I'm looking for a good solution to build a personal knowledge Base. What are your experiences? Which Tool you are using? How long is it in use?
Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
1–10 of 113 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#2I use a markdown editor, currently Typora, since it has a side pane with folder structure. I keep folders for personal notes, study notes, project plans, compsci “knowledge” where I have massive notes for each subject. All of it is backed up and synced between devices using Nextcloud. Works fine, is free and doesn’t need paid subscriptions.
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#3I use Zim Wiki and have done for a few years now. Simple formatting, files in plain text, easy interlinking, decent search, and I've written some external scripts to work on the plain text files to be able to extract collated documents.
Backed up as part of my usual backup procedures, but only (easily) accessible with the GUI on my laptop. It would be trivial to sync it between devices and use it from multiple locations, but I don't need to.
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#4You might also be interested in these discussions:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8270759
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17892731
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19095849
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19294799
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19847258
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#5I have been building and using an open source solution called Dnote [0] for the past two years. Maybe it could help you and others in search for a solution.
I used to write down information in note-taking apps but doing so didn't help me retain more knowledge. The reasons were: (a) no spaced repetition, because I never went back to my old notes once I wrote them. (b) environment switch due to having to launch external apps every time to write a note. Environment switch was especially painful when I was immersed in a complex coding problem.
I solved those two pain points by sending myself an automated digest of my notes every week (spaced repetition on autopilot) and building CLI, browser extensions, and IDE plug-ins to talk to my personal knowledge base so that I don't have to switch environment to put stuff in the knowledge base.
My experience is positive. It has helped me advance my foreign language skills, learn new vocabulary, and retain various technical micro-lessons that I come across during programming.
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#6Read books everyday. Whatever sticks sticks.
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#7I have been building and using an open source solution called Dnote [0] for the past two years. Maybe it could help you and others in search for a solution. I used to write down information in note-taking apps but doing so didn't help me retain more knowledge. The reasons were: (a) no spaced repetition, because I never went back to my old notes once I wrote them. (b) environment switch due to having to launch externa…
> I solved those two pain points by sending myself an automated digest of my notes every week (spaced repetition on autopilot) and building CLI, browser extensions, and IDE plug-ins to talk to my personal knowledge base so that I don't have to switch environment to put stuff in the knowledge base.
Oh, this is fantastic, thanks. I'm going to have to look into how I can do this for my own knowledge base. Especially the spaced repetition part.
> https://www.getdnote.com/blog/how-i-built-personal-knowledge...
Btw, this is a great article.
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#8i use a personal phpBB board for that. each area gets its subforum.
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#9I use gitbook and publish to https://til.secretGeek.net
Each technology gets its own folder. I add a new markdown file whenever I learn something new. Then I push to git and it is published live shortly after.
Re: Ask HN: How did you build up your personal knowledge base?
#10I organize all my life with Notion [0], there is a lot of template to start with if you don't have inspirations or ideas. Also you can share your pages as a website !
[0] - https://www.notion.so/