Path: menudo.uh.edu!barrett From: jhines@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (hits" Hines) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Digital Breadboard Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications Date: 27 Mar 1994 22:56:00 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 168 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <2n52u0$re8@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: jhines@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (hits" Hines) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: science, engineering, electronics, circuits, simulation, freeware Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu PRODUCT NAME Digital Breadboard 1.1.8 [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review was updated on Mar 29, 1994. Search for the text "[UPDATE:" to find updated information. -Dan] BRIEF DESCRIPTION This product is a computer engineering simulator. It allows you to build up combinational logic circuits on screen and test them. This product may be found in the file util/misc/dbb118.lha on the Aminet ftp sites. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Dan Griffin Address: 2049 Tamarack Dr. Okemos, MI 48864 USA E-mail: griffin@egr.msu.edu LIST PRICE Freeware. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Works on the 68030. SOFTWARE Requires AmigaDOS 2.04 and reqtools.library. "Degrader" is recommended because for some reason the program is in PAL. [UPDATE: Dan Griffin, the author of the program, reports that "Digital Breadboard does not force PAL mode: it runs in NTSC or PAL. However, it does create a screen with a height of 440 pixels, so a modest overscan is recommended. Version 1.2 has a resizable window." - Dan] COPY PROTECTION None. Installs on a hard drive. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 3000 / 25 10 meg ram (8 Fast, 2 Chip) Quantum 50 meg HD Quantum 425 meg HD Commodore 1950 monitor AmigaDOS 2.1 INSTALLATION Dearchive the files (using "lha" or similar program) into a directory and you're set. It makes its own subdirectory. REVIEW I saw this announced in comp.sys.amiga.announce and I said to myself, "I could really use a program like this." I then downloaded it and tried to use it. It dearchived nicely into its own directory and was immediately available to run. After starting it the first time, I realized that I would need to boot in PAL mode to see the bottom of the screen. [UPDATE: See the "UPDATE" in the section SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS, above, for more information. - Dan] Now after using the program for about 2 hours, I find that it is a very good program for designing digital logic circuits. I am currently taking an Introduction to Computer Engineering course and I was easily able to put examples from the book into the DBB and see them work. There are also some example circuits that are neat to see. Some of the features of this program include, in no particular order: - multiple user definable clocks - printing of circuit designs - various logic functions include 2 and 3 input - and - or - nand - nor - xor - inverters - input and output indicators - logic probes - various flip flops including - j/k - s/r - d - ARexx port (hmmmmm) [UPDATE: Dan Griffin, the author of the program, reports that this version has no ARexx port. An ARexx port is planned for version 1.2, not available as of this writing. - Dan] - Many others that I cannot think of right now DOCUMENTATION Documentation is online in AmigaGuide format. You can also get printed documentation from the Author for $5 (US). Documents are also in text and TeX formats. The documentation is of good quality. However, it does not teach digital logic design. You should take a class for this or buy a good book from Radio Shack entitled "Getting into Electronics" for a start. LIKES AND DISLIKES I think that I like the ability to test digital logic circuits without having to wire them up on a real breadboard. Also you don't have to buy the chips to test them out: you can just use the electronic ones. I dislike the distance that the elements must be separated by. It kind of limits the number of items you can put in. Also there are only so many different types of logic that you can make. (and, nand, nor, etc.) The program could use some user definable logic functions (which the author promises for the next version). I would like to see a variable sized grid on which the elements can be placed, user definable logic functions, and a NTSC version. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS Compared to doing this kind of design by hand, this is great. I have not seen any other products with which to compare it. BUGS I have not found any bugs. This program runs smoothly. I did however crash the program once, but that is because I did not read all the documentation. [UPDATE: Dan Griffin, the author of the program, reports that version 1.1.8 has one bug in the wire routing, which is fixed in version 1.1.9 (soon to be uploaded to Aminet). - Dan] VENDOR SUPPORT Not applicable. WARRANTY No warranty is given (it's freeware, dammit). CONCLUSIONS I think that this is a very good product. I cannot wait for the next version to be released. COPYRIGHT NOTICE This review is hereby deemed freeware. :) --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews