LTspice from 29th Jan 2023 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 09:38:27 am
content: I downloaded the latest LTspice from ADI as of 29th Jan 2023 (Win10) - it is a new clean install, it seems, it does not offer "upgrade" as the previous ones. After the install it does not recognize custom models and libraries from previous versions.Any experience with this new version? How to preserve the old libraries with models?PS: luckily my older version still works fine..

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 10:32:38 am
content: The last update of the LTspice XVII Windows x64 executable was v17.0.36.0.It looks like they've dropped the Roman version numbers, and also LTspice 17.1.x is now out ofbeta.The key change that's screwing with your carefully collected libraries is:Quote from: German.Ergueta (LTspice development team)The fix for it is somewhat of a PITA - Ideally you should separate out the 3rd party or user generated models and symbols so you've got a clean user library(n.b. You'll have to diff the cmp folder model files line by line, and strip the standard models)and add a user library folder to the control panel lib & sym search path tab (as <folder>\sym in the symbol path textbox and <folder>\cmp and <folder>\sub in the library path textbox.A kludge that may work is to skip creating a clean user library and simply add the LTspice XVII library subfolders as above. However this has a high risk of accidentally using outdated models and increases the risk you wont include any 3rd party models and symbols when sharing your sims with others.The user library is then accessible from the drop-down at the top of the 'Select Component Symbol' dialog.You can do the same in LTspice XVII so you only have to maintain one user library going forwards. Rename your old lib and examples folders and reinstall and update LTspice XVII to get a clean standard library for it, free from user files.N.B. if you collaborate with others, you should probably set up a shortcut to use a 'clean' copy of the standard library, without any user libraries and symbols that aren't in the sim's own folder. Do so by opening the file location of LTspice in your start menu, copying the shortcut and renaming the copy toLTspice (clean)and adding the switch:Code:-ini "%APPDATA%\LTspice_clean.ini"to the shortcut's command line. That will create a new instance with all control panel customisations reset to defaults the first time you open it(but as usual 'sticky' once you change any starred setting), without affecting your regular LTspice's control panel settings. Use the new instance to open and run sims you intend to share, to see what will happen for anyone running a 'vanilla' LTspice, to check you haven't forgotten to include any custom models and symbols in the same folder as the sim. Its not foolproof as I have encountered sims and symbols with 'sticky' absolute paths in them which may not be easily visible, and can still point at your custom library folder(s). Personally I fix up such .asc and .sym files in a text editor, removing the absolute portion of the path, but you've got to know exactly what you are doing to get that right, so don't do it to your original files!Hint: Set its background image to something other than the 'Antikythera Mechanism' default (or your usual one if different), so you don't get them mixed up when open.

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 10:52:36 am
content: Also the graphics is somehow blurred, and even they claim a faster execution, I tried with some sims here and I do not see much speed-up or better convergence. I will stay with the latest XVII from December for a while, and I will observe what is going on with this new version..

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 11:08:47 am
content: I've upgraded mine some days ago and didn't check. Now I see in the 'Documents' only the libs and models installed by LTspice. I'm using Ubuntu.All the custom libs and models added along the years are gone.Later Edit:-------------Found them, no custom libs were lost or deleted. I apologize for blaming LTspice.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 11:49:12 am
content: Are you *SURE* its deleted them rather than simply defaulting to looking in a different place?

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 12:09:52 pm
content: I'm not sure what happened.In Linux, LTspice is running through WineHQ, a program that translates Windows OS calls into Linux OS calls. My Documents and alike Windows folders are in fact symlinks to alike directories from Linux home, and other tricks like that to make Windows programs run flawless under Linux. Usually it all just works without intervention, as if the programs were installed on Windows, but not always.Will have to check again.

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 12:23:48 pm
content: Also some info on thenew ltspicefrom groups.io.With firefox the download from ADI page opened me an ascii file, thus I did download with chrome. So much confusion with a simple upgrade..Be careful with the new ltspice install..

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 02:26:24 pm
content: Found my custom libs, it was all my fault, nothing was deleted or lost.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 07:33:11 pm
content: Can we keep the previous version (XVII) and install this one alongside?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 07:44:26 pm
content: Quote from: imo on January 31, 2023, 12:23:48 pmSame here. This is due to a bad design of the web site.And people not even testing on anything else than Chrome these days before deploying ... I think magic has an idea for them.

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 09:31:22 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on January 31, 2023, 07:33:11 pmI had the beta version installed alongside and it worked fine. With the final I think it will work alongside too. The install here had not removed the XVII luckily nor the old libs/models. Be careful with the installation dirs, however.. Doublecheck / make backup..

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2023, 09:52:51 pm
content: OK I just installed it. No problem so far. I haven't seen much difference in terms of UI - basically identical.It seems a bit faster for simulations, although I'll have to time that exactly to make sure.Also a few bugs in the waveform viewer, that were really bugging me, seem to have been fixed.Btw, on the product page they say Win 10 and above, but I installed it on Win 7 and it runs fine. Just so you know.

author: pfabri
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 10, 2023, 12:47:32 pm
content: Quote from: imo on January 31, 2023, 10:52:36 amSame here, I'm assuming you too are running a HighDPI monitor. I'm on 4K, which LTspiceXVII handled flawlessly, but this all new 17.6.1 version is blurred just the same way as legacy programs tend to be.EDIT:The problem is easy to fix.https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/installing-the-new-2023-version-of-ltspice.394676/--> Search for'High DPI' within the page.I tried uploading the image here directly but couldn't get it to work at all. REALLY clunky interface for attachments.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 10, 2023, 09:42:27 pm
content: I don't have a high dpi monitor, so didn't see any blurring. Other than this problem, I do recommend upgrading. The new version definitely has a lot fewer bugs.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2023, 05:52:59 pm
content: TLDR for Pfabri's solution for the blurred graphics problem:Goto the LTspice program folder and change the High DPI settings in the LTspice application's Properties: Compatibility tab as shown so the LTspice application handles the scaling, not Windows (which messes it up)!