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!
That’s a lot of moolah for a simple drawing program. But I figured it was time to bite the bullet and just buy it. So I drove to my local Staples and was going to pick up a copy. I actually had it in hand…and then some serendipity happened.
I was passing the table where they have all the laptops, and this fellow was lifting up and looking over a familiar laptop, one that I had gotten for my lovely wife on her birthday and I commented as I was walking by him “That’s a good buy, I bought one for my wife.”. To which he responded. “That’s good to hear, but do you know if it has wireless 3G?”. I started to explain that such options are usually with add-ons, such as special USB wireless dongles sold by cellular companies, but it seemed to baffle him.
So, I explained the differences between WiFi and 3G/4G services and said, “that laptop is probably already connected to WiFi right here in the store, see that Starbucks next door? They have free WiFi”. He was amazed to discover this, even more amazed when I pointed out to him that every McDonald’s in the USA has free WiFi now also, as do most hotels, and some airports.
To which he replied “Well, I suppose I don’t need to pay for 3G then do I?” That struck me, because at that moment, I realized I might not have to pay for Visio either; not because I planned on shoplifting it from the store, but because I hadn’t checked for alternatives yet.
I said, here, let me show you. And I showed him how to connect to WiFi on the laptop, then proceeded to Google “Visio replacement”.
Some hits came up. Most were dead-ends…but one wasn’t, and that’s what I want to share with you today.
Since many WUWT readers are scientists, engineers and business people, they need something like Visio on occasion to map networks, processes, flowcharts, structure trees, etc.
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.
Dia is roughly inspired by the commercial Windows program ‘Visio’, though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many other diagrams. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape.
It can load and save diagrams to a custom XML format (gzipped by default, to save space), can export diagrams to a number of formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG, and can print diagrams (including ones that span multiple pages).
We feel Dia is in a state where it can be actively used. Many features are implemented and the code is quite solid and mature. Try downloading Dia and tell us what you think of it. If you find any bugs, please report them with Gnome Bugzilla.
It seems pretty snazzy, and intuitive. I was able to doodle this up within seconds of opening the program:
So, for what I need to do, a networking flow diagram, it’s perfect, and free.
Some other examples for other venues are here.
My advice, get it. You’ve nothing to lose, everything to gain. While you are at it, if you want a simple and easy to use graphing program, may I suggest Dplot, which I also use. It’s a trial, and registration is cheap, and it has paid for itself many times over.
No this isn’t a commercial or paid plug, just stuff I thought I’d share this holiday season with thanks to the guy who needed some help understanding WiFi and 3G. It just goes to show that sometimes, good deeds are repaid.
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Well picked Anthony!
You might also find FreeMind useful, when brainstorming, or when you need to capture thoughts and want to rearrange the order later.
There are a large number of open source, or freeware applications, some of which are abysmal, maybe even more than half, but the others make the whole idea of open source worth the pain.
Excellent post…thanks for the tip. I can think of several applications for this both on the job and at home.
Ha, there’s even a FreeBSD port under graphics/dia. Man, what’ll they think of next? Webservers?
I hadn’t played with dia in a while. It seemed to have been stuck on .93 for years. I thought the project was dead. I guess it has been resuscitated. I’ll have to give it a spin. BTW, I only have used Visio at work and hated it. I was not all that impressed with dia either. I like QCAD which is a QT based 2D CAD program, though it is a bit like using a semi to bring home the groceries.
And a tip for everyone who is looking for a picture/foto editing software like photoshop:
Download the free program GIMP!
Tgif is what I use for vector drawings.
Free, easy, makes nice eps for latex.
Can also use lyx from tgif to edit latex equations easily, wysiwyg.
Lyx is also a great latex frontend.
Another great free, open source application is GIMP graphics editor. It can open and save as just about any format you can think of. It can convert raster/bitmap to vector graphics as well. Worth every penny, and then some.
Thanks Anthony! I often have to resort to Powerpoint when preparing presentations in Visio-less environments, and something like Dia would come in handy. I’ll give it a try.
Nice post. Open source software is great. It is amazing how many goodies there are around, in almost every category, including the Linux operating system. I have Linux on a couple of laptops, and the wife does not notice the difference from Windows. Just as easy and no crashes.
Another good package people should support is OpenOffice. Ok, slightly less featured than “the alternative”, but far better value for money. And it runs on every OS, unlike “the alternative”.
Some readers might not be familiar with OpenOffice, the free alternative to the Windows Office Suite of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.
It is excellent.
You are on the right track!
Not only is “dia” free, if you install Linux on your computer, everything is free!
http://distrowatch.com/
Why pay for a OS when there are free alternatives?
I have used Linux exclusively for two years now.
Ubuntu is my choice, it is brilliant.
And you even can run many windows programs in wine (a windows emulator), not that I really have needed to, just some games.
http://www.ubuntu.com/
You can run it on the fly from dvd If you just want to try it out first.
Thanks Anthony,
We have Visio at work but limited number of licences because they are so expensive. A great tip.
Thanks Anthony. I use Vizio at work and had no way to take it home. This may be the ticket.
Having used Excel extensively at work I had the same problem so began using Open Office. It worked “ok”, but there were certain things that just didn’t cut it or weren’t compatible, so I ended up buying MS Office.
In 1997 I bought a SCSI printer and it came with a full version of v4 Photoshop. Shortly after v5 came out which was quite a leap, but of course I had to pay $400 for the upgrade; no thanks. I ended up using hand-me-downs, but that stopped. A few years ago I tried GIMP and although it may not be up to PS standards, GIMP is still pretty darn good, and not being a professional graphics artist, it does everything I need.
Nifty stuff. Thanks!
But where have all the plastic templates gone that we used to do these things with? I still have one or two along with a couple of slide rules I’ve saved.
I still use Xfig. It is old and the interface is outdated, but it is still the best tool for whipping up high quality scientific diagrams for inclusion in LaTeX documents.
What is mentioned here actually applies fundamentally. There are very few proprietary programs around that don’t have a free alternative. Including and especially windows. Dia is just one instance of a general principle.
Get rid of windows and install something decent like ubuntu and you have access to all of this software via free download from the repositaries right at your fingertips. Furthermore the package manager will keep the software you install up to date. And getting away from windows means no more worries about viruses and antiviruses and other assorted slimeware. I don’t know why people want to pay for software. The free stuff does everything you want and is usually better.
Just a note that LibreOffice is a fork from OpenOffice “…created by leading members of the OpenOffice.org Community” (their words.)
I’m not a software geek, but occasionally will find a need for a specific application, and will spend some considerable time hunting down freeware before I pop a few bills for a pay program. I’m retired, so have far more time than money; which is also why I’m a slowpoke on the road. 😉
Of course if Google has it’s way, you’ll have to rent everything from them in a few years. ! Isn’t their motto “Don’t be Evil”? Right.
That’s a great idea! I was having a problem figuring out what to get my wife for Christmas.
I use gliffy.com. It’s free and there’s nothing to install. It’s web-based so you can access it from any internet-connected device.
When it comes to office productivity software, I’ve stopped forking over $$$ to M$oft. I use OpenOffice for all my business needs. If a client requires that we do things using MS Office or Visio, then they usually pay for the license.
I used to be a big M$oft supporter, but their application suites are too big and bloated (and expensive) for me.
I’m slowly moving away from MS operating systems as well… after all, if I’m using cross-platform open-source applications, why do I need Windows? Two reasons: I’m a software developer on that platform so I can’t divorce myself completely, and, I really, really like Corel Draw and Visio.
Up till now, Visio was one of the applications that couldn’t replace, so thanks for the Dia recommendation! I still love Corel Draw, though, and do lots of work using it. I suppose I’ll find a usable cross-platform/open source replacement for that once I start looking…
Dittos on the FreeMind recommendation above. It’s a great tool for brainstorming.
I will have it installed on Ubuntu Linux tonight. Will let everyone knows how it goes. This could be very useful for me.
Yup al the usual suspects, Open Office and Gimp (although its a shame it does not support CMYK).
But there is far more, Open Project, CutePDF (a simple but effective PDF-Distiller), PaintNet (not the [snip] from M$), Artrage (fun), Inkscape and loads moar.
And now i am up to it, Sauerbraten (Cube 2) FPS, a free shoot em up for wich i made 5 maps 🙂 http://sauerbraten.org/
And a true gem, Orbiter, this is what M$ Space Simulator could have become, but they did not. http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/home.php
And they are all free 🙂
Not sure if you know about TechNet ? Microsoft have a membership service that costs around $400 to join (about $600 + you can easily find discount coupons on the web). It gives 5 x licences for each type of Windows (XP, 7 etc), 5 licences for the Office suites and 5 for all the Visio suits. You get 5 licences for each and every bit of MS software for $400.
They are genuin licences. The only catch, if that they are not mean for “commercial” use. They are meant to be personal copies that you use to study and learn with.
Kiss goodbye to internet explorer by downloading and using firefox from mozilla. Excellent alternative. They also have a mail client – thunderbird.
Transferring bitmap images between platforms is well developed, but vector files, sadly, is not so easy. Not all vector packages support SVG in the same way, although I have found saving as a pdf and then loading that into another app will transfer the vector files quite successfully.
As for graphing, if you are on a Mac, there is a hidden gem in the utility folder called ‘Grapher’, which is excellent for most tasks. Every Mac has a copy!