this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Ive been running a home lab for awhile and its gotten pretty sophisticated over the years. About to destroy and rebuild. As such I want to document things and plan it all out nicely (I've been inspired by posts here!)

My problem is most likely my usage of a Mac these days. Visio doesnt work on the mac in a thick client, and the web client is pretty cool, but it's quite confining in terms of shapes. Curious what you guys are using with the logo'ed graphics for every vendor/brand etc. Ideally something free, but not opposed to paying for a quality service/software.

Thanks in advance!

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[–] ClimberCA@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I don't know what it looks like until it's done. πŸ˜†

[–] Nasach@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I use draw.Io that I self host, before that I was using pen and paper.

[–] Poat540@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago
[–] daniel280187@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Excalidraw, Open source, easy to use and no paywall. You can export your files and save them locally as well.

https://excalidraw.com/

[–] Bob_Spud@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For design documentation where detail is required - MS Word with some colour where required. Never saw the point in using visio or any other graphic packages.

A technical audience doesn't need a graphical representation of an object looks like. If they don't know what the object looks like they have problems. Virtual objects being represented by physical counterparts can be confusing and pointless.

Graphics are only useful for presentations and sales - it may save time in explaining what the objects are.

[–] modernDayKing@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

As a visual, technical person I see your point but disagree.

I don’t need (but like) the logos. I can understand the layout in hierarchical text.

But it absolutely helps me / is easier, to see the lines showing the interfaces connections.

[–] dcabines@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like D2 because it is declarative and I can keep the model in source control.

[–] reklis@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, this. I’m a big fan of the β€œdiagrams as code” things like d2, mermaid, plantuml, nomnoml and all that. Obsidian has render plugins too so you can easily visualize things.

[–] kaiwulf@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Visio has been pretty much standard in all my work roles for rack elevation and network diagram drawings, so I use it for home stuff too

[–] learn-by-flying@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] mspencerl87@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Lol πŸ˜‚ that's what I was guna say

[–] briancmoses@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago
[–] Zeal514@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

draw.io. you can save directly to google drive as well.

[–] DaGhostDS@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I use the Draw.Io desktop app, not the web version for obvious reason.

Use to do it on Visio.. But well Microsoft destroyed it.

[–] lukewhale@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago
[–] oc_netgeek@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

We use Lucid Draw. Great because it is web based and can be used on any platform

[–] betahost@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I use Excalidraw or MermaidJS

[–] djgizmo@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Lucid Chart

[–] Leading-Call9686@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago
[–] cylemmulo@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Technically you can get a web browser version of vision but I’ve used lucidchart and draw.io before and they’re good. Lucid has good Visio compatibility, draw not so much

[–] tablatronix@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Github supports mermaid to generate flowcharts, I keep meaning to take a deeper look at it and learn it.

[–] jake_schurch@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Mermaid diagrams