What open source architecture design tool do you recommend?

First, my software IDE is eclipse IDE. I have separate installs for C, Java, snd others

Second, for simple diagrams, I use DIA

Third, for my schematics, I rely on KiCAD.

Fourth, I have been trying to get my head around Papyrus using sysML (from the folks at eclipse) for system flows.

Fifth, for programming I really like C (GCC) (not C++) and Java (community)

Sixth,  I use LibreOffice Writer for much of my documentation, but It gets published in Correl Ventura ( I have more control).

AND Lastly, anything from MS is suspect and just trash and NOT OPEN SOURCE!!!

lol I wish MS would fix this:

https://office-watch.com/2022/make-lines-arrows-straight-word-bug-fix/ 

My (not so) secret technique for almost every diagram, work related or otherwise, is to use/misuse PowerPoint, and a benefit is that anyone can modify my diagrams since managers often want to strip off some complexity and reuse the diagrams for their high-level purposes too, and they already have Office on their PCs so they don't need to load anything special. Libre Office equivalent is presumably just as useful. 

Another excellent tool/time-saver is Snagit (I dont know what the closest Linux equivalent would be for that), which is extremely feature rich and allows me to convert almost any image into transparent PNGs for dropping into PowerPoint, to use in diagrams. There are so many uses for Snagit, and it's gone up in price unfortunately, but it's still cheap for what it does, considering I get use out of that app every day.

easy fix don't use their stuff!!! LOL, I you use it then you shouldn't mone (sp??) over their stuff. The best solution is to just get over  it and switch to LINUX and open source software!! and KiCAD did not cost me a dime!!

Install Linux on Windows with WSL: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install and get the best of both!!! lol

Is there a big difference between word and powerpoint for diagrams? Is it that in powerpoint everything defaults to anchoring to position versus text?

Neat tool, snagit, I will take a look. The snipit to in windows has been a game changer for me. WinKey+Shift+S.  But, if I want to annotate it, then I have to paste it into another program like paint. The annotation tools in the win snippit are lousy.

never, never, never happen. MS has NO great software!  I only have MS on one machine and it normally runs Linux. I use it for some ee tools that run under MS :( and I use Correl Ventura:) which I find has more control over the context than Libre Writer. 

/members/shabaz /members/scottiebabe I think you should both look at Flameshot (Linux) which works like Snagit (MS). see look at the Linux alternative. 

Hi!

Word is missing a few drawing features, for instance, it's not possible to union/subtract shapes (as far as I'm aware). Also I'm not sure about the export capabilities. With PowerPoint, with a registry edit, it can do very high DPI for diagrams to place into a blog.

The Windows snipping tool is good, although it has a subset of Snagit features. Snagit has a mix of these features: screenshotting and reviewing (timestamped and stored forever), screen/sound/mic recording, animated GIFs, annotation, image editing, creating transparent PNGs. Pretty much all of these features are executed well. I sometimes annotate directly within Snagit, or alternatively clean up an image (e.g. make the outside transparent) and bring it into PowerPoint and annotate there.

Hi Cris,

Thanks for the link, Flameshot looks great!

It seems Libre Offiice + Flameshot will be a similar set of functionality to PowerPoint + Snagit.

My normal work method is on a laptop with Windows, and SSH into a box permanently running Linux virtual machine (on ESXi), but I may set up a Linux Desktop at some point on a dedicated machine (which I still need to obtain). When I was a proper developer, I had a separate UNIX machine (nice UltraSPARC box) with a separate monitor and keyboard for all work, and a Windows laptop next to it for the emails/docs stuff and so on, and liked that combination.

my lord, I used to use two UltraSPARC 2 for my ISP one was the web server the other was the mail server, and I used a SPARC lunchbox to run Tic and Toc for my NTPd server.  Take a look at the clock on top of the disk box. oh for more jollies I tossed in a photo of our Cisco 7000switch and some RMON probes:

my lord, I used to use two UltraSPARC 2 for my ISP one was the web server the other was the mail server, and I used a SPARC lunchbox to run Tic and Toc for my NTPd server.  Take a look at the clock on top of the disk box. oh for more jollies I tossed in a photo of our Cisco 7000switch and some RMON probes:

Nice machines! The clock will now be a very rare item : ) 

I think I only have a Sun Blade 2000 left (got rid of my older machines) but I have not powered that up for so long I have no idea if it will work : ) I don't have a Sun monitor any more (fantastic screens, poor power supplies on the model I used).

tell me about the clock in one of my moves it got wiped out!! :((