Cardamom: The Bridge between Circad(tm) and
SPICE!
A program by Donald J. Miller, K4DJM (formerly
KM4AS)
Circad(tm) is a trademark of Holophase
Incorporated
This website is not associated with
Holophase in any way...
...but the webmaster is a satisfied
customer!
The short story:
- Interfaces easily to at least two shareware
or free versions of SPICE
(WinSPICE and SPICE OPUS)
- Allows you to capture your schematic just
ONCE.
--> Not separately for simulation
- Length of SPICE line arguments not limited by
component attribute field widths.
- Free evaluation -- but PLEASE contribute if
you find the program of use!
- Alpha version available NOW --- you guys tell
me where this program needs to go!
- Includes a starter kit of specialized SPICE
symbols.
The long story:
- Draft
product introduction and manual is here (1 . 1 MB). [Do a right
mouse-click, then "save target as"]
(Definately reccommend you read this before you start)
NOTE: IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE PDF MANUAL, TRY THE
MS-WORD VERSION HERE.
-
Cardamom Installer is available here, including zipfiles of example
schematics, models, and subcircuits.
(note that the manual is not in this zipfile, so grab it separately)
Note that you must install the .NET framework on your computer
before you install Cardamom.
- Uses versions of SPICE that have the NUTMEG
command language.
(instead of the .COMMAND syntax)
- ... but a few "dot" commands are still
supported: .INCLUDE, .PARAM, .OPTIONS
- ... and a few Cardamom-specific ones:
.CONTROL, .ADDP
(OK, .CONTROL is used in modern SPICE, but in Cardamom schematics it is used
subtly differently)
- You need to download and install the .NET
framework redistributable from Microsoft and install it on your machine.
This gives you the required dll files to run .NET applications. Just do it.
You'll be seeing a lot more .NET applications coming soon.
Grab SPICE separately
here (get the 3F4 version, WinSPICE) or
here (SPICE OPUS). I
recommend you play with both, but maybe use WinSPICE first.
Quick Startup:
- Install the .NET redistributable
(dotnetfx.exe). You can get it from
www.microsoft.com via a search, or thru Windows Update.
(update: NOT necessary to do with most modern
versions of windows)
- Install WinSPICE
- Create two directories:
C:\models and
C:\subckt
- Run the Cardamom setup program
- Grab the model.zip file from the Cardamom
directory and unzip it in C:\models
- Grab the subckt.zip file from the Cardamom
directory and unzip it in C:\subckt
- Unzip the spicelib.zip file in your Circad
library directory
- Unzip the schematics.zip directory wherever
you keep your Circad schematics
- Run Circad, grab an example schematic and
create a netlist. If you do any edits, re-save the schematic and do
another netlist!
- Run WinSPICE
- Run Cardamom
- Set all the paths in Cardamom. You need to
hit 5 buttons one at a time to do this...
Save your output file in your WinSPICE directory!
- Push the "process" button.
- Type "source filename.ext" in the WinSPICE
window, where filename.ext is the name of the Cardamom output file.
- Watch the simulator output!
Once you have done all the setup above, you can
re-simulate thusly:
- Make changes to your schematic
- Save the schematic
- Generate a netlist
- Push the "Process" button.
That's it! If you come back to work on the
same schematic later, Cardamom remembers all the paths. You will need to
type a "source filename.ext" into the WinSPICE window to get things going again,
however.
Summary of required files:
Have fun!
Comments? PLEASE !!!!!
