orcad pspice complains about simulation server

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

I have been using orcad pspice demo version 9.1 for several years. Since
today, when I try to open a .CIR file it says:

"failed to connect to the pspice simulation server"

I can't even view it. This is before I try to simulate. I limit myself to
..CIR files that I have already simulated.

Am I the only one? Does a demo software really need to connect to a
server? Then did this server close today?

Bye,

--
Jean-Pierre Coulon

 

[Rick C]

On Monday, March 23, 2020 at 3:51:09 PM UTC-4, Jean-Pierre Coulon wrote:

I have been using orcad pspice demo version 9.1 for several years. Since
today, when I try to open a .CIR file it says:

"failed to connect to the pspice simulation server"

I can't even view it. This is before I try to simulate. I limit myself to
.CIR files that I have already simulated.

Am I the only one? Does a demo software really need to connect to a
server? Then did this server close today?

Bye,

--
Jean-Pierre Coulon

That is a problem with every piece of commercial CAD software I've ever used. Even if you have a perpetual license, it requires either an annual renewal or network contact with the mothership. If for any reason that is no longer supported, your software doesn't work. The license gives you permission to run the software, not necessarily the means.

Heck, once I ordered CAD software for a non-trivial prices. It was stated to include Modelsim. When I got the package it didn't, it included Aldec's Active-HDL instead. I complained and they said, "tough". In the end it worked fine and I was happy, but the bait and switch certainly pissed me off at the time.

--

Rick C.

- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Tim Williams]

"Rick C" <gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ea14f41b-72c9-4b68-859f-146eca3106f1@googlegroups.com...

That is a problem with every piece of commercial CAD software I've ever
used. Even if you have a perpetual license, it requires either an annual
renewal or network contact with the mothership. If for any reason that is
no longer supported, your software doesn't work. The license gives you
permission to run the software, not necessarily the means.

You've not used Altium, I see!

For all the _fucking_ _bullshit_ that everyone else uses (e.g. Macromedia
License Manager), that almost never works...

....Altium is astonishingly easy to license.

And even if your license server connection drops, it allows you to continue
working, with a periodic nag. As long as it knows you were once licensed
before, I suppose.

And that's one specific configuration. You can do a standalone license and
completely disable the phone-home, you can pull from a pool (on the local
network; the license server is a separate tool, that is also easy to set
up), you can pull from your online registration (no need to carry around a
license file or remember a code, just log in and their server verifies your
license).

And it doesn't expire, the subscription service is simply for support and
ongoing updates, access to latest version, etc.

Myself, I purchased Altium Designer in mid 2015, which I let expire in 2016,
which gives me up to version 16.1.9. Win still uses some ancient PCAD
(2006?), or is it Protel ('97?)? Which work by the same licensing model
AFAIK (or, probably going back far enough it's just ordinary boxed
software?). The output of which is still backwards compatible in AD20.

Tim

--
Seven Transistor Labs, LLC
Electrical Engineering Consultation and Design
Website: https://www.seventransistorlabs.com/

 

[Winfield Hill]

Tim Williams wrote...

"Rick C" wrote ...

Myself, I purchased Altium Designer in mid 2015, which I let
expire in 2016, which gives me up to version 16.1.9. Win
still uses some ancient PCAD (2006?), or is it Protel ('97?)?

I was a longtime PCAD user, and continued after Altium
purchased PCAD. But their last PCAD update was 2006.
Sometime after that I added Altium licenses, and soon
after switched to Altium, even tho PCAD had important
features missing from Altium. I work mostly with 17,
because the 18 and 19 versions slow me down too much.
However, I've hear they fixed most of the issues in 20,
so I may give it a try soon. Meanwhile, all of my CAD
files are still organized in a huge PCAD folder, likely
why people think I'm still a PCAD user. But that's OK.


--
Thanks,
- Win