

Ask HN: What are the best simulators for inventing from your desktop? - wannainvent

Hi HN, I&#x27;m a long time hacker who&#x27;s always wanted to give inventing a try, despite not having an engineering background.<p>What are my best bets for experimenting from my computer?<p>They seem very expensive, but Would I need something like Hyperworks, Autodesk, or Wolfram?<p>I&#x27;m noticing some interesting open source projects here:<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_computer_simulation_software<p>Are any of these worthwhile?
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Yaa101
Depends what you are trying to do, your question is not narrow defined.

If you want to do electronics you will end up with mostly with some variant of
SPICE, which is quite an old simulator.

Let other people give you other solutions.

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wannainvent
Hi Yaa101, thanks for the response. I probably should have been more clear
that I was talking more about classical engineering than hardware hacking.

Things like mechanics, fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, magnetism, and maybe
even some chemical and materials science.

Like if Tesla or Edison were alive today, what would they be using... Or if
Elon Musk or Dean Kamen couldn't afford Autodesk :)

Hyperworks seems like the best fit, but I'm definitely looking for lower cost
alternatives.

Anyway, thanks for suggesting SPICE.

~~~
Yaa101
It seems that a lot is done nowadays in Python, though then you must be able
to program, it is rapidly replacing more traditional platforms.

Success further.

