Logisim-Evolution (Holy Cross Edition)

You can get the latest stable version of Logisim-Evolution (Holy Cross Edition) here:

Which version for Mac?: Recent Mac systems should use the "Apple Silicon" version. Older Intel-based Macs should use the x86 version.

Mac Security Warning: On some recent MacOS versions, the OS security gatekeeper may prevent you from opening the PKG file above directly. Instead, right-click and "Save As..." to save the PKG file to your download folder. Then go to your download folder in the finder, right click the PKG file and "Open with... Installer (Default)". When given a security warning, click "Open". This should install the program.

An alternative ZIP format version for Windows is also available. After downloading it, extract the compressed contents to a directory of your choice and run the extracted exe file.

Windows and Mac versions will work only on Windows or Mac. The platform-independent JAR file should work on any platform, but requires that Java version 11 or above be installed separately (Java version 17 is recommended; the Adoptium project's Temurin OpenJDK 17 available here is one possible choice). To run the JAR file, open a command line (or Mac Terminal or Windows CMD.exe prompt) and type java -jar logisim-evolution-5.0.3hc.jar from within the directory where you have downloaded the JAR file.

What's new in version 5.x.x

• Mac releases are compiled for Apple M1 and M2 processors, so should perform much better.
• A new built-in audio component library.
• Custom appearance shapes can be automatically hidden or shown depending on circuit state. This enables building fancy dynamic components that change appearance depending on their state.
• Higher auto-tick rates.
• Scroll/zoom now works on mac, and many other bug fixes and small user-interface improvements.
• Auto-backup and recovery of projects to help avoid losing your work.

History

This is a fork of reds-heig logisim-evolution, which in turn is a fork of the original Logisim by Dr. Carl Burch. Mainly, the changes revolve around:

• better support for the Altera DE0 FPGA prototype board;
• bidirectional FPGA I/O ports (e.g. to support the DE0 keyboard and LCD module).
• new HDL components (multipliers, divmod, etc.);
• support for VHDL generics;
• UI changes to aid in HDL editing and FPGA downloading.
• Performance has been improved in this version with help from the YourKit java profiler.

On a historical note: I am also the author of all the scattered code mentioning "Cornell's version of Logisim", both in the reds-heig fork and Carl Burch's version. That code was written when I taught cs3410 (previously cs314) as a grad student and, before that, as an undergrad at Cornell. Unsurprisingly, this new fork is to support the course I now teach, csci226, at Holy Cross.

This version, Logisim-evolution (Holy Cross Edition) is maintained by:

• Kevin Walsh (kwalsh@holycross.edu), College of the Holy Cross

Below is the README.md file from the upstream reds-heig fork.

logisim-evolution

Logisim is an educational tool for designing and simulating digital logic circuits. It has been originally created by Dr. Carl Burch and actively developed until 2011. After this date the author focused on other projects, and recently the development has been officially stopped (see his message here).

In the meantime, people from a group of swiss institutes (Haute École Spécialisée Bernoise, Haute École du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève, and Haute École d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton de Vaud) started developing a version of Logisim that fitted their courses, integrating several tools -- for instance a chronogram, the possibility to test the schematics directly on an electronic board, TCL/TK consoles, ...

The project is currently maintained by the REDS Institute, which is part of the Haute École d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton de Vaud, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland.

We have decided to release this new Logisim version under the name logisim-evolution, to highlight the large number of changes that occurred in these years, and we actively seek the contribution of the community.

What's new in logisim-evolution

• chronogram -- to see the evolution of signals in your circuit
• electronic board integration -- schematics can now be simulated on real hardware!
• board editor -- to add new electronic boards
• VHDL component -- a new component type whose behavior is specified in VHDL
• TCL/TK console -- interfaces between the circuit and the user
• DIP switches
• RGB LEDs
• large number of bug-fixes
• GUI improvements
• automatic updates
• code refactoring
• ...

How to install logisim-evolution

You can find an already compiled stable version of the code here. To execute it, click on the downloaded file or type in a console

java -jar logisim-evolution.jar

You can also compile it by yourself by cloning the repository on your local machine. Once this is done, enter the directory and execute

ant run

This also creates locally a .jar file, that you can distribute and use on other machines.

Documentation

Here you can find a tutorial (French version here) that explains some basic usage of Logisim. The electronic card referenced in the tutorial is a small card we use in our laboratories -- you won't be able to buy it in a store -- but the descriptions should be good enough to be used for another generic board.

Another good reference is this book, where basic electronics is explained with the help of Logisim.

Editing logisim-evolution in Eclipse

To import directly logisim-evolution in Eclipse, you can use Eclipse's import wizard:

Import -> git project -> [put the connection details] -> New project -> Java project from Ant

You will, however, encounter a problem when you will try to execute the code. In particular, an exception ExceptionInInitializerError will be thrown. To solve this, execute the eclipse_fix.sh script in the program's directory, or go in the bin/ subdirectory and create links to the following directories available in the program's directory

• boards_model
• javax
• libs
• resources
• doc

Retro-compatibility

We cannot assure retro-compatibility of logisim-evolution with files created with the original Logisim. We have incorporated a parser that alters the name of the components to satisfy VHDL requirements for variable names, but components evolved in shape since then (think, for instance, to RAM and counters). You might need to rework a bit your circuits when opening them with logisim-evolution -- but the changes will be stored in the new format, therefore you have to do your work only once.

Wish-list

Logisim-evolution is a continuously-growing software, and we have several ideas we would like to implement. In particular, we would like to have

• unit tests for the code
• extensive documentation
• test circuits
• ... If you are willing to contribute with any of these, please feel free to contact us!

How to get support for logisim-evolution

Unfortunately, we do not have enough resources to provide direct support for logisim-evolution. We will, however, try to deal with the raised issues in a best-effort way.

If you find a bug or have an idea for an interesting feature, please do not hesitate to open a ticket!

License

The code is licensed under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, version 3.

Credits

The following institutions/people actively contributed to Logisim-evolution:

• Carl Burch - Hendrix College - USA
• Haute École Spécialisée Bernoise - Switzerland
• Haute École du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève - Switzerland
• Haute École d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton de Vaud - Switzerland
• Theldo Cruz Franqueira - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais - Brasil
• Moshe Berman - Brooklyn College

If you feel that your name should be in this list, please feel free to send us a mail!

Other Logisim forks available on the net

• Logisim by Joseph Lawrance et al. (link) - they have started from Burch's original code and integrated it in several open-source development frameworks, cleaning up the code. We have taken a few code cleanups and the redo functionality from their code.
• logisim-iitd (link) - IIT Delhi version of Logisim, it integrates the Floating-Point Components within the Arithmetic Unit.
• Logisim for the CS3410 course, Cornell's University (link) - they have a very interesting test vector feature, that has only recently integrated in logisim-evolution.