OT: Freeware drawing tool for PC

Hi all. 

For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches 
and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.  
Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very 
clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the 
old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig. 

So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC 
under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use. 

Thanks in advance for any help. 

Rune

On 9 Nov 2004 01:56:38 -0800, allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) wrote:

>Hi all. 
>
>For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches 
>and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.  
>Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very 
>clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the 
>old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig. 
>
>So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC 
>under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use. 

How about ... xfig on Windows?

http://www.cs.usask.ca/grads/wew036/latex/xfig.html

Regards,
Allan

Rune Allnor wrote:
> 
> Hi all.
> 
> For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches
> and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.
> Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very
> clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the
> old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig.
> 
> So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC
> under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use.

Why not get a cheap PC and run Linux on it? You'll get a fully fledged
Unix implementation, xfig and it will probably be more that 10 times
faster than your old unix box.

Erik
-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
  Erik de Castro Lopo  nospam@mega-nerd.com (Yes it's valid)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Journalist: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has finally said Linux
            is the No. 1 threat to Windows. What's your response to that?
Linus     : "Tag, you're it." I don't care. They've had a lot of
            enemies in their time. Let them fight one enemy that
            doesn't care for a change.

Erik de Castro Lopo wrote:
> Rune Allnor wrote:
> 
>>Hi all.
>>
>>For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches
>>and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.
>>Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very
>>clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the
>>old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig.
>>
>>So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC
>>under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use.
> 
> 
> Why not get a cheap PC and run Linux on it? You'll get a fully fledged
> Unix implementation, xfig and it will probably be more that 10 times
> faster than your old unix box.
> 
> Erik

And if your sysop won't let you install an OS on your PC, get a copy of Knoppix 
- which is a Linux distribution bootable from CD.

-- 
Jim Thomas            Principal Applications Engineer  Bittware, Inc
jthomas@bittware.com  http://www.bittware.com    (603) 226-0404 x536
A pessimist is an optimist with experience

allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) writes:

> Hi all. 
>
> For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches 
> and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.  
> Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very 
> clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the 
> old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig. 
>
> So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC 
> under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use. 
>
> Thanks in advance for any help. 
>
> Rune

Have you checked out cygwin? It may even have xfig bundled.
-- 
%  Randy Yates                  % "Maybe one day I'll feel her cold embrace,
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC            %                    and kiss her interface, 
%%% 919-577-9882                %            til then, I'll leave her alone."
%%%% <yates@ieee.org>           %        'Yours Truly, 2095', *Time*, ELO   
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr

Allan Herriman <allan.herriman.hates.spam@ctam.com.au.invalid> wrote in message news:<4i51p0tsd83sfceb0hf4ab9plvre626ipn@4ax.com>...
> On 9 Nov 2004 01:56:38 -0800, allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) wrote:
> 
> >Hi all. 
> >
> >For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches 
> >and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.  
> >Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very 
> >clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the 
> >old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig. 
> >
> >So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC 
> >under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use. 
> 
> How about ... xfig on Windows?
> 
> http://www.cs.usask.ca/grads/wew036/latex/xfig.html
> 
> Regards,
> Allan

Close enough. Unfortunately, the free version is a limited thing. 
You need to pay the guy some money to get the "real thing". 

Rune

Jim Thomas <jthomas@bittware.com> wrote in message news:<10p1iqrotapm07e@corp.supernews.com>...
> Erik de Castro Lopo wrote:
> > Rune Allnor wrote:
> > 
> >>Hi all.
> >>
> >>For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches
> >>and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.
> >>Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very
> >>clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the
> >>old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig.
> >>
> >>So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC
> >>under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use.
> > 
> > 
> > Why not get a cheap PC and run Linux on it? You'll get a fully fledged
> > Unix implementation, xfig and it will probably be more that 10 times
> > faster than your old unix box.
> > 
> > Erik
> 
> And if your sysop won't let you install an OS on your PC, get a copy of Knoppix 
> - which is a Linux distribution bootable from CD.

I don't want to upset my sysop too much, those guys have a high enough 
stress level as is. I don't want to make too much a fuzz about things 
either. Apparently, some of the OS restrictions are based on security 
policies. The sysops don't want computers in their systems that don't 
comply to certain standards. And, of course, I'm leaving this job in 
six weeks or so, so it doesn't mean all that much to me after that.

Rune

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:11:53 -0800, Rune Allnor wrote:

> Jim Thomas <jthomas@bittware.com> wrote in message news:<10p1iqrotapm07e@corp.supernews.com>...
>> Erik de Castro Lopo wrote:
>> > Rune Allnor wrote:
>> > 
>> >>Hi all.
>> >>
>> >>For many years I've been using xfig under UNIX to draw quick sketches
>> >>and diagrams that were too complicated to draw directly in LaTeX.
>> >>Now my old and trusted UNIX box has done its duty, my sys op is very
>> >>clear in that he is not at all happy with me insiting on keeping the
>> >>old UNIX box up and running just to have access to xfig.
>> >>
>> >>So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC
>> >>under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use.
>> > 
>> > 
>> > Why not get a cheap PC and run Linux on it? You'll get a fully fledged
>> > Unix implementation, xfig and it will probably be more that 10 times
>> > faster than your old unix box.
>> > 
>> > Erik
>> 
>> And if your sysop won't let you install an OS on your PC, get a copy of Knoppix 
>> - which is a Linux distribution bootable from CD.
> 
> I don't want to upset my sysop too much, those guys have a high enough 
> stress level as is. I don't want to make too much a fuzz about things 
> either. Apparently, some of the OS restrictions are based on security 
> policies. The sysops don't want computers in their systems that don't 
> comply to certain standards. And, of course, I'm leaving this job in 
> six weeks or so, so it doesn't mean all that much to me after that.

There's probably a version that builds under cygwin.  Cygwin, with it's
own rootless X windows server is actually a pretty reasonable environment,
if you (a) have to use a Windows box and (b) can't install an actual Unix
on it.

Or you might be able to swing a Mac OS-X box?  They're a pretty nice Unix
workstation, from most angles (and better than any from some other angles,
too, IMO.)

Cheers,

-- 
Andrew

On 2004-11-10 08:19:52 +0100, Andrew Reilly 
<andrew-newspost@areilly.bpc-users.org> said:

> Or you might be able to swing a Mac OS-X box?  They're a pretty nice Unix
> workstation, from most angles (and better than any from some other angles,
> too, IMO.)
> 
> Cheers,

As someone involved in MacOS X software development I can second that! :-)
-- 
Stephan M. Bernsee
http://www.dspdimension.com

allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) writes:

> So, do anybody know of something like xfig that works on the PC 
> under windows? It should be freeware and it should be easy to use. 
>

How about jfig[�], Java based xfig "clone".

[�] http://tech-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/applets/jfig/

-- 
Sami