TINA-TI

TINA is a feature-rich software program that aims the creation and simulation of electronic circuits. It can be handled by individuals who study or work in physics, for instance.

After a fast installation procedure, you are welcomed by a standard window with a well-organized layout. You can start a new project from scratch or open one of the numerous samples provided by the app; these revolve around comparators, control and current loops, current measurement, difference amps and noise sources, among others.

You can draw basic symbols (e.g. battery, voltage generator, volt meters), together with switches, meters, sources, semiconductors and spice macros. However, before inputting any numerical values into the design, make sure to select the schematic symbol, between US (ANSI) and European (DIN).

You can rotate or mirror objects, perform an analysis on the design (single, temperature or parameter stepping), change an object's position, analyze noise, generate functions through a specialized tool, record the X and Y coordinates, as well as locate components with the help of a standard search function, among others.

It is also possible to configure editor options when it comes to the measurement unit, component parameter names, color scheme, base function for AC, and environment variables. The project can be saved to file for further modifications or exported to Tina or PSpice (CIR format), XML or images (e.g. EMF, BMP, JPG formats).

The resourceful program contains user documentation for all its options, runs on a moderate amount of CPU and system memory, has a good response time and supports hotkeys. We have not experienced any problems during our evaluation, as TINA did not hang, crash or pop up error dialogs; its wide range of features should satisfy all power users.