View uploaded asc files

Grossel · May 22, 2018

disclaimer: This suggestion may be too expensive and/or breake several "terms of use" for the program that originally are dealing with the file format (I have no idea really).

Anyway suggestion simply goes like this:
If an user have uploaded an ASC file, some other user (that doesn't have ltspice installed) can click the attachment link, and instead of being offered downloading the file by the web browser, a new window/tab opens and view the schematic directly in web browser.

Why?
There is "tons of" posts where OP upload only ASC file without providing a general readable format (can be vied in browser), and therefore I beleive that there may be somebody having a solution but are practically "locked out" of further discussion because can't see the schematic.

ronsimpson · May 22, 2018

Grossel said:
There is "tons of" posts where OP upload only ASC file

And there tons of posts with a small screen shot. Unreadable. And no one wants to make the file just to see it.
I am trying to post a .jpeg and .asc

Mickster · May 22, 2018

Maybe I'm missing something here, but LT Spice is free and definitely a very useful tool to have.
If someone is on this site, they obviously have an interest in electronics, but may have run into a problem and got to the point of having their particular problem, whatever that may be, analyzed by more experienced members/engineers.
I think it would be advantageous for that member to install the free tool and analyze the suggested remedy at their leisure, rather than have to be online and connected to ETO in a browser window.

However.... after writing the above, it just occurred to me that some of our members may be from countries where owning their own PC is too expensive and they have to resort to internet cafes and/or sharing a friend's machine.
Your idea has some merit and maybe ETO could look into this.

Thanks for making me think further than what we see in the 1st world.

ronsimpson · May 22, 2018

Is there a ".ASC" viewer? I know just get LT SPICE.
----EDITED----
Reasons for not getting LT SPICE.
Hard drive is full.

alec_t · May 23, 2018

Grossel said:
view the schematic directly in web browser.

The asc file doesn't contain a graphic. It's a text file. Are you suggesting ETO should provide a text-to-graphic converter?

ronsimpson · May 23, 2018

alec_t said:
The asc file doesn't contain a graphic. It's a text file. Are you suggesting ETO should provide a text-to-graphic converter?

ronsimpson said:
Is there a ".ASC" viewer?

I think that is the point of post #1
--------edited---
Next some one will want a Eagle viewer.

JimB · May 23, 2018

My own view is that if someone is asking for help, if they cannot present their information in a simple format that anyone can read, then I cannot be bothered to help them.
Same as some people who post a .ZIP file.

Being a crusty old fossil who does not do simulators (perhaps I should, maybe I will one day, who knows), a conventional schematic is a good start to diagnosing problems.

Having said that, there are several members here who do some good work with simulators. I do not wish to decry that.
Often the posters of simulator files have no practical experience of hot smoking components and so cannot see the glaring errors in their circuits.

JimB

crutschow · May 23, 2018

Posters should post a screen grab of the schematic along with the .asc file, which is what I always do.

Grossel · May 23, 2018

hm, I run Linux (Lite OS mostly) and it's a hurdle to get and find a program that is capable to run those files so I personally just skip any topics where I cannot easilly read the schematic directly - or via downloading pdf.

As Mickster mentioned using public computers, there may be another related issue not thaught about. I haven't installed LT Spice myself, but assumes it require administrative rights - and I can only guess that any users on such a computer have no chance to read that schematics anyway.

Also the "issue" is kind of different from bad jpg images. Here it boils down to being able to interpret the data that already is present (but not human readable).

Comment to BimB on posting .zip files: ZIP files is supportet natively by all modern OS as far I know. Just run any Linux or Windows 7/8/10 computer and it is fully capable to extract the contents. That is not the case for .asc files - yes I can obviously read them asc files in any text editor, but I do not look at a schematic. So that is not a comparable issue.

ronsimpson · May 23, 2018

Grossel said:
I run Linux

And Raspberry Pi and Cell Phone.

MikeMl · May 23, 2018

ronsimpson said:
And there tons of posts with a small screen shot. Unreadable. And no one wants to make the file just to see it.
I am trying to post a .jpeg and .asc

Are you sure that the "small screen shot" doesn't open into a larger view if you click on the image?

The ones I post do...

ronsimpson · May 23, 2018

MikeMl said:
The ones I post do...

You know what you are you doing.
Some people only have a 640x480 monitor or are running SPICE in a small window. or Some people (FlyBack) draw very complicated schematics that when sized to fit the screen, the resistor values can not be read. R(something) with a value that starts with a 6 or 8 or maybe 9. Next to a C(?) with a value of 1 or 7 or ?.

Mickster · May 23, 2018

JimB said:
....Having said that, there are several members here who do some good work with simulators...

I strongly agree with the above and this brings to mind alec_t & MikeMl in particular, who sometimes post excellent sim examples within answers to member's problems, whether or not a simulation file/example was initially offered/mentioned by an OP. (I don't want to diminish the value that others contribute with sims, but Alec and Mike really stand out IMO)
And with that laid down for reference, recognizing the possibility that some members may not have access to their own personal computer for economic reasons, my initial opinion that everyone should install LT Spice changed.
If you don't own the computer you are using, for instance an internet cafe/library machine, you cannot just install software to it in order to view a file.
I have no idea if there are any .asc viewers or applets out there which could be integrated into forum software, as I haven't searched, but I agree with Grossel that if it could be done it could be helpful for some of our members.

My 0.02.

EDIT:
Caps for MikeMl username.

JimB · May 23, 2018

Grossel said:
Comment to BimB on posting .zip files: ZIP files is supportet natively by all modern OS as far I know. Just run any Linux or Windows 7/8/10 computer and it is fully capable to extract the contents.

BimB here,
I am aware of the universality of .ZIP files and use them frequently.
What grips my bits is users who wrap up their attachments in ZIP files, it just adds unnecessary complication.

JimB

crutschow · May 23, 2018

Grossel said:
Also the "issue" is kind of different from bad jpg images.

jpg should never be used for schematics or any other kind of graphics.
jpg is designed for pictures and the type of compression used messes up the detail in graphics files, adding halos and shadows to fine detail.

atferrari · May 24, 2018

It would be fine to have it.

We also could say that generating a grapg

crutschow said:
jpg should never be used for schematics or any other kind of graphics.
jpg is designed for pictures and the type of compression used messes up the detail in graphics files, adding halos and shadows to fine detail.

Yes. Go with .png always.

carbonzit · Aug 20, 2018

crutschow said:
jpg should never be used for schematics or any other kind of graphics.
jpg is designed for pictures and the type of compression used messes up the detail in graphics files, adding halos and shadows to fine detail.

I always make GIFs of LTspice schematics, which is very simple (at least on my desktop computah). GIF is a lossless format that's perfect for this kind of "line art". And by reducing the color count to 16 (shades of gray), the file sizes are very small.

Grossel · Aug 21, 2018

carbonzit said:
<snip> . . GIF is a lossless format . . . . . <snip>

Not true, the maximum number of colors it support is 256. PNG format is superior in most cases.

Nigel Goodwin · Aug 21, 2018

Grossel said:
Not true, the maximum number of colors it support is 256. PNG format is superior in most cases.

Except it doesn't matter if it only supports 256 colours when you're only using a tiny number of colours - as you should be for a diagram.

GIF is usually smaller in such cases, and loss free - but obviously either is perfectly fine.

What you don't want is JPG images, other than photos of course.

Grossel · Aug 21, 2018

Yes that is true - but someone that have not an ida about digital image formats whatsoever may be mislead, so I just pointed that out.

Whatever - that's not important. In my mind it's more important to have a way to view asc files on the forum.

Btw - here is one thaught I just made up (this is something those clever folks that does web programming can answer) : What about going through SVG format, that is now more and more supported by browsers. I can't imagine it is impossible to convert .asc files into .svg files. Besides - converting further from .svg to .png I assume is not hard to achieve.

[edit]
Asking people to always add a raster image alongsidethe .asc file is just as helpful as telling a people to pick up their garbag and sort it because of the environoment. Some people will to, and other just doesn't care.

View uploaded asc files

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