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

obsidian.md

341–350 of 373 posts

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

#341

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…

My brain not remember good. I write thing down to remember better.

Basically my brain doesn't remember things fully, it's more of a set of index cards with tiny summaries.

When I need some data I'll remember that I read an article around spring and it might've been on either X, Y or Z site. My notes are tagged and configured so that I can actually go find that stuff.

Also I use pinboard to store the stuff other people hoard in tabs. That Very Important Article that has been sitting on a faraway tab for a week? Add it to pinboard with a few tags and close it. It's just as easy not to read it from there too =)

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

#342

But how can I trust something I don't have the source code of as my second brain? My files are what is most dear to me, literally a backup of my brain.

Source code here matters less than the format of the data being accessible IMO

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

#343
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a web clipper bookmarklet for Obsidian that works on mobile https://gist.github.com/kepano/90c05f162c37cf730abb8ff027987...

By mobile do you mean iOS or Android? I can’t seem to get it to work on my iPad in Safari… Pasting the url gives me: Cannot Run Script Safari cannot run the script because JavaScript is not allowed to be used this way.

I found the issue, this was caused by Safari being in “private mode”.

I assume the bookmarklet uses some javascript that’s blocked by Safari in Private mode.. :)

It’s working fine now!

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

#344

The Open Source solution which serves me well for years has been TiddyWiki (1). Supports Tags and various modes of output. Each page one file or all in one, very open so recursive changes can be applied on the shell in plain files. (1) https://tiddlywiki.com/

I had a lot of problems with tiddlywiki, I never managed to get the self hosted html file version nor the php solutions to work.

You probably mean the NodeJS version. I agree. It’s not just starting a Docker container. There are more steps involved. And there is no authentication.

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

#345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? "Markdown" is not a standard, it's a loose collection of formats. CommonMark is a standard, and they are not calling it that. Anything that is Markdown-like can be called Markdown. It's the same deal with lisps. Lots of languages are "lisps", even the ones that are slightly different than the ones you're used to. Then there is a Common Lisp that is a language that is also a lisp.

It’s just nice to be able to differentiate between markdowns that adhere to some existing implementation (GitHub, CommonMark or something else) and those that are their own flavor.[1] “Markdown” is marketing speak for “you probably already know this”. Which yes, sure, but all the little tiny differences between all the different implementations can act as annoying papercuts. At least it’s not wiki markup... [1] GitHu…

Let's see if your favorite "GitHub" accomplishes this task, since you expect this from a much smaller company:

Searching for "GitHub Markdown" on Google yields the following two links at the top:

- https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/

- https://docs.github.com/en/github/writing-on-github/getting-...

Some snippets from those two pages, where they call their own syntax just "Markdown":

> Markdown is a lightweight and easy-to-use syntax for styling all forms of writing on the GitHub platform.

> You can use Markdown most places around GitHub:

> Here’s an overview of Markdown syntax that you can use anywhere on GitHub.com or in your own text files.

> Create sophisticated formatting for your prose and code on GitHub with simple syntax.

It's until the bottom of those pages that they start mentioning GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM).

Just like how Obsidian deals with the very same documentation.

Not sure what the problem is, Markdown has always been different on different entities on the internet, since there is no common specification. Blaming Obsidian for this seems short-sighted.

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

#346

While Roam has become something of a dumpster fire with its unprompted Reddit megaban, losing its whole dev team, etc, they do deserve partial credit for awakening the world to the possibility that there is much out there worth exploring beyond Evernote and Notion. There are now so many promising tools (most based on backlinking, as Roam popularized) that we have a site https://noteapps.info dedicated to chronicling…

They lost their whole dev team? Can you share a link?

Yeah, also doubting this as after searching around on the interwebs I cannot find anything to support this statement.

Edit: found some sort of source from deleted content from Redddit - https://www.reveddit.com/v/RoamResearch/comments/pvj0o2/off_...

Seems to be a misreading of a support reply, where they replied "this is a known issue that our engineer is aware of." and then the pitchforks come out.

The founder of the company replied in the same thread too:

> We're doing quite well.

> Besides myself and Josh (the engineers who built Roam) - we've got 5 other engineers working on the team to varying degrees -- including the author of Datascript, which Roam and the majority of the Roam clones are built off.

> Right now we earn enough each year to keep the company going for 2-3 years, and as a result we're able to invest in major open source projects that we (and all the Roam clones built in Clojure) will be able to build from for many years to come.

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

#347
post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a lot of problems with tiddlywiki, I never managed to get the self hosted html file version nor the php solutions to work.

You probably mean the NodeJS version. I agree. It’s not just starting a Docker container. There are more steps involved. And there is no authentication.

no i mean the self contained HTML (main download) and PHP versions (https://tiddlywiki.com/static/Saving%2520on%2520a%2520PHP%25...).

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

#349
post #158

This is an incredible time for knowledge management tools. Just a couple of years ago I was pulling my hair out trying to get a local wiki to feel like a native app, and now we have a dozen great options to choose from. I started using Obsidian when it came out last year, and it instantly clicked for me. I immediately migrated 20 years of notes to it. What differentiates Obsidian from all of the other tools in this a…

I just saved your post as Markdown, hahaha.

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

#350
post #349
post #158

This is an incredible time for knowledge management tools. Just a couple of years ago I was pulling my hair out trying to get a local wiki to feel like a native app, and now we have a dozen great options to choose from. I started using Obsidian when it came out last year, and it instantly clicked for me. I immediately migrated 20 years of notes to it. What differentiates Obsidian from all of the other tools in this a…

I just saved your post as Markdown, hahaha.

LOL, good one!
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