Light weight program for basic block diagrams? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:27:06 pm
content: Still working to get KiCAD loaded for Win7, but that is probably a bit overkill at the moment. I'm curious what tools might be out there for very basic block diagrams?

author: BadeBhaiya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:30:44 pm
content: I usewww.drawio.comIt works well enough.

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:36:21 pm
content: Quote from: BadeBhaiya on September 19, 2025, 08:30:44 pmI'm looking at it now. Did you just download it? I was also looking at Qelectrotech. What I envision is both an extremely simple block diagram simply to show the major components. Then one with a bit more detail. Probably closer to a detailed schematic,but more simple. Probably consider more as visual aids for presentation to office types.

author: BadeBhaiya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:56:26 pm
content: Yeah you should download it, that's how I use it.Its has a decent symbol library so it should be good enough for most applications. Perfect for explaining stuff to non technical folk and making flowcharts etc for documentation.

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 11:50:24 pm
content: Quote from: BadeBhaiya on September 19, 2025, 08:56:26 pmThat was the ticket! I jacked around with Qelectrotech for a bit, then uninstalled it. Nothing short of clunky and junky IMO. DrawIO did what I needed, but I most certainly would not try that for a circuit diagram. I think it's mostly a flowchart program. I could probably complain about the appearance stuff, but it made boxes and drew lines just fine. Of course it would not work on Win7 so I had to run the online deal. No IP in that level of charting so whatev.

author: PGPG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2025, 01:24:44 pm
content: Quote from: viper on September 19, 2025, 08:27:06 pmDo you have any problem with downloading KiCad V5.1.12 (last V5 release)?Since V6 KiCad needs Win10.At my Win7 PCs (one at work and one at home) I still have KiCad V5 installed, even I don't use them.

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2025, 03:27:09 am
content: Quote from: PGPG on September 20, 2025, 01:24:44 pmProbably comes with that "get what you pay for" deal, but even within each rev, there are like 15 flavors, and no documentation. In short, I've loaded probably 5 variants. Some places say to use the windows installer exe, some don't.I know I'm on borrowed time still having some gear on Win7.

author: PGPG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2025, 04:18:54 pm
content: Quote from: viper on September 21, 2025, 03:27:09 amThere are 4 files with KiCad 5.1.12 versions for Windows.kicad-5.1.12_1-x86_64.exe - is the file I have used to install KiCad at my Win7 64bit system."-lite" means it is only program without libraries (libraries changes only when major version number changes so if you have them installed with 5.0.0 you can save on downloading by downloading next V5 releases without libraries."-i686" - it can be for Win7 32 bit system, but I'm not sure of it.