Obsidian may not be open source, but its file format is definitely more open than Joplin's. Which is why I switched to it.
Synchronizing with Syncthing works well enough both on desktops and smartphones.
Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
261–270 of 377 posts
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#262no files sent to the server…telegram chatbot? ok
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#263Shameless plug of a similar project (of mine), feature rich, static publishing, version control, local first, no backend required, free, open and no sign ups:
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#264It’s interesting to me that it says that in some versions of second brain: “Second brain grows, but first brain doesn’t get smarter.” Something I remember Tiago Forte said, which turned me off of his partículas brand of a second brain, is that his goal is to “remember nothing”, and have the second brain surface exactly the context necessary at the moment, which he would proceed to read and ingest. That sounds terribl…
Well, we know that it's impossible to remember everything. Humans are absolutely terrible at accurately recalling things that they observed even a few minutes in the past. But we also can't remember nothing and just dump _everything_ into the second brain, otherwise we'd have no map, no context, no way to even know how to look for what we need in the moment. It would be like taking a random teenager off the street, h…
> Well, we know that it's impossible to remember everything.
Yet it's possible to remember a lot. Those who pass "The Knowledge" test are truly inspirational. See this 60 Minutes report on London's Black Cab drivers [0]
[0]: https://60minutestonight.com/the-knowledge-60-minutes-report...
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
That was the reason a few years ago I started this project. It seems like software in AI-era should be distributed open source. So that anyone could tweak it however he wants. Not though clunky plugins system.
And the developers get compensated for their work how?
How does Obsidian team get paid when the app is 100% free?
Now you have the answer.
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#266AI'm building a native version[0] of Obsidian in Qt6 (QWidgets, cpp), replicating the markdown editor takes a while, there are so many ways of corrupting the file or losing the rendered markdown style... but its getting there[1] and its lightweight, using about 15mb ram, no gpu and barely uses any cpu when the cursor or scroll moves, like a text editor should be. Still need to render widget tables, lists and syntax h…
Will it be Free software? If you're building something that's Free software, fully compatible with Obsidian, and a native app, AI'm willing to contribute tokens.
Free to download, free to use, free to share, no data collection of any kind, but closed source.
A full 1:1 native clone would be too much to build without funding. Plugin/theme/api compatibility, canvas, bases, sync, and all the small Obsidian edge cases would make it a much larger project.
Without sponsorship or some sustainable funding model, AI'd focus first on the native markdown editor/vault part: local files, Obsidian-friendly markdown and edit on cursor presence.
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#267AI'm building a native version[0] of Obsidian in Qt6 (QWidgets, cpp), replicating the markdown editor takes a while, there are so many ways of corrupting the file or losing the rendered markdown style... but its getting there[1] and its lightweight, using about 15mb ram, no gpu and barely uses any cpu when the cursor or scroll moves, like a text editor should be. Still need to render widget tables, lists and syntax h…
I open sourced https://asnotes.io - it's markdown based with wikilinking, task management, a kanban board and static site publishing. It runs locally and is Git friendly. The aim was to build something using formats and tech that is likely to stand the test of time.
What does the AS stand for?
A polite fyi, when skim reading this, it looked like it said AssNotes…
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obsidian has an entire plugin category for syncing, and recommended alternatives to the official Sync service. https://community.obsidian.md/search?type=plugin&categories=... https://obsidian.md/help/sync-notes
True, and it's great that they don't block those (they absolutely could). But those are plugins and aren't as easy to use as the integrated sync. Obsidian wants to have their sync to be the easiest to use, and the easiest to discover. If they went FOSS anyone could just create a rebranded fork that includes their sync instead of Obsidian's sync. Even GPL wouldn't stop that, if the competitor would just keeps their pr…
You're replying to the CEO of Obsidian btw ;P
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Wait, why are you mixing the two? You can have the software be under an open source license, yet still not be a monk that has taken a vow of poverty, it's not black and white." I don't think they are mixing the two. If they open sourced it, there would be immediate competition. Anyone could fork it and circumvent/compete with any premium features they might want to add to it in the future. It's very hard to use this…
> If they open sourced it, there would be immediate competition. Anyone could fork it and circumvent/compete with any premium features they might want to add to it in the future. Would it? Something like Zulip seems like a way better target in that case, but Zulip seems to manage just fine with open-source code and running their own platform people can pay for. Not saying it is easy nor not hard, I'm just saying I do…
Zulip manages so well that their top-people just left Zulip and joined Anthropic.
Re: Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why should it be opensource? Obsidian gives you complete control of your data, which it stores in an open standard. Please explain to me why developers should act like monks who've taken a vow of poverty? The devs built something valuable, they should profit from it.
Not everyone feels comfortable running third-party opaque code in their computers.
Most people paying money for software do, though.