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Tired of note-taking apps

akkshaya.blog

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Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#391

Post by bitwize »

oldsj wrote: post #219
swayson wrote: post #21

https://github.com/foambubble/foam Roam-like note taking app using VS Code. Still early days but has momentum. Been using it for a week for some project docs, and so far I like it.

Thanks for posting this! Been playing around with org-mode and org-roam but setup is definitely more challenging and it does feel like a bit of platform lock-in since the only useful org editor is emacs.

Emacs is free software, it's fun and easy to program, and it emits mostly plain text, which is trivial to integrate with other software.

Being "locked in" to a platform like that? Yes, please! It's vastly different from, say, Windows vendor lock, and it opens up possibilities instead of closing them off (especially since Emacs runs on nearly everything with a Von Neumann architecture and at least a 32-bit word size).

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#393

Post by dredmorbius »

groby_b wrote: post #328
CareyB wrote: post #32

I’ve tried many, many different apps, and approaches over the years. On of my peeves is doing things twice, so here are, to my mind, the important decision making factors: 1. cross-device/platform support. Once I was entirely Apple, I settled on Drafts (post processing when necessary), and Apple Notes. If you have multiple OS’s involved, the decision is harder (Evernote). The logic is that I wanted some contextually…

There is a non-zero chance you won't always be on the same platform. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use the best app for your platform, but it's worth to think about how you migrate data out when that day comes. I've spent roughly a decade or so on each platform I've been on, and then moved on, because either the platform lost its way, or I needed different things. I've learned the painful way that you want data lib…

What platforms & timeline, if you don't mind?

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#394

Post by vagab0nd »

formerly_proven wrote: post #74
vijucat wrote: post #12

My theory about handwritten note-taking is that the bandwidth difference between thinking (fast) and writing (slow) is somehow extremely beneficial to the process of generating creative and evocative output. There have been so many journaling sessions which I started with the absolute conviction that I had nothing new to say, and after 4 pages of extremely creative and detailed ideas, surprising even to me , I had no…

Similar experience here. Digital notetaking on non-touch devices fundamentally doesn't work, because non-textual expression requires too much work, digital notetaking with a stylus is better, but still doesn't work for the reasons you outlined. Writing with a fountain pen on good paper is like meditation to me; you wouldn't want to contaminate meditation with computers, like they contaminated everything else...

Any tips on how to get good paper?

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#395

Post by Multicomp »

cycomanic wrote: post #160

I think the note taking market is due for a takeover by one of the epaper writers, like the remarkable, the Sony epaper or the onyx boox. I feel very similar to the author, at the same time I've been using my Sony epaper for reading papers and taking meeting notes which is much more convenient than using a computer. If one of these companies would come up with a good note taking app, preferably with some way of makin…

I agree. It seems the epaper market is missing a niche. The 'cheap remarkable'.

1. e-ink screen of more than 5", less than 18"

2. sd card (aside from the Likebook Mars, this is just about impossible to get in most eReaders, let alone one for less than $500!) and an open format (ODF-based linked files, json / svg in sqlite etc)

3. syncthing access (android or native Go binary)

4. headphone jack / built-in microphone

5. stylus (wacom or whatever, can take or leave pressure sensitivity just not-battery powered plz)

6. low latency, even if ugly artifacts drawing of the lines

I guess if someone wanted to buy it it would exist and could be purchased, but I ended up settling on the likebook mars since it did all of the above except the stylus and low latency drawing.

Remarkable has apparently pushed the low latency way down and good for them, but they IIRC off the top of my head do not support syncthing or sd cards, and they are far, far too much for the average joes of the world to purchase. $300 USD is expensive, and it barely gets you halfway to the ~700 USD (IIRC) they go for. Clearly a high-end product.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#396

Post by detaro »

Multicomp wrote: post #395
cycomanic wrote: post #160

I think the note taking market is due for a takeover by one of the epaper writers, like the remarkable, the Sony epaper or the onyx boox. I feel very similar to the author, at the same time I've been using my Sony epaper for reading papers and taking meeting notes which is much more convenient than using a computer. If one of these companies would come up with a good note taking app, preferably with some way of makin…

I agree. It seems the epaper market is missing a niche. The 'cheap remarkable'. 1. e-ink screen of more than 5", less than 18" 2. sd card (aside from the Likebook Mars, this is just about impossible to get in most eReaders, let alone one for less than $500!) and an open format (ODF-based linked files, json / svg in sqlite etc) 3. syncthing access (android or native Go binary) 4. headphone jack / built-in microphone 5…

You literally can get SSH access to the linux running on a remarkable, I doubt syncthing is impossible. And since the v2 is announced, you can buy v1 right now for $299 new.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#397

Post by Multicomp »

grtehy wrote: post #195

Just another opinion on the balanced note taking method: I think org-mode solves almost all offline note-taking requirements * org-roam makes it super-easy to link notes * emacs as an editor is as usable as any other editor * Rich media is possible and easy to do in org-mode. Attach a snapshot, embed a video file * Code with documentation is a feature not available in most other note taking methods/apps. It's possibl…

if org-mode would support Ctrl+V pasting a random image or file into it, and if it could have rudimentary inking support, it sounds just about perfect to me.

Sadly, the combo of (rich optional) text, easy paste in pictures, inking, file embedding, easy linking, open file formats / all in a sqlite file you can sync / stick on a flash drive, that runs on Windows/Android/Linux/maaaaybe web is just not there yet that I can see.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#398

Post by qot »

djhworld wrote: post #20

I gave up with the commercial and open source offerings and instead just wrote my own solution. All notes are markdown, stored in a SQLite DB with full text search. It has a simple frontend and you can drag/drop images onto the editor and it will upload them. To facilitate quick note taking I wrote a FUSE driver for it and have bound CMD+N to open a command line scratchpad window (I use i3wm) where I can write and ed…

Hey Daniel, I'm really interested in the solution you made because I've been thinking of a similar architecture.

What's the best way to contact you? I can't find your email on your website or Github.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#399

Post by balladeer »

Spooky23 wrote: post #276
balladeer wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than a combination of fiddling inside ~/Library and some more SQLite circus there's really no way to make Apple Notes notes portable (across platforms) and even such circuitous hacks might break in any update or upgrade. That's a big enough no for me. This is one of those instances when the perceived Apple's walled garden convenience just falls flat. I personally prefer FSNotes (it has a long way to go but it's…

Escaping a walled garden into a subscription based text editor seems like a pot/kettle scenario.

FSNotes isn't subscription based. I am not yet paying or Bear and I don't think I'd go for it either.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#400

Post by torgian »

The purpose for me to taking notes is to help me learn, remember, and possibly come back to in the future. I almost _never_ look at my computer written notes unless I know that I am going to look it up later in the day.

To that end I have a few notebooks that I have wrote in over time. I have returned to them occasionally. The biggest downside to this, however, is space.

I just can't focus if I'm writing notes on a computer though. And it's harder for me to remember things if I don't physically ( as in, pen on paper ) write things down.

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