The English software house "Spectrum Software" shut down on July 4th, 2019. Spectrum Software developed since 1981 the wellknown simulation environment Micro-Cap, whose latest and last release is no. 12. As final act, Spectrum Software donated to the engineering and scientific community their powerful software:
Micro-Cap now is free!
Yes, you get it well, we are neither talking about a demo nor a students release, we are talking about the simulation software used in the research and development centers all over the world, with its full features and component libraries. When I get it well, there will be no further development of their software so that, after a while, it's going to become obsolete but, considering its power and the progress done in the past years, I'm sure that itìll take several years before we could even glimpse its obsolescence. Up to today, for all my home made circuits, I used a version of Micrco-Cap dating several years ago (Micro-Cap 6). You can imagine how much version 12 is more performing...
I strongly recommend all of you to download Micro-Cap 12, "full CD" option from Spectrum Software web site (UPDATE: now off line, see below for a workable link), before the site disappears (it seems that I have foreseen it). If you don't know what to do with it today, save it somewhere for the future. Otherwise, if you are an analog, digital or mixed-signal designer, you can use it for all your projects. Finally, if you are a student, studying electronics, electrical engineering, physics, or any other similar discipline, now you have a great tool for circuit analysis and optimization. Micro-Cap is both a SPICE based and a behavioral simulation software! It provides an easy and full featured schematic entry. The component libraries are well-stocked but, obviously, you can always add your own models. The post processing environment for the analysis of the results are at the same excellent level.
I'm providing you with two different links to download Microcap 12. Here you are the official link to the...
Free download page of circuit simulator Micro-Cap by Spectrum Software (currently not workable)
UPDATE 2020-03-25: On March 25th, 2020, the web site www.spectrum-soft.com results off-line. More in detail, at any access attempt, it replies with a page showing the following message:
"Account Suspended
This Account has been suspended.
Contact your hosting provider for more information."
It's possible that Spectrum Software (company that is not in business anymore) decided not to renew their account, that would mean the free distribution of Microcap is ended fore ever. I hope that, instead, it's just a matter of a temporary shut down of the web site. In any case, I thought to let you download my local copy of the installation file, which I personally downloaded for the official web site. Obviously, downloading it, you accept to wave me off of any responsability coming from whatever use of the file. I advise you to verify the MD5 checksum before of running the installation file.
Microcap 12 Local download: mc12cd.zip Size: 60.432.591 bytes MD5: 83f7a8ff447c04d55118ec36911bf821
UPDATE 2020-04-09: I verified that the web site www.spectrum-soft.com is online again. However, I keep the link to my local download of Microcap 12 installation file published in case of any emergency.
One last bit: While I thank so much Spectrum Software for their last gift, though I am pleased to use their software at its full power, on the other hand I'm actually sad. In the past, I bought several licenses of Micro-Cap for a company where I used to work, and I used it for years. I really don't like to think that Spectrum Software is no longer there and that Micro-Cap, one day, will become an "ancient" software.
I wish all Spectrum Software personnel good luck!
ik1hge
