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Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

obsidian.md

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Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#251

Post by austinvhuang »

chheplo wrote: post #115
bambax wrote: post #71

I built a simple journal solution for myself two years ago. It sends an email every day and I can reply to it, and the response is stored in an SQLite database, in plain text. The db is on a remote server but copied to Dropbox every day (and in any case all the emails also exist in my sent folder). It is surprisingly effective at storing not just what I did with my day, but random thoughts and ideas, solutions to bug…

Very interesting. Would love to try your application if you have your code published. I have been looking for something similar for a while.

Not the OP, but I recently published this which others may find interesting https://github.com/austinvhuang/openmemex

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#252

Post by austinvhuang »

opan wrote: post #37

The comments here made it sound exciting, but it seems like it's proprietary, which is a no-go for me. I'll stick to plain text file notes and the occasional org-mode for now.

I recently released this which is open source and based on sqlite https://github.com/austinvhuang/openmemex

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#253

Post by rodneyzeng »

DavideNL wrote: post #244
rodneyzeng wrote: post #231

To me, the fatal weakness of obsidian, after trying it for 5 min to realize it, is sync functionality. It only supports icloud sync and its paid sync. This is turn down 100%.

You can sync the folder (=vault) with any tool you prefer… including git.

yes but this is not feasible on obsidian mobile app, right?

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#254

Post by rodneyzeng »

drodil wrote: post #235
rodneyzeng wrote: post #231

To me, the fatal weakness of obsidian, after trying it for 5 min to realize it, is sync functionality. It only supports icloud sync and its paid sync. This is turn down 100%.

Just get the git plugin and create private repo somewhere. Problem solved

you can do this in obsidian mobile app?

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#255

Post by dm319 »

taigi100 wrote: post #249

I often see people in this community being fans of note taking apps. Yet, I never really found why it's useful, maybe someone can enlighten me on that :D 1. For tech articles / knowledge databases -> tech seems to change so fast that research done 3-4 months ago is mostly useless (except for a few more high level areas) 2. For recording / knowledge database purposes -> i never seem to go back to them tho, googling (o…

I use it for two purposes:

1. Useful practical information or checklists on disease topics (I'm a physician). Sometimes they are reminders, or useful knowledge that is generally gleaned from experience / colleagues. Things that can be hard to google.

2. Notes on general business stuff - i.e. "called such and such agency and Wendy said I need to speak to other person next Monday on tel xxxx". Or dates my car needs servicing, or who I'm insured with.

At the moment I use vimwiki, and it works well.

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#256

Post by jollybean »

"A second brain, for you, forever.

Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files. "

I have no idea what that means and a quick perusal of the site doesn't really tell me what this is,

If you want more people to download this please do a better job of explaining what it is. Is this a tool for Markdown writers? A a journaling tool? Does it cache my browsing experiences?

Why can't people write marketing copy in user-centric terms?

I'm going to try in only because everyone here seems to love it, but wouldn't bother if that wasn't the case.

Please step back and think about how to introduce new products to new visitors, thanks.

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#257

Post by dm319 »

opan wrote: post #37

The comments here made it sound exciting, but it seems like it's proprietary, which is a no-go for me. I'll stick to plain text file notes and the occasional org-mode for now.

You might also want to consider vim-wiki if you want the hyperlinks feature.

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#258

Post by krzrak »

taigi100 wrote: post #249

I often see people in this community being fans of note taking apps. Yet, I never really found why it's useful, maybe someone can enlighten me on that :D 1. For tech articles / knowledge databases -> tech seems to change so fast that research done 3-4 months ago is mostly useless (except for a few more high level areas) 2. For recording / knowledge database purposes -> i never seem to go back to them tho, googling (o…

> in what domains or where do find those apps actually useful?

5. creating your own ideas and making your own connections

Re: Obsidian – A knowledge base from a local folder of plain text Markdown files

#260

Post by marbletiles »

jdgoesmarching wrote: post #248
marbletiles wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Markdown mixes formatting and content (in a lossy way - did the author mean that asterisk as a format character or as part of their text? Who knows). It doesn’t support spans or ranges for mixing languages. It has hard-to-remember syntax, especially around links - Gruber makes mistakes with it all the time. And it doesn’t easily support the sort of powerful visual editing tools like you might have seen on a 1980s Mac…

1. Mixing formatting and content is the point. Maybe it’s not for you, but describing its main feature as a problem doesn’t make sense. 2. There are maybe 5-10 syntax elements to get up and running with Markdown. Your average excel user has probably committed far more keyboard shortcuts to memory. 3. Most markdown users are fine with importing an image from another app if “powerful visual editing tools” (which still…

1. Right, but unless you want a circular argument, the “better” you are missing is the ability to separate the two. You should be able to type a note featuring all the characters on the keyboard without unexpected side-effects, this doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.

2. And yet the inventor of the thing repeatedly gets it wrong.

3. Visual editing here meaning more WYSIWYG than the inclusion of images, but it raises a good point - the bounds of what we consider a document is rapidly outstripping what markdown can comfortably capture. Tools like Notion are blurring the line between what used to be thought of as “text” and “embed” and are making great user experiences by doing so.

4. Honestly, in this context (document editing) I think of ClarisWorks as a more powerful tool than any Markdown editor I’ve ever seen.

A ClarisWorks with Obsidian-like features would be a rocket ship for the mind. Limiting Obsidian to Markdown is like using diesel to fuel the rocket.

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