LoCAD 4+

Excellent

I am a retired physician and an electronics hobbyist. I came upon LoCAD after some success and excitement with electronic simulation programs like icircuit. I was surprised that LoCAD was not really reviewed! At first I thought that it was simply a simulator, like iCircuit. But I discovered that it was also an entire educational course that teaches Boolean electronic concepts.

LoCAD is a simulator available for the Mac or iPad (apparently, it also works on Vision Pro!) in combination with two iBooks on electronic logic and microprocessors. With the LoCAD program you can teach yourself how a microprocessor works FROM THE TRANSISTOR LEVEL UP. The books show how basic digital Boolean gates are made. With the Boolean gates and their combinations (provided), you can make your own complex integrated circuits. Using the books and the program together will allow you to make a simple microprocessor with its own assembly language in short order.

LoCAD LV is the free MacOS version. A maximum of 9 components can be used with this version. The LV version can be upgraded to a full version. The LoCAD SV version is the MacOS school version, which already contains the activation for the full version to enable distribution via the Apple School Manager.

LoCAD and LoCAD Lite are the iOS versions that run on iPad and via Mac Catalyst on Macs. LoCAD is the full version, and in the free Lite version a maximum of 13 components can be used.



My advice is to purchase the LoCad full version and the two iBooks when you start.

I think people are downloading this program and not purchasing the inexpensive, well-written books which make the programming SO MUCH more understandable, unless perhaps you are already an EE chip designer. The LoCAD interface does not always adhere to the Mac interface (zooming, moving on the work area, right click menus for example), so there is a bit of a learning curve with the program interface.

The iBooks on the Mac did not allow text size adjustments, perhaps because that would interfere with the interactive examples. I have not yet explored the same parts of the iBook and program on the iPad. Overall it really is an amazing introduction to electronic logic and its application. If you want to try it, purchase the two iBooks along with LoCad. With a little effort you won't be disappointed.

Thank you Karl for the education!

Great app but a problem

I love this app! I can’t toggle the switches when the clock pulse generator is running.

Developer Response ,

This functionality will be enabled in version 4.2.