Sarah is a sophomore at a reputed university pursuing her undergrad in engineering. She knows OrCAD® Capture and PSpice are part of ECE-240. But when she wants to download the software, she has an option, in addition to OrCAD Lite, OrCAD Trial. Or, does she have an option? Well, no . The question is, why doesn’t Sarah or other students like her have an option? Don’t both OrCAD Trial and OrCAD Lite come free and packed with productivity enhancing, feature rich, easy-to-use Capture and PSpice? Let me put to rest any confusions between OrCAD Trial and OrCAD Lite. OrCAD Lite is a limited version of OrCAD products; you get everything for free but there are limits to the number of parts you can place in your design or the models you can simulate. However, there is no trial period. If you are happy with the limits (which are good for university projects), theoretically, you own it forever. But the categorical no to options was only half the truth, you do have options; either download OrCAD PSpice Designer Lite or OrCAD PCB Designer Lite , based on what you intend to do. If you only want to create schematics and simulate them, go for OrCAD PSpice Designer Lite. But, in addition, if you also want to create a physical board and route it, go for OrCAD PCB Designer Lite. So, Sarah, if you are reading this, spread the word. OrCAD Lite is for you and your fellow students. Download it right away from http://www.orcad.com/resources/download-orcad-lite . And, keep it forever: learn, explore, and be creative. OrCAD Trial, on the other hand, is as good as a purchased product: OrCAD® Capture CIS, OrCAD® PSpice® Designer, OrCAD® PCB Designer Professional, OrCAD® Sigrity ERC, and more. You can create an industry-level design, simulate the design, create a board, and route it too. But, it works only for the trial period, typically 10 to 45 days. So, if you are an entrepreneur or represent an organization and looking for a EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software but want to try it out before investing, download OrCAD Trial. You can smoothly transition from OrCAD Trial to a purchased version by simply buying a license and registering yourself. If you want to take a trial of the Trial (pun intended), download it from http://www.orcad.com/free-trial . And as it rightly says at the link “Download OrCAD Free Trial now to see how OrCAD can help you boost your creativity, productivity, and plain old getting things done.” Well, if you have got your version of either OrCAD Trial or Lite, there are resources to quickly get you started too. Check out the Start page in OrCAD Capture that has a Learning Resources tab with user guides, tutorials, and videos that help you learn the tool and become productive. The embedded learning environment Learning PSpice ( Help – Learning PSpice ) with real world examples gives you an immersed experience to pick up theory as well as practice of simulation. And, of course, you can explore the learning resources at http://www.orcad.com/resources/library and http://www.pspice.com/resources or become part of the learning process itself by joining the PSpice community at http://www.pspice.com/ . Bon voyage!![]()
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