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Posts with tag flowchart

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

Network Notepad creates quick diagrams and flow charts



While network planning and design isn't usually part of my job, I do sometimes need to put together a quick sketch of a client's systems to help me oragnize a plan of attack.

Network Notepad is exactly what I was looking for - a small, free app that lets me lay out network devices, servers, printers, and workstations quickly and easily. It's a great tool for documenting sites in case another tech has to attend to a call in my absence. Once you've set IP addresses, you're able to use the F1-F6 keys as hotkeys to ping, surf, or telnet to a device.

Don't be fooled by the Notepad in the name, though. This app is full-featured enough to tackle complicated networks. Be sure to download the Cisco-created object libraries and hub/switch pack, as they provide several icons that aren't included in the default set.

There's even a flow chart icon pack which turns Notepad into a kind of poor man's Visio (if you're looking for a Visio clone, try the open source Dia). You can't argue with the price, and the feature set is impressive for such a small download.

Filed under: Business, Design, Internet, Productivity, Web services

DrawAnywhere lets you make flowcharts on the fly


DrawAnywhere is a neat little app that lets you make flowcharts right inside your browser window, no download necessary. There's a slew of shapes, arrows, fonts, colors, and clipart to choose from to jazz up a boring organizational chart or workflow diagram. When you're done, DrawAnywhere lets you save, print or export your masterpiece as a PDF file or image.

While it may not be as full-featured as OmniGraffle or Visio, DrawAnywhere is just the ticket for anyone who needs a quick and dirty way to show someone who's boss.

[Via Digital Inspiration]

Filed under: Design, Office, Web services

Gliffy: Create diagrams and flowcharts on the web

GliffyWeb-based clones of Excel and Word are nothing-how about a diagramming tool a la Visio? Gliffy is a Flash-based diagramming and flowcharting tool for your web browser. Gliffy's interface, though an unpleasant shade of blue, is snappy and fairly easy to use, allowing you to create flowcharts, network diagrams, and even floor plans or UI mock-ups pretty quickly. Of course, it doesn't have the more advanced features that $200 diagramming tools come with, but it does have sharing and collaboration features, revision control (i.e. if someone screws it up, you can roll back to a previous version of your diagram), and the ability to export ot SVG or JPEG (what, no PNG?). Gliffy's examples page shows off some of the impressive stuff it's capable of. Gliffy is currently in public beta and free, but in the future they'll be splitting it into two products, an ad-supported feature-limited version and a premium subscription-based version "for the business user."

[Via Mashable]

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Synthis Process Modeler - Today's Free File

synthis process modelerSimilar to Microsoft's venerable Project app, or (my favorite) FastTrack Schedule, Synthis Process Modeler is a flowcharting/process modeling/doc manager app that is free for the price of an email address. I said similar, becase this is more document and process management, and isn't really designed for timelines. It's pretty robust for a freeware app, but the catch is, for the true ISO9000 or Sarbanes-Oxley features, you'll wind up paying for a server edition, or at least some consulting time with Synthis. It's an interesting way to sell services (not that it's unique), giving away the client software to tantalize the user into the larger products or services. Would you like to super size that?

The Process Modeler itself looks like a pretty good product by itself, however. If you're a one-man show having to manage some project assets, or if you manage a smaller project, I can definitely see this as being useful. Process mapping is drag and drop, linking elements is a right-click away, and publishing to a website (the HTML anyway) is a simple menu button affair. It's hard to make process management exciting though, which I guess explains the monochromatic look of the app and it's icons. Worth a look for small teams though.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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