<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<meta name="generator" content=

"HTML Tidy for Mac OS X (vers 25 March 2009), see www.w3.org" />

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content=

"text/html; charset=us-ascii" />

<title>Qucs project: F.A.Q.</title>

<link href="qucsweb.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<!-- header and footer include scripts -->

<script src="headerfooter.js" type="text/javascript">

<body text="#000000" bgcolor="white" link="#0000FF" vlink="#0000FF"

alink="#0000FF">

<!-- include the common web page header -->

<script type="text/javascript">

header()

//]]>

</script>

<div id="main">

<hr />

<h3>Frequently asked Questions</h3>

<a href="#q001">1. On which OS will Qucs run?</a><br />

<a href="#q002">2. What kind of software is need to be installed on my system to run Qucs?</a><br />

<a href="#q003">3. Why don't you use Spice to simulate the schematics?</a><br />

<a href="#q004">4. How can I set the language for Qucs?</a><br />

<a href="#q005">5. Qucs does not start on my MacOSX. What's wrong?</a><br />

<a href="#q006">6. I try to run the ASCO optimizer and it gave

me the following error: 'qucsator' is not recognized as an

internal or external command, operable program or batch

file.</a><br />

<a href="#q007">7. I use the Windows version of Qucs. After

installing it, I can't use it when logged in as different user.

Simulation cannot be started, projects are away and/or icons

don't appear properly in the GUI. What's wrong?</a><br />

<a href="#q008">8. What do I do if my question isn't answered

here?</a><br />

<h3>Answers</h3>

<p><a name="q001" id="q001"><b>1. On which OS will Qucs

run?</b></a><br />

Qucs is currently developed on GNU/Linux systems using the GNU

autotools (and CMake experimentally).

For this reason it is very likely that Qucs runs on

all kinds of Unix systems supporting an appropriate system

interface and an installed Qt&reg; environment. It has been

verified that Qucs can be installed on GNU/Linux, Solaris 2.9,

MacOS 10.5, NetBSD, FreeBSD and Cygwin (Unix emulation layer

for Windows).

Qucs is

also available natively on x86 Windows (XP/Vista/7/8) systems

and experimentaly on x86_64 versions of these. </p>

<p><a name="q002" id="q002"><b>2. What kind of software is need

to be installed on my system to run Qucs?</b></a><br />

Currently Qt4 (version 4.6 and higher) are known to work well.

To compile qucs you will need some additional packages like

qt4-dev-tools, bison, flex, gperf and adms-2.3.0 (included into Qucs)</p>

<p><a name="q003" id="q003"><b>3. Why don't you use Spice to

simulate the schematics?</b></a><br />

There are several debatable reason for this. When looking at

the Spice3f.5 source code (i.e. the last version with technical

support from the University of California) it seems like the

program was made as a proof of concept rather than a ready to

use application. In fact the code is not easy to extend though

possibly reliable and tested for a great variaty of schematics.

The original Spice misses a S-parameter and harmonic balance

simulation which may be necessary for microwave engineers, thus

Spice would not be an all-in-one solution. Of cource there are

trillions of derivates of the last official Spice version

extending and bug-fixing it: but which shall we use? Last but

not least the licence issue. The copyright holder for the Spice

code are the Regents of the University of California. The code

comes for free but isn't in fact meant to be re-used.<br />

<br />

Some more restriction of Spice3f.5</p>

<ul>

<li>limited number of nodes and devices (student

version)</li>

<li>though implemented and possibly ready-to-use the

integration order (for the Gear formulae) won't exceed 2 in

the transient simulation code</li>

<li>there are no such components as phaseshifter, isolator,

circulator, microstrip components, etc.</li>

<li>the frontend isn't as good as it could be</li>

</ul>

<p><a name="q004" id="q004"><b>4. How can I set the language

for Qucs?</b></a><br />

If you want to change the language for the Qucs GUI you need to

quit Qucs and then</p>

<pre>

$ export LANG=de

</pre>for German for example. Then start Qucs again. Also you can

change the language in the application settings dialog (in the file

menu).

<p><a name="q005" id="q005"><b>5. Qucs does not start on my

MacOSX. What's wrong?</b></a><br />

Please contact the developers. Provide details and if available a

crash report.</p>

<p><a name="q006" id="q006"><b>6. I try to run the ASCO

optimizer and it gave me the following error: 'qucsator' is not

recognized as an internal or external command, operable program

or batch file.</b></a><br />

The optimizer ASCO runs the 'qucsator' program to perform

optimizations. Therefore the 'qucsator' program which is the

backend simulator for Qucs needs to reside in the program PATH

environment.<br />

<br />

Under GNU/Linux or similar do</p>

<pre>

$ export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/qucsator

</pre>On Win32 systems go to "Start", "Settings", "System

properties", click on "Advanced" tab. In the "Advanced" section

click the "Environment Variables" button. There edit or add the

<tt>PATH</tt> environment variable to point to the path where

'qucsator.exe' resides.

<p><a name="q007" id="q007"><b>7. I use the Windows version of

Qucs. After installing it, I can't use it when logged in as

different user. Simulation cannot be started, projects are away

and/or icons don't appear properly in the GUI. What's

wrong?</b></a><br />

Don't panic! Under Windows environment variables are used to

steer "relocation", meaning how a program knows where it

resides. During installation these environment variable are set

up. These are user specific (even when installed as

"Administrator"). If you want to use Qucs two variables are

most important: <tt>QUCSDIR</tt> and <tt>HOME</tt>.<br />

<br />

<tt>QUCSDIR</tt> specifies where qucs is installed. On Win32

systems go to "Start", "Settings", "System properties", click

on "Advanced" tab. In the "Advanced" section click the

"Environment Variables" button. There edit or add the

<tt>QUCSDIR</tt> environment variable to point to the path Qucs

is installed (e.g., <tt>C:\Programs\Qucs</tt>).<br />

<br />

The <tt>HOME</tt> variable is used to identify where settings

and project data are stored. Even for network drives you can

let point it to e.g. <tt>H:\</tt>. In this folder a directory

<tt>.qucs/</tt> is created and used to store project related

files.</p>

<p><a name="q008" id="q008"><b>8. What do I do if my question

isn't answered here?</b></a><br />

You may go through the <a href=

"http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=90337">mailing list

archive</a>. If that doesn't help, <a href=

"contact.html">contact us</a>.</p>

<hr />

</div><!-- include the common web page header -->

<script type="text/javascript">

footer()

//]]>

</script>