LT Spice updates

[john larkin]

LT Spice used to have a tool called Sync Release. It's now called
Update Components. That seems to work.

But the separate Help/Check for updates crashes when I try to update
from 17.1.14. I'm running Win 11 on a pretty new PC.

[Edward Rawde]

Post by john larkin
LT Spice used to have a tool called Sync Release. It's now called
Update Components. That seems to work.
But the separate Help/Check for updates crashes when I try to update
from 17.1.14. I'm running Win 11 on a pretty new PC.

17.1.14? The version I have reports 24.0.12

Maybe uninstall it and install from the latest download.

[john larkin]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:35:21 -0400, "Edward Rawde"

Post by Edward Rawde

Post by john larkin
LT Spice used to have a tool called Sync Release. It's now called
Update Components. That seems to work.
But the separate Help/Check for updates crashes when I try to update
from 17.1.14. I'm running Win 11 on a pretty new PC.

17.1.14? The version I have reports 24.0.12

Yes, I'm trying to run the upgrade.

Post by Edward Rawde
Maybe uninstall it and install from the latest download.

Grumble.

Does it work OK? I've seen reports of problems running older schematic
files in version 24.

[bitrex]

Post by john larkin
On Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:35:21 -0400, "Edward Rawde"

Post by Edward Rawde

Post by john larkin
LT Spice used to have a tool called Sync Release. It's now called
Update Components. That seems to work.
But the separate Help/Check for updates crashes when I try to update
from 17.1.14. I'm running Win 11 on a pretty new PC.

17.1.14? The version I have reports 24.0.12

Yes, I'm trying to run the upgrade.

Post by Edward Rawde
Maybe uninstall it and install from the latest download.

Grumble.
Does it work OK? I've seen reports of problems running older schematic
files in version 24.

"The people's thoughts are constrained by their tools of production"
seems like a vaguely appropriate Marxian aphorism.

I don't know if Marx ever said something like "Updaters are a tool of
last resort" IME the ratio of "Oh the update fixed something" to "Oh it
broke something that worked fine before" is about 1 to 3

[Edward Rawde]

Post by john larkin
On Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:35:21 -0400, "Edward Rawde"

Post by Edward Rawde

Post by john larkin
LT Spice used to have a tool called Sync Release. It's now called
Update Components. That seems to work.
But the separate Help/Check for updates crashes when I try to update
from 17.1.14. I'm running Win 11 on a pretty new PC.

17.1.14? The version I have reports 24.0.12

Yes, I'm trying to run the upgrade.

Post by Edward Rawde
Maybe uninstall it and install from the latest download.

Grumble.
Does it work OK? I've seen reports of problems running older schematic
files in version 24.

"The people's thoughts are constrained by their tools of production" seems like a vaguely appropriate Marxian aphorism.
I don't know if Marx ever said something like "Updaters are a tool of last resort" IME the ratio of "Oh the update fixed
something" to "Oh it broke something that worked fine before" is about 1 to 3

It's been a long time since the average software update switched from actually fixing anything to forcing the latest version into
use.

[Don Y]

Post by Edward Rawde
It's been a long time since the average software update switched from
actually fixing anything to forcing the latest version into use.

Unfortunately, you may not realize that this has been imposed on you
until it is too late to "go back".

I preserve copies of old files in their original forms (and file formats)
to safeguard against this biting me -- again! This lets me decide if I
want to abandon the "more recent" version of the file in favor of returning
to an earlier version (with known performance characteristics in the earlier
application version)

[Don Y]

Post by Don Y

Post by Edward Rawde
It's been a long time since the average software update switched from
actually fixing anything to forcing the latest version into use.

Unfortunately, you may not realize that this has been imposed on you
until it is too late to "go back".
I preserve copies of old files in their original forms (and file formats)
to safeguard against this biting me -- again!  This lets me decide if I
want to abandon the "more recent" version of the file in favor of returning
to an earlier version (with known performance characteristics in the earlier
application version)

Of course, maintaining old versions is a piece of cake with VMs
(and folks who haven't adopted SOME form of that technology are
needlessly hindering their own productivity!)

[Edward Rawde]

Post by Don Y

Post by Don Y

Post by Edward Rawde
It's been a long time since the average software update switched from
actually fixing anything to forcing the latest version into use.

Unfortunately, you may not realize that this has been imposed on you
until it is too late to "go back".
I preserve copies of old files in their original forms (and file formats)
to safeguard against this biting me -- again! This lets me decide if I
want to abandon the "more recent" version of the file in favor of returning
to an earlier version (with known performance characteristics in the earlier
application version)

Of course, maintaining old versions is a piece of cake with VMs
(and folks who haven't adopted SOME form of that technology are
needlessly hindering their own productivity!)

I frequently find a need to use an older program on Windows XP, including posting here.
It's all in a VM now, accessed by remote desktop, so I can be XP one second and Win10 the next.
Also useful when playing with cpu intensive software such as AI.
Leave it running on another computer then get the result by remote desktop.

[Don Y]

Post by Edward Rawde

Post by Don Y

Post by Don Y

Post by Edward Rawde
It's been a long time since the average software update switched from
actually fixing anything to forcing the latest version into use.

Unfortunately, you may not realize that this has been imposed on you
until it is too late to "go back".
I preserve copies of old files in their original forms (and file formats)
to safeguard against this biting me -- again! This lets me decide if I
want to abandon the "more recent" version of the file in favor of returning
to an earlier version (with known performance characteristics in the earlier
application version)

Of course, maintaining old versions is a piece of cake with VMs
(and folks who haven't adopted SOME form of that technology are
needlessly hindering their own productivity!)

I frequently find a need to use an older program on Windows XP, including posting here.
It's all in a VM now, accessed by remote desktop, so I can be XP one second and Win10 the next.
Also useful when playing with cpu intensive software such as AI.
Leave it running on another computer then get the result by remote desktop.

I build VMs of each project's development system and archive them on one
of my ESXi servers. So, when I need to revisit a project, I am not
constrained by <whatever> the current hardware/software environment
"du jour" happens to be.

[You can access a VM via a web service through ESXi; so just open a browser
from ANY host]

Prior to this, I would take an image of the system and store it offline.

In hindsight, I probably would have built smaller VMs for each individual
application (plus a small set of common utilities) and shuffled files
between VMs. Multi-terabyte images eat through disk space pretty quickly
(OTOH, disk space is cheap). As I can have multiple VMs running at any
given time, it's a simple matter to move between them, based on the task
at hand.

[Don Y]

I don't know if Marx ever said something like "Updaters are a tool of last
resort" IME the ratio of "Oh the update fixed something" to "Oh it broke
something that worked fine before" is about 1 to 3

You're thinking about it wrong.

"The update CHANGED something." Whether that change moved the product
into a more useful configuration is always subject to interpretation.

[Personally, I eschew updates. I'd much prefer living with a set
of problems that I know -- and can likely workaround -- than starting
over with each new update (as there is no guarantee that ANYTHING
is "unchanged"). The notable exception is FOSS products where *I*
can examine the diff(1)s and convince myself of their consequences!]

[Edward Rawde]

Post by john larkin
On Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:35:21 -0400, "Edward Rawde"

Post by Edward Rawde

Post by john larkin
LT Spice used to have a tool called Sync Release. It's now called
Update Components. That seems to work.
But the separate Help/Check for updates crashes when I try to update
from 17.1.14. I'm running Win 11 on a pretty new PC.

17.1.14? The version I have reports 24.0.12

Yes, I'm trying to run the upgrade.

Post by Edward Rawde
Maybe uninstall it and install from the latest download.

Grumble.
Does it work OK? I've seen reports of problems running older schematic
files in version 24.

Unfortunately I don't use it enough to have run into that issue.
Files I have from 2015 appear to open fine.
Since asc is a text file it shouldn't be hard to fix issues with opening older files.