmlI have QUCS installed on Kubuntu, don't recall how I solved the qt4 requirement. I guess I've let it install all the needed dependencies, or maybe added qt4 manually, IDK.LTspice only has a Windows installer, but works fine in Linux, too, from Wine. LTspice charts looks more appealing to me, and are much smarter than the charts in QUCS. For example, the charts know to put electrical units on the axes, you can add formulas from the GUI, the plot "knows" that U*I formula will measure Watts, has RMS, has useful options for Bode plots, like showing group delay or using linear instead of log, knows octaves and decades, etc.For more plotting the data can be exported (I think both QUCS and LTspice can do that). For example, yesterday I've fool around plotting LTspice raw data using Python and matplotlib. There is even a Python module called "ltspice", module that can understand the data format of the LTspice raw results file. Doesn't have implemented all the features (i.e. the Python module doesn't identify automatically the data sections for multiple parametric runs when using the .step SPICE directive, but can be easily seen from the module's sources how to grab a certain step from the data file, or how to add new features to the Python module.LTspice can be run in batch mode, from command line, and the .net or .asc schematics can be eventually generated or edited from Python, then all the runs and data files collected and post processed, all done programmatically from Python.Because many other physics phenomena can be simulated with electrical circuits (e.g. a mechanical weight and a spring will behave like an LC tank, water ram in a pipe can be a reflection in a transmission line, a sound absorbent material can be seen like a filter, etc.) mixing Python with LTspice can be a very interesting combination.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2021, 06:06:40 pm
content: Quote from: Whales on July 11, 2021, 11:58:49 pmSoftware dies when its developers stop maintaining it. There doesn't seem to be much activity in the qucs SourceForge or Github repositories.QuoteThe original SPICE didn't do that, either. I used to use MacSpice which is still maintained and still works well, but editing the text files for my deck gets tedious. But, as many have noted, at least one Kicad developer is dealing with using Kicad schematics as a front end for ngspice.QuoteSure, that's nice. but it's a preference.QuoteWINE is a pain in the ass. But to your statement about "qucs uses qt4 and my distro doesn't ship those libs any more" just adds to the impression that qucs is a dead end.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 02:15:43 am
content: Quote from: Whales on July 11, 2021, 11:58:49 pmngspice only takes spice netlists as input. But it does "draw graphs". It uses something called nutmeg IIRC. It comes with ngspice. You can directly plot graphs with it using nsgpice plot commands.The GUI is rough, but it works.Otherwise, ngspice can also generate files for gnuplot, and the graphs can be displayed using gnuplot, which is very flexible.But KiCad has done a good job integrating ngspice with a decent GUI.

author: GN89
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2021, 12:45:36 pm
content: I think Qucs is dead because there is not enough power to keep that project running. Unfortunately there is another project QucsStudio by Michael Margraf. He develops it as closed source which is indeed problematic because we don't know how much of the original code is in there which might end up in a lawsuit when GPL was violated. Maybe we should check on that because I think the community needs a good RF design tool which is open and not closed like QucsStudio.

author: wizard69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2022, 04:27:05 am
content: Quote from: GN89 on December 14, 2021, 12:45:36 pmThat just highlights that a third party could pick up Qucs and advance it to modern GUI packages. This does however highlight a serious problem with open source which is the lack of API stability.QuoteThe GPL is a bit of at train wreck if you ask me. It trys to make Open Source proprietary. If one is honestly concerned about open source they wouldn't care what happens to their source code. The code being freely available is the only way to solve this problem of people loosing interest and code dying. In the end the GPL makes it harder to use source released under its license, which is a huge problem for code like Qucs released under that license.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 02:38:26 am
content: QUCS does RF stuff those other programs don't / can't. Like various filters. Pair it up with NanoVNA2 and its a great idea generator for prototyping stuff..Quote from: Bassman59 on July 11, 2021, 10:57:26 pmIt likely won't become a proprietary rip-off either. I have gotten further, faster with QUCS tI have with other SW.

author: profdc9
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2022, 12:11:12 am
content: I use Qucs-s for many of my projects. Qucs-s is a version of Qucs that uses ngspice.https://ra3xdh.github.io/Of course, you could probably use kicad as well to generate the ngspice netlist files.I have simulations for many of my projects on my Githubhttp://www.github.com/profdc9/For example:https://github.com/profdc9/PowerAmpAudio/tree/master/Simulations- audio amplifiershttps://github.com/profdc9/HighVoltageOpAmp/tree/main/Simulations- op amp circuitshttps://github.com/profdc9/FlexibleCharger/tree/main/Simulations- simulations for the battery charger I designedI also attached some simple RF amplifiers, oscillator, and mixers I modeled.So there's some examples that may be useful to you.Dan

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2022, 01:38:45 am
content: QUCS is definitely going onto my workbench computer, I really dont have any other choice than to use it for some of the things I want to do.Like RF filter calculations. My other choice is I can run RFSIM99 under WINE. They overlap a bit but not as much as I'd wish.

author: Gerhard_dk4xp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2023, 09:16:12 pm
content: Quote from: GN89 on December 14, 2021, 12:45:36 pmMichael is the original author who got that thing rolling. Qucs studio stems from a version that is ~12years old, which is probably pretty much the state of his time of his time at TUB. He simplyfreed himself from a verbose group of developers that did not achieve much since then.The group just petered out. Look at what's new since then.Some good stuff is on <http://www.gunthard-kraus.de/>,also a legal retro version of the Ansoft Designer Student Version and other interesting things.Gerhard

author: f4eru
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2023, 09:41:46 pm
content: Kicad is much more usable and advanced those days.

author: Gerhard_dk4xp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2023, 11:53:19 pm
content: Yes, and Porsche has a new car, and there are new trucks, too.Qucs Studio has links to Kicad, probably not yet V7. I did notcheck it, I have an own Altium Designer License for daily work.There are also links to octave, Ikarus Verilog and GHDL-VHDK,for example.

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2024, 08:50:20 pm
content: Latest version of QUCS-S herehttps://github.com/ra3xdh/qucs_s/releases/tag/24.4.1

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2024, 05:37:35 am
content: Quote from: djsb on November 30, 2024, 08:50:20 pmThankyou. Linux appimage works great, I opened one of my old QUCS saves and it simulated it perfectly. Woohoo, this makes me so happy, going to play and find out what has changed in the UI and if the solver is as cranky as Qucscator was.EDIT: It just plowed through simulating an oscillator that would upset Qucscator every time. *wild cheering noises*