Software for Making Company Diagrams?

gaudenz asks: "We have a network with Linux, Solaris, Mac and Windows and need a software to paint simple diagrams, such as used in deployment. The actual requirements are simple: The tool must export to postscript, support fonts, boxes with multiple lines of text, and connections between these boxes. We found Visio with VMWare to be the best solution, JGraphpad 5 looks promising, too. Since diagrams are a common thing in development companies I was hoping others have made a comparison, too, and may come up with some other ideas to solve this problem."

xfig

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.xfig.org/ [xfig.org]

Damn, AC, you did beat me to that! ;-)

[PaulBu]

Also, Dia (should've come with your Linux distribution as part of GNOME) but I personally find xfig more "intuitive". ;-)

And modern XFig even has libraries of simbols for standard network/computer/rack/whatever equipment.

Paul B.

P.S. The best part is that the storage format is all plain-text ASCII, I've done a number of "Increase all font sizes to 14 pt" with sed and/or awk. ;-)

Re:Damn, AC, you did beat me to that! ;-)

[mpmansell]

I've had a look at www.xfig.org and it does look as if the modern version is vastly improved over the old versions (with drivers for stone chisles ( :) ) that I came to know and hate!

In addition, there seems to be Cygwin compiled version for use on windows which, while not being an easy install, will at least allow cross platform.

Certainly it is worth further investigation. After all, it cannot be any worse than the version I was 'using' 10 years, or so, ago :)

Re:xfig

[jgrahn]

Or, if you want diagrams with source code, use pic(1) and let troff render to Postscript. Or grap(1) - another bizarre troff preprocessor from the ancient past.

Re:Get used to it

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

A better product.. than... what?

He's looking for a product. Do you know of one?

And I don't think Word does what he's looking for.

Re:Get used to it

[mpmansell]

It's posts like the parent that makes me think there should be another moderation, "Trog". Short for 'Troglodyte', it would be similar to 'Troll', but with added 'Ug!" :)

Visio is a good product, but expensive, as is the Windows license it needs as well.

Word is also expensive and no better than OpenOffice. In fact, in a modern environment OO can often win because of being cross platform.

This person needs to add up all the costs, put his brain in gear, and then make a posting. If he is still happy with spe

Re:Get used to it

[hughk]

I like Visio, although overkill just for 'office diagrams'. We have a big problem at the moment on a big project because there aren't enough Visio licenses to go around so the specs can be read properly (generally, they are Word with embedded Viso objects). This is, btw, a major bank!

I have just quietly introduced Ghostscript as the workaround. The Visio viewer is really just an IE plugin so not much use when viewing a Word document.

Re:Get used to it

[mpmansell]

My usual 'trick' to deal with having as many people able to view docs as possible is to convert them to PDF format, since there are PDF viewers freely available for most platforms (including my Treo600 :) )

This can be done simply and cheaply under windows by installing a postscript printer (I use LaserWriterII), printing through the driver to a file, then using 'ps2pdf' under cygwin. This usually does the trick for me although there are probably simpler methods available :)

Re:Get used to it

[hughk]

Broadly what I use (gs under cygwin). However the printer driver I use is Adobe's with the Adobe PPD which essentially gives everything (including colour).

LWN Strikes Again

[MBCook]

Once again, the great LWN [lwn.net] has something to help you. Check out part 1 [lwn.net] and part 2 [lwn.net] of "The Grumpy Editor's Guide to diagram editors". I have no expiriance with any diagram software, so that's all that I can offer you.

Re:LWN Strikes Again

[The Clockwork Troll]

Fair warning: the "reviews" represent 5-minute excursions into the programs.

If you're planning to do any serious work, you'll find yourself recapitulating LWN's research.

That said, the reviews do make for a good list of candidate programs to try.

FreeMind

[Markaci]

I played around with this. Not very useful for me, but it may work for you. It doesn't export to postscript, but it exports to HTML. :-\ Give it a look. http://freemind.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

Re:FreeMind

[fm6]

FreeMind is just a freeware version of either MindJet [mindjet.com] or some other software for doing Mind Mapping [mind-map.com]. If it's like other MM software, it's a brainstorming tool -- which means it's deliberately messy. Not good for doing presentations.

Re:FreeMind

[Christopher Cashell]

While it's not ideal as a final presentation, I find that something like FreeMind (or it's commercial bretheren) are invaluable during the preparation and organization stages of a presentation.

Use it initially for the brainstorming, then take your brainstorming results and clean it up, make any changes you need to, put that in a new mind map, and you've got most of your presentation planned out and done.

Re:FreeMind

[fm6]

I agree with you. But the initial conversation was about org charts. I think you'll agree that Mind Mapping tools aren't very good for that.

Re:FreeMind

[Christopher Cashell]

Yes, you are correct. They generally don't provide quite enough flexibility to be used effectively for that (at least not without some additional support tools).

Closest to Visio at the moment..

[rusty0101]

under Linux is Dia.

I am not claiming it is a great app. I happen to think it needs a lot of work. However for a quick drawing, to do flow chart type work, you should find it viable.

Good luck.

-Rusty

Dia is NOT a visio replacement.

[Ayanami Rei]

Dia is just that, a diagraming tool. That's all it does.
It's not a presentation tool or graphical design tool.

Visio is a cross between a diagramming tool, a VB environment, and Illustrator. That's a hard act to follow. (And it wasn't originally a Microsoft product either).

Re:Dia is NOT a visio replacement.

[james11111]

I don't think Dia supports postscript. It works with XML and bitmaps.

Kivio Works for me

[Kick the Donkey]

I use Kivio [koffice.org]. Works well. And is relativly feature rich. I believe is supports most of what you're looking for.

Re:Kivio Works for me

[Cranx]

I have to second this: Kivio works fantastic.

* It's for KDE, so you can print directly to postscript or a PDF.
* Connect objects permanently and re-arrange them on the page without losing your connection lines.
* Use any font face/size installed on KDE.
* Multiple lines of text.
* Create multiple pages in a single document.
* Use any of 16 built-in arrowhead types.
* Control line width and color.
* Use object shapes and graphics from a huge collection of stencils.
* Open source and free.

I just poked arou

Dia

[irenetheno]

I switched to Linux as my primary desktop a few months ago (chose Fedora Core 2).

Recently, I was creating an OpenOffice.org document and needed a couple of diagrams.. After
searching through the menu for a few moments, I came across Dia. [gnome.org]

Dia fits all of the listed requirements from what I can tell. Its interface and features are very
similar to Visio IMO.. In addition, It loads much much faster than Visio.

I created two mini-network diagrams quite easily on my first use. I exported those to PNG
(EPS is available in a couple of formats) and inserted/scaled them into my document.

Overall, I was quite impressed.

Re:Dia

[irenetheno]

Coincidentally, [ofb.biz] I was just reading and commenting on this at ofb.biz [ofb.biz]..

I had been linked to that website from the Slashdot story on FreeBSD Printing. [slashdot.org]

huh?

[Tumbleweed]

You've already mentioned Visio works for you - why are you looking for something else? Do you need something that's Linux native?

Re:huh?

[n0d3]

Concidering that VMWare is a few hundrerd and Office with Visio, I would say a native Linux app could save you on some VMWare costs, and a free app. even more?

Besides, if you are using Linux and all, it would be easyer and nice to have a good native app, a lot of overhead and so, then again, nobody cares about efficiency and such anymore, we'll just get a new CPU + ram right?

Graphviz

[Polo]

You might want to look at graphviz:

http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/graphviz [att.com]

I've used the mac os x port and found it will create graphs from possibly script-generated input files in a simple syntax.

Re:Graphviz

[fm6]

I got interested in Graphviz when I did a Tech Writing contract that required me to use Doxygen [stack.nl]. One useful feature of Doxygen is that it can feed inheritance and dependency information to graphviz to create cool diagrams for your API manuals. Alas, Graphviz only knows how to connect nodes with simple arcs. That means you can't follow standard conventions for creating things like org charts. And even if you're not that picky, you need more contro over placement and line drawing if you're going to readable charts with more than a very few nodes.

Re:Graphviz

[aero6dof]

You can get graphviz to output svg and send that into inkscape or sodipodi or manipulate the svg yourself with any xml library want. (I like Ruby's REXML)

Re:Graphviz

[fm6]

Sure, but why? The whole point of a program like graphviz is to spare you exactly that kind of manipulation. Plus, tweaking a graph on the XML level would be a nightmare.

Re:Graphviz

[aero6dof]

That why you use an SVG editor to modify it instead of hand writing the XML.

When in doubt, always remember . .

[Amiasian]

On the OS X front, there's Omnigraffle [omnigroup.com]. It exports to a wide variety of formats, PostScript included.
Also has the charting functions you'd be looking for.

Re:When in doubt, always remember . .

[groovemaneuver]

ConceptDraw on OSX is pretty cool too. I asked them if they were pondering a Linux port, and they said they were considering it.

tools

[Sicnarf]

I'd say: Dia and Impress (OO.org) offer basic diagramming functionality. Also Xfig does the job (although requiring the user to move the connecting lines when moving objects).

Visual Thought

[Will Sargent]

Visual Thought [tersesystems.com] is freeware. Works on Windows, Solaris, HP, and Linux (under Wine).

Re:Visual Thought

[WillAdams]

Not really freeware --- it's time-limited and due to expire in a bit more than a decade.

William

Re:ascii diagrams

[nbvb]

TheDraw.

'nuff said.

Company diagrams?

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

I was going to say that I knew of none that included libraries with such important symbols as "Man with head inserted in anus" and "The whipmaster". However, it seems you only need an application that has computer and network symbols, so you have your pick of several.

Of course, they won't be able to do managerial or organizational charts...

Re:Company diagrams?

[Zork the Almighty]

For what it's worth, I'm sure xfig can do a "death spiral".

Postscript.

[op00to]

Be a real man and hand-code your own postscript graphics. It's really not that difficult. Really.

kivio by thekompany.com

[mpechner]

Not the best, but it works across all platforms.

OpenOffice

[mpmansell]

Recently, while working on a specification document, I had need to provde inline documentation.

At the time I was working with a combination of DocBook (try XMLmind - brilliant) and OpenOffice.

Much to my surprise, the diagram editing facilities in the wordprocessor are quite acceptable, if limited. For quick, and sometimes moderatley complicated, diagrams it does quite well. What it loses in power is often made up for by convenience. I'd certainly give it a try if you are writing with OpenOffice already.

T

Re:OmniGraffle

[blogeasy]

OmniGraffle is a great tool but I'm not sure if I would run out a get a mac just for OmniGraffle. However, there's a lot of other great advantages to a mac that makes it worth getting anyway. You can never have enough information [infopup.com].

Re: company diagrams

[gnu-generation-one]

"The tool must export to postscript, support fonts, boxes with multiple lines of text, and connections between these boxes."

OpenOffice Draw is so perfect for this job that it's not even an interesting question. Imagine something like Visio, but better, Free, and native to linux. Doesn't crash like Dia, easier to use, more versatile, and handles all the "linked boxes with translucent backgrounds and text some of which is in different colours or styles" that you'll ever need.

I assume that "print to file" generates some sort of postscript output, but it certainly supports saving as PDF, in addition to bitmap output options. You do know that ImageMagick makes it trivial to convert between images, PS, and PDF from the command-line?

OmniGraffle

[Bob Wehadababyitsabo]

OmniGraffle [omnigroup.com] by the good folks at the OmniGroup [omnigroup.com] Is the best diagramming software I have seen or used. Very slick interface, and easy to use but powerful at the same time. Can't export to PS, but you can always use pdf2ps [technion.ac.il] to convert exported PDF's.

OpenOffice.org Draw

[Anonymous Coward]

Is rather more powerful than Micrsoft picture, it's closer to visio (though lacks the extensive library of ready-made shapes).

It's wacky OpenGL 3D-effect objects are a big hit with the PHBs, too.

Open Office

[1337 Twinkie]

The open office drawing program should do exactly what you need. It can do everything you wanted and then some.

ConceptDraw

[tin foil hat dude]

ConceptDraw is an Awesome piece of software that I have used for flow charts, cubicle diagrams and some huge charts that were 14 ft. x 6 ft. and had about 80,000 data points.