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For managing a personal knowledge base, I highly recommend Tiddly Wiki[1] It's a self-contained Wiki/Notebook/Journal with tags, it works instantly, and all of

For managing a personal knowledge base, I highly recommend Tiddly Wiki[1] It's a self-contained Wiki/Notebook/Journal with tags, it works instantly, and all of it is in a single HTML file with magic JS in it. Or you can use it with a server. [1]https://tiddlywiki.com/ https://tiddlywiki.com/

mettamage 7y ago
I use tiddlywiki with noteself on a self-hosted server.
- vinu76jsr 7y ago
  how do you secure it, is it a long obfuscated URL?
  - BLKNSLVR 7y ago
    My setup requires a username and password to be entered, which I think is the intended authentication method, since it uses a database at the backend.
- BLKNSLVR 7y ago
  I've been doing the same for a couple of months now, and I love it. Can access it from various devices through the browser and it syncs well. Big thumbs up from me so far. The hardest part was setting up a CouchDB instance for the backend, but I found some instructions and fiddled with it until it worked. Link: https://noteself.github.io/ https://noteself.github.io/
tasogare 7y ago
I strongly support this recommendation. Tiddly Wiki has enough features and extensibility that I wasn’t tempted to write my own bibliography management system after discovering it. Yes, I know there is dedicated software for that but they didn’t fit how I want to structure my notes.
whalesalad 7y ago
How do you recommend running it? The install guide lists a half-dozen different possibilities including PHP, Node, Ruby which all look to be vastly different solutions.
- hydrox24 7y ago
  You just download the HTML file and open it to 'run' it. Then, once you've made changes, use your browsers "save as" feature to save a copy. Everything is in browser. Other options do things like public hosting. Personally, I just use the HTML file with the Timimi Firefox plugin installed for autosaving the current file.
  - shakna 7y ago
    > use your browsers "save as" feature to save a copy > Don't attempt to use the browser File/Save menu option to save changes (it doesn't work) It looks like TiddlyWiki doesn't recommend that exact method anymore.
    - elbear 7y ago
      I use TiddlyDesktop and open with it the HTML file that I downloaded from the site. The desktop app takes care of saving the file when you finished editing a post and save it.
    - romwell 7y ago
      Sorry for the confusion. There's a button you press in Tiddly Wiki that generates a new HTML. You "Save As.." that.
- romwell 7y ago
  I would recommend just downloading the HTML file and using that. To save changes, click the red checkmark, and "save as..." the updated HTML over the old copy. Switch to other possibilities if you use it enough to justify that.
  - 7y ago
Polylactic_acid 7y ago
I use a tool called zim wiki. Its less of a wiki and more of a notes app with a tree sidebar for navigation and linking between pages. Everything is stored as txt files which works awesome.
throwaway_2047 7y ago
This, together with github plugin. You edit/create a post, press save, the whole website is committed back to github. In a single html file. Painless
jodrellblank 7y ago
Joe Armstrong of Erlang fame was a fan of Tiddly Wiki, and there's a video of the Tiddly Wiki creator and him enthusing about it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1UfLPK7_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1UfLPK7_Q
lwhsiao 7y ago
How well does Tiddlywiki scale? Would this single file support a large knowledge base accumulated over decades?
- jodrellblank 7y ago
  Jeremy Ruston the creator, says a 100MB TiddlyWiki works fine on a 2013 era laptop, and that browsers are some of the best optimized VMs available to work on (in the video I linked in another comment).
- romwell 7y ago
  Most of knowledge is text, maybe a picture here and there. I, a lifetime worth of knowledge in reasonable HTML of Tiddly Wiki would take less toll on your PC then the current CNN front page.
- swuecho 7y ago
  you can use tiddywiki with a node backend. https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker if you want to host on arm device, https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker/issues/15 https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker/issues/15
tkainrad 7y ago
I would love an alternative that is free/and or possible to self-host. However, I do not see how this compares to Notion. How do I edit this HTML file on my phone? How do I add bookmarks to it via a hotkey? What is the equivalent of Notion's databases? Does it have Slash commands? This list of questions could go on for much longer. I really don't want to sound like a Notion shill, especially since I also use other tools (e.g. GitLab) for my knowledge base, but many of the suggested alternatives lack basically all the features that I describe in my post.
- romwell 7y ago
  I am not sure you understood how Tiddly Wiki works. >How do I edit this HTML file on my phone? Open https://tiddlywiki.com/ https://tiddlywiki.com/, click the pencil icon on any of the entries. Edit away. The edits can persist with a self-hosted solution. Or you can just download the edited HTML file. >Does it have Slash commands? You probably mean "keyboard shortcuts". Yes, a plenty. Get started here: https://tiddlywiki.com/static/KeyboardShortcuts.html https://tiddlywiki.com/static/KeyboardShortcuts.html This doesn't cover all of it; there are shortcuts in the editor (Ctrl+B, for example to make text bold), and they are fully customizeable. Everything can be customized. >How do I add bookmarks to it via a hotkey? TiddlyWiki is tag-based. You can add tags with a keyboard. Tags define all the structure (table of contents and search). >What is the equivalent of Notion's databases? I am not familiar enough with Notion to answer this. If you ask "can I do ____ with TW", I can tell you. >but many of the suggested alternatives lack basically all the features that I describe in my post Sure, because they are different products. Feature-by-feature comparison doesn't make sense; if you want Notion, you need Notion. If you want to organize your knowledge, Tiddly Wiki is one very fine tool to do that. TW is not a CRM, it is not a Calendar or Google Sheets alternative (as Notion claims to be). It is not an all-in-one tool. What it is, it's a personal knowledge base tool - and that's what the title of your post says. At that, it can do better than Notion. Or worse. User's call. >This list of questions could go on for much longer. The same can be true going from the other side. Here is one: How do you access your knowledge in Notion 10 years after Notion-the-company goes the way of the dodo?
  - tkainrad 7y ago

mettamage 7y ago

I use tiddlywiki with noteself on a self-hosted server.

vinu76jsr 7y ago
how do you secure it, is it a long obfuscated URL?
- BLKNSLVR 7y ago
  My setup requires a username and password to be entered, which I think is the intended authentication method, since it uses a database at the backend.
BLKNSLVR 7y ago
I've been doing the same for a couple of months now, and I love it. Can access it from various devices through the browser and it syncs well. Big thumbs up from me so far. The hardest part was setting up a CouchDB instance for the backend, but I found some instructions and fiddled with it until it worked. Link: https://noteself.github.io/ https://noteself.github.io/

tasogare 7y ago

I strongly support this recommendation. Tiddly Wiki has enough features and extensibility that I wasn’t tempted to write my own bibliography management system after discovering it. Yes, I know there is dedicated software for that but they didn’t fit how I want to structure my notes.

whalesalad 7y ago

How do you recommend running it? The install guide lists a half-dozen different possibilities including PHP, Node, Ruby which all look to be vastly different solutions.

hydrox24 7y ago
You just download the HTML file and open it to 'run' it. Then, once you've made changes, use your browsers "save as" feature to save a copy. Everything is in browser. Other options do things like public hosting. Personally, I just use the HTML file with the Timimi Firefox plugin installed for autosaving the current file.
- shakna 7y ago
  > use your browsers "save as" feature to save a copy > Don't attempt to use the browser File/Save menu option to save changes (it doesn't work) It looks like TiddlyWiki doesn't recommend that exact method anymore.
  - elbear 7y ago
    I use TiddlyDesktop and open with it the HTML file that I downloaded from the site. The desktop app takes care of saving the file when you finished editing a post and save it.
  - romwell 7y ago
    Sorry for the confusion. There's a button you press in Tiddly Wiki that generates a new HTML. You "Save As.." that.
romwell 7y ago
I would recommend just downloading the HTML file and using that. To save changes, click the red checkmark, and "save as..." the updated HTML over the old copy. Switch to other possibilities if you use it enough to justify that.
- 7y ago

Polylactic_acid 7y ago

I use a tool called zim wiki. Its less of a wiki and more of a notes app with a tree sidebar for navigation and linking between pages. Everything is stored as txt files which works awesome.

throwaway_2047 7y ago

This, together with github plugin. You edit/create a post, press save, the whole website is committed back to github. In a single html file. Painless

jodrellblank 7y ago

Joe Armstrong of Erlang fame was a fan of Tiddly Wiki, and there's a video of the Tiddly Wiki creator and him enthusing about it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1UfLPK7_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1UfLPK7_Q

lwhsiao 7y ago

How well does Tiddlywiki scale? Would this single file support a large knowledge base accumulated over decades?

jodrellblank 7y ago
Jeremy Ruston the creator, says a 100MB TiddlyWiki works fine on a 2013 era laptop, and that browsers are some of the best optimized VMs available to work on (in the video I linked in another comment).
romwell 7y ago
Most of knowledge is text, maybe a picture here and there. I, a lifetime worth of knowledge in reasonable HTML of Tiddly Wiki would take less toll on your PC then the current CNN front page.
swuecho 7y ago
you can use tiddywiki with a node backend. https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker if you want to host on arm device, https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker/issues/15 https://github.com/djmaze/tiddlywiki-docker/issues/15

tkainrad 7y ago

I would love an alternative that is free/and or possible to self-host. However, I do not see how this compares to Notion. How do I edit this HTML file on my phone? How do I add bookmarks to it via a hotkey? What is the equivalent of Notion's databases? Does it have Slash commands? This list of questions could go on for much longer. I really don't want to sound like a Notion shill, especially since I also use other tools (e.g. GitLab) for my knowledge base, but many of the suggested alternatives lack basically all the features that I describe in my post.

romwell 7y ago
I am not sure you understood how Tiddly Wiki works. >How do I edit this HTML file on my phone? Open https://tiddlywiki.com/ https://tiddlywiki.com/, click the pencil icon on any of the entries. Edit away. The edits can persist with a self-hosted solution. Or you can just download the edited HTML file. >Does it have Slash commands? You probably mean "keyboard shortcuts". Yes, a plenty. Get started here: https://tiddlywiki.com/static/KeyboardShortcuts.html https://tiddlywiki.com/static/KeyboardShortcuts.html This doesn't cover all of it; there are shortcuts in the editor (Ctrl+B, for example to make text bold), and they are fully customizeable. Everything can be customized. >How do I add bookmarks to it via a hotkey? TiddlyWiki is tag-based. You can add tags with a keyboard. Tags define all the structure (table of contents and search). >What is the equivalent of Notion's databases? I am not familiar enough with Notion to answer this. If you ask "can I do ____ with TW", I can tell you. >but many of the suggested alternatives lack basically all the features that I describe in my post Sure, because they are different products. Feature-by-feature comparison doesn't make sense; if you want Notion, you need Notion. If you want to organize your knowledge, Tiddly Wiki is one very fine tool to do that. TW is not a CRM, it is not a Calendar or Google Sheets alternative (as Notion claims to be). It is not an all-in-one tool. What it is, it's a personal knowledge base tool - and that's what the title of your post says. At that, it can do better than Notion. Or worse. User's call. >This list of questions could go on for much longer. The same can be true going from the other side. Here is one: How do you access your knowledge in Notion 10 years after Notion-the-company goes the way of the dodo?
- tkainrad 7y ago