Posted on 12/15/2010 12:22:42 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Yesterday I had a request from a client for a network diagram for a system I’m designing, and normally I create such drawings as a PNG file. But this client said “no, I need it in Visio, or similar style so we can edit it”. I have avoided Microsoft Visio in the past, mainly because of its price tag: $249.99 for the basic version, and a whopping $999.99 for the premium version!
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So I want to share “Dia”, short for “Diagram”. Its detailed, open source, and most importantly, free. It also has a community springing up that is adding shape sets for various specialty designs.
From the Dia web page:
Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for GNU/Linux, Unix and Windows released under the GPL license.
(Excerpt) Read more at wattsupwiththat.com ...
I used it for a flow chart I created. I will say, I’m not sure I thought it was equal to Visio, but maybe I needed to use it more times.
The current Dia release has been tested successfully on Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, Linux and Mac OS X.
Some of he open source software out there might not be as polished and they might lack a few bells and whistles but all in all there is some great stuff out there for free.
For Linux:
THNX!
Shocked vis costs $1k..man
May have same problem with Windows.,
Ping for later
I’ll check it out, but Visio is a pretty high hurdle to overcome.
BUMP BUMP BUMP to self!
I’m not sure I need either one...figured someone might however.
I just installed the Windows 32 bit on a Vista 64 bit system. Works fine. Don’t know why you’d have a problem with it.
Thanks for the tip. I wasn’t buying Visio either.
I’ve used dia to actually do useful work.
Having said *that* - it has its quirks and glitches - but I still made a nice network diagram with it.
I’ve used it a couple of times over the last few years. It has the usual X11 quirks one finds on MacOS apps but is perfectly fine for knocking out a quick diagram.
Yea I use a lot of open source replacements, but have yet to find anything to flat replace Visio.
Freeware bookmark.
Gnip
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