Re: [tlug] OSS network visualization software, WAS: [Semi-OT] Network connectivity diagnosis

[Kalin KOZHUHAROV <me.kalin@example.com>]

Hmm,

Inkscape and Dia are the only tools I've seen for Linux vector
graphics. Inkscape has been getting better and now is quite usable
IMHO (now==inkscape-0.47).

On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 13:23, Martin Killmann <martin@example.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:04:22 +0700
> Nguyen Vu Hung <vuhung@example.com> wrote:
>> (2010/01/25 20:39), Christian Horn wrote:
>> > On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 12:05:46PM +0700, Nguyen Vu Hung wrote:
>> >
>> >> [1]: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4302271477_7938ae0962_o.png
>> >>
>> > What did you use to generate this, what software do others here use?
>> >
>> Shame on me, it was the guy sitting next to me using Power Point created
>> this image.
>>
>> > - inkscape seems a bit heavy and hard to learn
>> > - kvisio was kde-related, seems dead
>> >
>> k* in kvisio is not "kool" anymore, they are too heavy yet not bloated.
>> > - anyone using xfig for such purposes?
>> >
>> Though I thought vector drawing software would be easier to use but I do
>> use gimp.
>> IMO, to draw a network like that, we only need a software that supports
>> layers.
>
> It's a bit annoying but there is no useful Open Source alternative for Adobe
> Illustrator yet. I hate that damn thing, with its fiddly UI that never
> does what you expect from your click and its piles of annoying quirks,
> and besides the fact that it's slow and expensive. But there simply is
> nothing with the same functionality.
>
> I tried Inkscape but that one doesn't even do text boxes. Reason: "It's
> not in the SVG spec." Hello? How am I expected to make anything with
> more than 3 lines of text when I'm not able to specify an area that text
> stays in? I'm not even talking about text flowing between boxes, kerning
> or Asian typography or whatever.

Won't that work when "shape" is a box, i.e. rectangle?
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Text-Flow.html

> The only viable alternative that existed was FreeHand, but that one's
> also proprietary and dead for 4 years on top.
In the pre-Adobe-rulz-days, CorelDraw! was a very good tool (not free
of course, with Win 3.1/95).

Kalin.