I was looking around for ways to simulate my circuit, either for testing or planning, but every program seems to offer more features and complications than I bargained for. Can anyone recommend a simulator that allows you to drag and drop the circuit elements that we want, then show the results of running it?

Forgot to mention. I took a look at the recommended java emulator, but it doesn't have a MCU. Something along the lines of adding a "black box" element that simply behaves however you program it would be helpful.

as a reference, here's the mentioned emulator:

http://www.falstad.com/circuit/

Have you checked out Circuit Lab? It is a site developed by the NK guys. While it doesn't have micro-controllers, it does have black box items and a whole bunch of other stuff you might find helpful.

Rick

Thanks for the quick reply. This seems to meet all the criteria, but I can't edit the "custom part." It looks like an MCU, but doesn't seem to do anything. If you could just write and compile code on it just like the MCU in the kit, then I'd be on happy camper.

On a side note: who are the NK guys?

Mike and Humberto... and probably some behind the scenes people... The owners / creators of the NerdKit and this community.

Here is the Nerdkits CircuitLab announcement from their Newsletter #19:

Ralph

Correctly simulating an Atmega would be a tall task. AVR Studio has a simulator which still isn't 100% accurate after years of development.

You don't really need to simulate it exactly. Simply having a "black box" with pins that acts according to a c program that you write would suffice. Though I honestly don't know all the work that would go into just that task.