← Back to team overview

kicad-developers team mailing list archive

Re: Spice simulation on windows.

 

@Nick,

They are installed in ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib/ngspice on msys2
builds so your assumption is correct.  The problem is that the spinit
file generated at config time will no be correct.  We may have to add
some script fu to the ngspice-git pkgbuild file to correct the paths in
the spinit file.  Msys paths /mingw32/lib/ngspice/*.cm have no meaning
for windows apps.  The other vexing issue is how to get libngspice to
find the spinit file.  It too is hard coded with an msys2 path during
config and it will not be the path where the install places the spinit
file.  I don't know if this code fixed with some script fu as well.  We
could try relative paths and see if that works.  In any case, I don't
think the solution is going to be simple.

Cheers,

Wayne

On 10/5/2016 5:20 PM, Nick Østergaard wrote:
> They are not currently copied, I have only copied the ngspice dll
> itself. I suspect they should be installed to the
> installdir/lib/ngspice/.
> 
> 2016-10-05 23:16 GMT+02:00 Maciej Sumiński <maciej.suminski@xxxxxxx>:
>> Hi Nick,
>>
>> Are the .cm files included in the Windows nightlies installer? If so,
>> could you tell me what is the relative path to the directory storing
>> them? The easiest way to fix the problem is to send a few commands to
>> ngspice before a simulation starts.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Orson
>>
>> On 10/05/2016 10:23 PM, Nick Østergaard wrote:
>>> Is this really needed?  What exactly does the .cm files provide?
>>>
>>> When I run the latest nightly I can run the allen key demo without
>>> problems as far as I can see.  Maybe some other simulation modes do
>>> not work properly?
>>>
>>> 2016-09-30 14:37 GMT+02:00 Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>:
>>>> That would work as a long term solution as well.  I was trying to at
>>>> least prove that it can be done without make changes to the current
>>>> code.   Until a full solution is implemented, users (me) will have an
>>>> interim solution if they want to use the spice simulator.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Wayne
>>>>
>>>> On 9/30/2016 3:40 AM, Maciej Sumiński wrote:
>>>>> We have also discussed on IRC another possibility, which is loading the
>>>>> extensions manually instead of having ngspice process its initialization
>>>>> file (spinit). This way we can adjust the paths during runtime.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Orson
>>>>>
>>>>> On 09/29/2016 08:51 PM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
>>>>>> After much cursing and many config attempts, I finally have a working
>>>>>> spice simulation solution on windows.  I'm guessing similar parallels
>>>>>> can be applied to osx as well.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Option A: running from a mingw32 or mingw64 terminal.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1) copy the installed spinit file (by default will be in
>>>>>> ${MINGW-PACKAGE-PREFIX}/share/ngspice/scripts) to ~/.spiceinit.
>>>>>> 2) change the msys2 paths (/mingw##) in ~/.spiceinit to absolute windows
>>>>>> paths with / not \ (in my case C:/msys64/mingw##).
>>>>>> 3) Launch kicad.exe from the terminal.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I realize this is not very elegant and will only work with either the 64
>>>>>> or 32 bit mingw (not both without editing .spiceinit) but it works and
>>>>>> is handy for mingw users.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Option B: configuring windows and run kicad from a shortcut.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1) locate the installed spinit file
>>>>>> ($INSTALL_PATH/share/ngspice/scripts) and change the msys2 paths
>>>>>> (/mingw##) to absolute windows paths with / not \ (in my case
>>>>>> C:/msys64/mingw##).
>>>>>> 2) Run kicad, open the config paths dialog, and add an environment
>>>>>> variable SPICE_LIB_DIR with path to the spinit file minus the last
>>>>>> "scripts" path ($INSTALL_PATH/share/ngspice).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I also tried copying the .spiceinit file from option A to %USERPROFILE%
>>>>>> but that did not work when launching kicad from a shortcut.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Option B a cleaner solution but still requires some configuration by the
>>>>>> user.  This is going to be an interesting problem to solve for our
>>>>>> package devs.  We need to figure out a way to generate or modify the
>>>>>> spinit file base on where it gets installed by the installer on
>>>>>> platforms where this is relevant.  We will also either have to set an
>>>>>> the SPICE_LIB_DIR environment variable or teach ngspice how to find the
>>>>>> correct spinit file at run time.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> At least now windows users have a way to have the same functional spice
>>>>>> simulation as linux users.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wayne
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>>>>>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>>>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>>>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>



References