OT: Wheeeeee! New PSpice Benchmarks

[Mike Engelhardt]

Jim,

I didn't run PSPice on a P4 since my copy is
installed on the AMD Ath64.

On my 3GHz P4 LTSpice=180sec and you got 164sec.'

On a Dell 3GHz P4, I get LTspice=118seconds verses
PSpice10.0.0=164seconds. Repeatably.

On the Athlon, LTSPice=104sec, PSpice=97sec.

My (older) 3GHz P4/LTspice combination beats your
Athlon/PSpice10.0.0i with a time under
90seconds using this executable:
http://ltspice.linear.com/software/P4scad3.exe

Even my boring little sub-5lb 1.5GHz Centrino
notebook can run your deck in 99.273 seconds.

This circuit gives the impression that (i) LTspice
still beats PSpice 10.0.0 and (ii) a P4 outperforms
an Athlon64 when the executable is compiled to make
use of the full P4 instruction set. I would caution
the passing reader not to take too much head from
one circuit. It takes a much larger sample of
circuits to draw conclusions. Usually LTspice beats
PSpice by much more than some small percentage.
This is a trival circuit to solve.

BTW, when posting benchmarks, it might be better
to make the deck availible to all who wish to
duplicate as I have done with the collection of
benchmarks I've posted in the past. As I recall,
you've asked that I don't redistribute this deck,
which belongs to one of your clients.

--Mike

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:54:58 GMT, "Mike Engelhardt" <nospam@spam.org>
wrote:

[snip]

My (older) 3GHz P4/LTspice combination beats your
Athlon/PSpice10.0.0i with a time under
90seconds using this executable:
http://ltspice.linear.com/software/P4scad3.exe

[snip]

So why isn't P4scad3.exe part of your distribution?

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Mike Engelhardt]

My (older) 3GHz P4/LTspice combination beats your
Athlon/PSpice10.0.0i with a time under
90seconds using this executable:
http://ltspice.linear.com/software/P4scad3.exe

So why isn't P4scad3.exe part of your distribution?

I am going to rudely make a suggestion and answer
your question to Mike:

When doing software, trying to maintain/test two versions
of the code can significantly increase the effort. The
effort would definitely not be twice as big, but it
certainly would cost more time for testing.

Plus it increases the size of the distribution.
Some people still download LTspice with a modem.
It isn't distributed on CD. Everything about
LTspice has been historically conscientious of
the BW required to download.

PS: I'd like to see a normally available P4 version,
but I understand numerous reasons why not -- even if
the reasons is that Mike chooses not to .

There's usually a P4-specific version available,
but sometimes you have to e-mail to ask where to
find it.

--Mike

 

[keith]

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 16:17:46 +0000, Ken Smith wrote:

In article <pan.2004.08.29.15.01.37.677679@att.bizzzz>,
keith <krw@att.bizzzz> wrote:
[...]
I've already started down that path. It's been bumpy but I decided when
I went to Win2K three years ago that it was going the be my (first and)
last M$ OS. When I put together this Opteron system, I went with SuSE
9.1. I still have Win2K on the old system while I learn my way around.

LTSpice works under wine (you already knew that)

Actually, I didn't. My Linux/Opteron system is a home machine and not
intended to do anythign other than learn Linux, at least for now. I use
both Win2K and AIX at work, and the applications I use are pretty much
handed me.

The old DOS Orcad works under DOSEMU with a few problems. Their ESP
program id daft things in DOS land and they are still daft under Linux.

I have OrCad 9.x, but I never considered trying it at home (no license).

Open Office works ok for most text and spead sheet sorts of things. The
chart function of the spread sheet is so slow as to be near useless. I
plan on learning to use gnuplot when I get a little time.

Been there, it's OK. ...not perfect. Indeed the only *application* M$ has
ever produced that I like is Excell. The rest is pure garbage.

A couple of other useful tips:

On any installed software, in a shell type "man nameofprogram". For the
good ones this display the manual for the program. If the manual tells
you that the manual is obsolete and that you should use the "info"
system, the program is likely to work but may have a bug or two. If
there is no man page, it is very likely that the program is quite buggy.

I'm quite used to "man" pages, having done Unixisms for some time. Though
I do find "man" pages rather terse and slightly better than useless if you
don't know what they're saying. For instance I've been trying to get my
USB flash-drive running under Linux. Cool, I can follow directions in the
"man fstab" page, except that it doesn't tell me what all that crap is!
I finally (with major help from the web) got it working, but it was ugly,
and still have "issues" (my mount point tends to disappear). Grrr.

Old programs, that are well rung out, tend to have "man" pages. The
better programmers still provide "man" pages. So the method works
fairly well.

....as reference. I remember the IBM JCL manuals were chock-full of
information, if you know what they were saying. reference <> help.

I'm far from a Linux expert but I've got it to work for me. I use SuSE
8.1. You've got 9.1 hopefully they've fixed the things I've had to fix
in the 8.1 install.

I've installed SuSE at least a half-dozen times. I added a DATA drive and
it crashed the installation on the pATA drive (it got sooo confused). I
then tried installing on tha SATA drive a few times, good idea! (the
drivers don't work!).

BTW: You can do darn near anything in a Bash script.

Oh, my! Another issue! I followed the instructions (albeit from a RH
user) on how to do a BASH script for the above flash-drive. No joy in
Mudville[*] tonight. ...and mud-season is supposed to end by May

[*] If it doesn't stop raining I'll have to throw the computers out as
anchors. A friend has already lost his
basement/foundation/furnace/water-heater to floods (though his *flood*
insurance company calls a foot-wall of water running t'wards the house
and through the basement "sepage").

--
Keith

 

[John S. Dyson]

In article <j2e7j0p90m1004j8mjpino9ntrqah3tog7@4ax.com>,
Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com> writes:

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:54:58 GMT, "Mike Engelhardt" <nospam@spam.org
wrote:

[snip]
My (older) 3GHz P4/LTspice combination beats your
Athlon/PSpice10.0.0i with a time under
90seconds using this executable:
http://ltspice.linear.com/software/P4scad3.exe

[snip]

So why isn't P4scad3.exe part of your distribution?

I am going to rudely make a suggestion and answer your question to Mike:

When doing software, trying to maintain/test two versions of the code
can significantly increase the effort. The effort would definitely not
be twice as big, but it certainly would cost more time for testing.

PS: I'd like to see a normally available P4 version, but I understand
numerous reasons why not -- even if the reasons is that Mike chooses not
to .

John

 

[keith]

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 02:31:52 +0000, Ken Smith wrote:

In article <pan.2004.08.31.01.40.36.401923@att.bizzzz>,
keith <krw@att.bizzzz> wrote:
[...]
I have OrCad 9.x, but I never considered trying it at home (no license).

I don't off the top remember which version mine is. Its really stone age.
At work they paid for the upgrades etc. Personally I could see paying any
thing for the small improvements so I never upgraded.

FWIG, 9.x is a substantial "upgrade". OTOH, some hate OrCad more than
they hate Bush, so... I din't use any third-party CAD stuff until about
five years ago, so I cannot comment on previous releases (DOS in
particular).

I'm quite used to "man" pages, having done Unixisms for some time.
Though I do find "man" pages rather terse and slightly better than
useless if you don't know what they're saying. For instance I've been
trying to get my USB flash-drive running under Linux. Cool, I can
follow directions in the "man fstab" page, except that it doesn't tell
me what all that crap is! I finally (with major help from the web) got
it working, but it was ugly, and still have "issues" (my mount point
tends to disappear). Grrr.

I didn't say or wish to imply that the man pages were very helpful.
Their existance is the indicator I was suggesting.

I do know som Unixaholics that do believe in them to the ends of the
earth. Some apparently get information out of them too! ;-)

...as reference. I remember the IBM JCL manuals were chock-full of
information, if you know what they were saying. reference <> help.

I /*EOD ed all my knowledge about JCL years ago.

It's been, err, 16 years. ...but at one time I did quite well. My boss
at the time was an MVS developer, in an earlier life. I loved the
TRTCH (or something similar) parameter on the DD card. (seven-track tape)

I've installed SuSE at least a half-dozen times. I added a DATA drive
Damn! should be SATA

and it crashed the installation on the pATA drive (it got sooo
confused). I then tried installing on tha SATA drive a few times, good
idea! (the drivers don't work!).

My machine is "bog standard" so the install went fine. True the SuSE
help folks. I'd be interested to know if they are helpful.

Bog standard indeed! Tyan S2875S, Matrox G550. Nothing special at all.
When I added the SATA drive; Ka-blewie! I reinstalled and they get along
fine, as long as Linux doesn't touch the SATA drive (I tried putting
<swap> and /home on it, leaving /boot on the parallel drive - no good).

BTW: You can do darn near anything in a
Bash script.

Oh, my! Another issue! I followed the instructions (albeit from a RH
user) on how to do a BASH script for the above flash-drive. No joy in
Mudville[*] tonight. ...and mud-season is supposed to end by May

99 times out of 100 what they told you is more complex than what you
need. Its sort of like making chile. If a batch comes out extra good,
chances are you left out something.

I couldn't even fid where they went. Though I was getting frustrated at
the time.

Once you figure out the weird way things work, it starts to sort of make
sense.

I understand that I'll have some growing pain. I didn't learn 'doze
overnight (actually it wasn't a biggie after twenty years or so with DOS
and OS/2). I've been a user of AIX on and off for ten years, so Unixisms
aren't totally strange. I'm a hardware type and really don't like
software though.

When you know what needs doing:

You put the script into /etc/init.d, and a link to it in one of the
rc#.d sub-directories. The script has to be made so it can be run using
chmod.

Ohh! Thank you! That I understand. ...I think. I'll mark this article
and try again.

To figure things out, I commonly make the script in my no-privelaged
~/script directory. This way I limit the amount of damage I can do.

It appears that the commands to make the USB stick work need to be run
from root. AIUI, this means that they must be in root, but as a user I
could have access. This is only what I've gathered though.

Googling on things sometimes finds good examples.

That's my problem (other than ignorance). I followed an example from

ExtremeTech (?) and it sorta worked after some wierdness, then stopped
working, then started, then... I figured out that somehow my mount point
/mnt/usbstick was dissapearing. I had to create the directory, then
explicitly mount the drive and then by magic the stick showed up in my
user space. Strange, but I learned a lot, and only got a little more gray
hair (not much left to go between my toes .

If it doesn't stop raining I'll have to throw the computers out as
anchors. A friend has already lost his
basement/foundation/furnace/water-heater to floods (though his *flood*
insurance company calls a foot-wall of water running t'wards the house
and through the basement "sepage").

If you house is wrecked by the water damage, hire a company to knock it
down and haul it away, then report it stolen. Chances are you have
theft insurance :>.

ROTFLMAO. I'll have to tell him that. "Look! ...and they left their
pool!"

Are you in the south east? Sounds bad.

Northeast - North-west Vermont. Nope, no hurricane here. ...just nasty
T-storms after a year of 2x rainfall.

--
Keith

 

[John S. Dyson]

In article <HbPYc.13645$yO3.9297@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com>,
"Mike Engelhardt" <nospam@spam.org> writes:

My (older) 3GHz P4/LTspice combination beats your
Athlon/PSpice10.0.0i with a time under
90seconds using this executable:
http://ltspice.linear.com/software/P4scad3.exe

So why isn't P4scad3.exe part of your distribution?

I am going to rudely make a suggestion and answer
your question to Mike:

When doing software, trying to maintain/test two versions
of the code can significantly increase the effort. The
effort would definitely not be twice as big, but it
certainly would cost more time for testing.

Plus it increases the size of the distribution.
Some people still download LTspice with a modem.
It isn't distributed on CD. Everything about
LTspice has been historically conscientious of
the BW required to download.

PS: I'd like to see a normally available P4 version,
but I understand numerous reasons why not -- even if
the reasons is that Mike chooses not to .

There's usually a P4-specific version available,
but sometimes you have to e-mail to ask where to
find it.

Anyway, I am definitely in the mode that I don't look

the gift-horse in the mouth . I am very pleased with
your product.

John

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <pan.2004.08.31.01.40.36.401923@att.bizzzz>,
keith <krw@att.bizzzz> wrote:
[...]

I have OrCad 9.x, but I never considered trying it at home (no license).

I don't off the top remember which version mine is. Its really stone age.
At work they paid for the upgrades etc. Personally I could see paying any
thing for the small improvements so I never upgraded.

I'm quite used to "man" pages, having done Unixisms for some time. Though
I do find "man" pages rather terse and slightly better than useless if you
don't know what they're saying. For instance I've been trying to get my
USB flash-drive running under Linux. Cool, I can follow directions in the
"man fstab" page, except that it doesn't tell me what all that crap is!
I finally (with major help from the web) got it working, but it was ugly,
and still have "issues" (my mount point tends to disappear). Grrr.

I didn't say or wish to imply that the man pages were very helpful. Their
existance is the indicator I was suggesting.

...as reference. I remember the IBM JCL manuals were chock-full of
information, if you know what they were saying. reference <> help.

I /*EOD ed all my knowledge about JCL years ago.

I've installed SuSE at least a half-dozen times. I added a DATA drive and
it crashed the installation on the pATA drive (it got sooo confused). I
then tried installing on tha SATA drive a few times, good idea! (the
drivers don't work!).

My machine is "bog standard" so the install went fine. True the SuSE help
folks. I'd be interested to know if they are helpful.

BTW: You can do darn near anything in a Bash script.

Oh, my! Another issue! I followed the instructions (albeit from a RH
user) on how to do a BASH script for the above flash-drive. No joy in
Mudville[*] tonight. ...and mud-season is supposed to end by May

99 times out of 100 what they told you is more complex than what you need.
Its sort of like making chile. If a batch comes out extra good, chances
are you left out something.

Once you figure out the weird way things work, it starts to sort of make
sense.

When you know what needs doing:

You put the script into /etc/init.d, and a link to it in one of the rc#.d
sub-directories. The script has to be made so it can be run using chmod.

To figure things out, I commonly make the script in my no-privelaged
~/script directory. This way I limit the amount of damage I can do.

Googling on things sometimes finds good examples.

If it doesn't stop raining I'll have to throw the computers out as
anchors. A friend has already lost his
basement/foundation/furnace/water-heater to floods (though his *flood*
insurance company calls a foot-wall of water running t'wards the house
and through the basement "sepage").

If you house is wrecked by the water damage, hire a company to knock it
down and haul it away, then report it stolen. Chances are you have theft
insurance :>.

Are you in the south east? Sounds bad.

--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 23:12:17 -0400, keith <krw@att.bizzzz> wrote:

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 02:31:52 +0000, Ken Smith wrote:

In article <pan.2004.08.31.01.40.36.401923@att.bizzzz>,
keith <krw@att.bizzzz> wrote:
[...]
I have OrCad 9.x, but I never considered trying it at home (no license).

I don't off the top remember which version mine is. Its really stone age.
At work they paid for the upgrades etc. Personally I could see paying any
thing for the small improvements so I never upgraded.

FWIG, 9.x is a substantial "upgrade". OTOH, some hate OrCad more than
they hate Bush, so... I din't use any third-party CAD stuff until about
five years ago, so I cannot comment on previous releases (DOS in
particular).

[snip]

I despise OrCAD more than I despise KERRY ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.