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Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

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Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#111

Post by devindotcom »

mrdrozdov wrote: post #80

For note taking I use the open sourced Notational Velocity [1] (actually I use nvAlt [2] which is a fork that has some extra features like Markdown support). My two favorite features are that it can store your notes as plain text files in a folder of your choice, plus there's syncing through Dropbox or Simplenote. Notational Velocity is a Mac app, but with Simplenote you get x-platform support. [1] http://notational.…

Yeah, I love Simplenote sooo much. The official app got a lot better when Automattic took over, so I use that on Android, but NV on Mac and ResophNotes on Win7 are excellent.

Not good for rich text and images and web clippings and such, just great plain text syncing.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#112

Post by hardwaresofton »

Also, for those who want to try it out, and don't want to register, I made an account:

username: test

pass: testtest

email: test@test.com

This is awesome, definitely a great start (as others have said). I'm currently working on a similar thing (in that it is open source and replaces some of the pay/ad-powered products that exist in that area) and appreciated seeing this.

Have you considered starting a small hosted service?

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#113

Post by foxylad »

troels wrote: post #6

It's a good start, but I feel the UX could do with some refinement. Why is there no default notebook upon signup? Why isn't there a big fat "Add a note" button on the top of the list of notes? Why do I have to explicitly press save after editing a note? And why is is soe obscure icon of a floppy disk, instead of a button with the text "Save changes" on it? Etc. All the functionality is there, but as I see it, an app…

> And why is is soe obscure icon of a floppy disk, instead of a button with the text "Save changes" on it?

If you've ever tried to use a computer in a foreign country, you'll realise why icons are an extremely good idea.

I agree the floppy disk symbol is dated though, as is having to save a file.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#114

Post by drvortex »

mxuribe wrote: post #29
jkot wrote: post #10

Another dissapointment. I want personal Wiki combined with calendar (something like Zim). It should run acrosss many devices offline. And synchronize using existing network infrastructure (Git or email). I will probably have to write it by myself :-)

I've actually abandoned evernote in favor of zim wiki for almost a year now, and have been quite happy. Admittedly, I don't use pdfs, deferring more to text and basic image-style notes. (So, my requirements are admittedly simpler.) Also I haven't synched across devices (yet!) but zim can be set up to simply save the content/notes within a directory that gets auto-synched by another app (such as owncloud, dropbox, etc…

I moved TO Evernote from Zim. I was using the same kind of setup you mention, a Zim directory saved in Google Drive, and synced via the official Google Drive client.

It worked ok, until my needs started going beyond simple text and images. There is a horrible issue that caused due to file locking after you make changes because the Google Drive client and Zim aren't really talking to each other at all. Every once in a while GDrive will attempt to sync exacly when you are editing the file and fail.

Evernote's clipping/reading functions of the browser extension finally won me over. Evernote also has much better UX+UI compared to Zim.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#115

Post by Rondom »

encoderer wrote: post #92

I dream of a future where there is a standard rest interface for cloud file storage, that somebody will put an API in front of any non-compliant services, and that applications can talk to any datastore with minimal hacking. This has been done before with, eg ODBC.

You might want to try Unhosted and related projects.

https://unhosted.org/

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#116

Post by niutech »

encoderer wrote: post #92

I dream of a future where there is a standard rest interface for cloud file storage, that somebody will put an API in front of any non-compliant services, and that applications can talk to any datastore with minimal hacking. This has been done before with, eg ODBC.

There are already open standards for cloud storage:

- Apache Libcloud/Deltacloud/jclouds

- CDMI

- NDMP

- NFS

- remoteStorage

- SME

- WebDAV

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#117

Post by blazespin »

laurent123456 wrote: post #18
drvortex wrote: post #14

As other's have mentioned, the WebUI is a major no-no. Evernote's strength lies in its Desktop application and very useful clipping service. The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. Sync is required but implemented in the most undesirable way in Evernote currently. Paperwork is promising, but seems to have replicated…

That makes me think, has anyone tried to build a note taking app based on git? A tricky part for this kind of app is networking and synchronization of notes, and that's all taken care of by git. The "only" thing left would be to implement the mobile and desktop front ends.

Because you want autosave to the cloud, and autosave to git would be very weighty.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#118

Post by lachlanjc »

laurent123456 wrote: post #18
drvortex wrote: post #14

As other's have mentioned, the WebUI is a major no-no. Evernote's strength lies in its Desktop application and very useful clipping service. The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. Sync is required but implemented in the most undesirable way in Evernote currently. Paperwork is promising, but seems to have replicated…

That makes me think, has anyone tried to build a note taking app based on git? A tricky part for this kind of app is networking and synchronization of notes, and that's all taken care of by git. The "only" thing left would be to implement the mobile and desktop front ends.

Draft (http://draftin.com) is a great version-controlled writing app, though it's not what I would call note-taking. Interesting idea though!

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#119

Post by niutech »

Poiesis wrote: post #89
rayiner wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. I hate this trend towards supporting only one or another kind of proprietary service.[1] What is wrong with WebDAV? That way, you can use a cloud hosting provider, or self-host. [1] I'm looking at you Scrivener.

Lots of things are wrong with WebDAV, summed up as "many clients with different implementations/interpretations of the spec." Related: Are there any decent WebDAV servers out there? I don't see any recent development being done on any.

Sure! SabreDAV 2.1 released in November 2014, IT Hit WebDAV Server 3.9.2098 released in December 2014.

And Box is using WebDav too: https://support.box.com/hc/en-us/articles/200519748-Does-Box...

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#120

Post by krupan »

ilian wrote: post #93

Another open source Evernote/Onenote alternative is TagSpaces(tagspaces.org) It runs completely offline on Windows, Linux, Mac OSX and Android, and since recently it features a server edition, running on top of a ownCloud installation.

Tagspaces is nice. Works the same on Linux, Mac, and Android (probably Windows and iOS too, I haven't tried). I like that it doesn't try to tackle note taking and synchronization. You can use dropbox/spideroak/btsync/owncloud/whatever-you-lik for that.
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