Week #8: (10/24) Flowcharts, Electronics Workbench, & MSVisio (& alternatives)

[rjagodowski]

Tonight we will discuss topics & some support software required for the documentation of your Traffic Light Project.

FLOWCHARTS:

Here's a pdf from the Parallax Process Control on Flowcharts:

FlowCharts from ProcessControl-v1.0.pdf

(490.39 KiB) Downloaded 138 times

, a text which accompanied a kit from Parallax.

Flow Chart Samples

Tutorial for Visio 2016 with Flow Chart Examples.

A YouTube Video (10:44) on Create a Flowchart in Visio 2016 by Greg Anderson.

Flowcharts can also be created in most Word Processors, which usually have the standard flowchart symbols in their shape libraries.

Electronics Workbench:

....content to be added.

MS Visio for Electrical/Electronic Diagrams:

Create an Electrical Engineering Diagram in Visio from Microsoft. Make sure you select the proper version of Visio (2016).

MS Visio is a very powerful program, but is a pay add-on to Microsoft Office. It is not included with the normal MS Office Productivity Suite of Products. If you already have MS Office installed on your computer, a google search for "MS Visio Trial Download" should find you a solution to install the product on your computer for a limited time (probably 30 days). It will incorporate itself within your MS Office Program. If you don't have MS Office, then you will have to first download the 30 day trial for MS Office.

Some "Open Source" alternatives to MS Office are OpenOffice and LibreOffice. They are free and available for most common operating systems (Windows, Mac & Linux). Both programs have a "Drawing" application, however, you will have to work to find & install component libraries included in MS Visio. You can always create your own libraries (resistors, LEDs, pushbutton switches, etc.) and then just copy & paste them in your diagrams as needed.

TinyCad is another open source program which might suite your needs.