Month: September 2010

We’re getting very close to the 1.0 desktop release of Logicly. The majority of the work I’ve been doing has been on the desktop app, but there have been a few overall changes here and there, so I thought I’d push out a new build.

In no particular order, here’s what you’ll find that’s different:

• There is no longer a separate Simulate perspective. Design and simulation are now combined, with simulation controls on the bottom left where the perspective toggle buttons appeared previously.
• Cut, copy, and paste have been added. They’re on the toolbar and they work with the standard keyboard shortcuts.
• There’s new setting called “Limit Propagation to Frame Rate”. If you turn this off, the signal will propagate much faster through your circuit. If you have a very complex circuit, turning this off may be desirable to increase simulation speed. However, there’s a tradeoff. A particular wire may change state multiple times during the extended propagation period, and you won’t be able to see intermediate states. For example, in the case of the Ring Oscillator sample, the intended visual effect will be ruined if the frame rate limiting is turned off.
• Wires now glow on mouse over and move to the top. This can be very helpful for following where each wire goes when many are overlapping.
• You can now quickly switch between the selection and pan tools by holding the Ctrl (or Command on Mac) key before dragging. Also, the pan tool now uses a hand mouse cursor.
• Flash Player 10.0 is the new minimum version. The previous build required 10.1, but I only needed to make a couple minor tweaks to support the older version. I figure it’s better if fewer people need to upgrade before trying Logicly.

Enjoy! As always, please report a bug if you find one. Be sure to follow @logicly on Twitter and like Logicly on Facebook to stay up to date and see cool stuff as I’m adding it.

Today’s update to Logicly includes the most-requested feature of all time! Seriously, I’ve been getting it ever since I first put the prototype of Logicly on my personal blog two years ago. We now have flip-flops! With this little addition, it becomes a lot easier to build more complex circuits (though I’ve seen a couple screenshots from folks who built multiple flip-flops by hand… you’re all crazy!)

Here’s a full list of what’s new in this Logicly update:

• SR, D, JK, and T flip-flops. The SR flip-flop is a master-slave implementation with negative edge-triggering. The others are based on IC 7474 and have positive-edge triggering along with preset and clear asynchronous inputs.
• Push Button. Generates a high signal (true) when you press the mouse down. Goes back to low signal (false) when you release.
• Constant Low and High input signals.
• Label. Display some helpful descriptive text in your creations. Supports multiple lines.
• Settings Window
  • Change the size of the editing surface grid (in pixels).
  • Toggle Snap to Grid.
  • Toggle auto-start of simulation when switching to Simulate perspective. Now you can start with the simulation in a paused state.
  • Change the appearance of connection wires between curves and lines.
  • Change each of the signal colors (high, low, and unknown).
  • Change the default “float” signal (it’s how unconnected inputs are interpreted). The default is still Unknown, like before, but now you can choose High or Low as well, if you prefer.
• Property Editor Window
  • Change update frequency of Clock control.
  • Set startup signal of Clock and Toggle Switch.
  • Change the text of the Label control.
• Simulation Updates
  • Design perspective is no longer “powered”. Any level of simulation, even without Clocks, must be done in the Simulate perspective.
  • Advancing the simulation by a step now controls both Clocks and propagation. Previously, propagation still happened automatically when the simulation was paused, and it could theoretically get out of sync with the clocks.
  • Improved performance of propagation.
• A new sample demonstrates how to create a ripple counter with T flip-flops. It also includes the High constant, a Push Button, and a couple of Labels.

A variety of small bug fixes got in there too. This is a very solid release with more stability and a ton of new features that I know you all will love. We’re getting closer and closer to the release of the desktop app, and I’m pretty excited.

With that in mind, what else would you like to see Logicly do? We’ve got flip-flops now, but I know everyone has more cool stuff that they’d like to see. I put up a new form for requesting features or filing bugs, and I hope you won’t hesitate to use it:

File Bug Reports and Feature Requests Here

That goes straight to my inbox, and I take all feedback very seriously. Please share your most-desired features. You can also leave a comment here on the blog too, or post something on the Logicly Facebook page (don’t forget to Like it). You can even send a tweet to @logicly. Keep the great ideas coming!