Tag: dia

May 25, 2010

Until recently, Microsoft Visio was one of the few pieces of Windows-only software I could not bear to part with. Visio's diagramming features---flow charts, network diagrams, databases, UML, etc---were all things I could not find in a suitable open source product that would run on Linux.

Dia is the open source alternative I've recently discovered that has allowed me to replace Visio with a free Linux alternative. (Although, you can also run Dia on Windows.) Dia features many of the same diagram "objects" as Visio --- some have even better graphics. Plus, you can always create your own shapes or import images. Dia exports diagrams to a number of formats; I especially appreciate the ability to export directly to encapsulated postscript (eps) for including graphics in LaTeX documents. Overall, Dia is a good alternative to Visio and well worth using.

Categories: Linux

Tags: dia, visio