12 ms·

Tell HN: My new free note taking tool

215 points by ppetty 4y ago

So there are a lot of posts here about personal knowledge databases & note taking apps ... and methodologies. I wanted a way to keep track of info & just as importantly be able to easily see & edit that data from anywhere. I wanted it to be robust, free, web-based, able to host code examples as actual files (e.g. style.css or script.js), and host images. Turns out this is all available with Github & Gitlab. Step 1: Create a Private Repo Step 2: Hit the . key or use the editor URL pattern: https://github.dev/{{username}}/{{repo-name}} Step 3: Start using ... you can add sub-directories with Markdown for notes ... you can add all the file types above. For Gitlab just click "Web IDE" from your project's homepage. (I made this URL: https://github.dev/{{username}}/{{repo-name}} my homepage, making it super easy to access.) This is absolutely nothing new; but the epiphany I had a week or so ago about using a repo in this way seems to have really stuck (yes, a week is a short period of time but often a note app or approach sticks for a day or 2 for me). I'm really curious if others do something like this & what other sorts of practices they might employ while doing this.

mbgu 4y ago
emacs org mode
- _ank_it 4y ago
  with org-roam
  - ews 4y ago
    Just putting this here: I am using denote nowadays after org-roam and while it's not org-roam (I miss the dailies) it gets some stuff really right (tags, directories)
- yashasolutions 4y ago
  this. I have used some many note taking app before emacs - from simplenotes, to joplin, and many other on Mac, Windows and linux, I cannot list them all, but since I have understood how to build a workflow around emacs, I have finally something I can stick to and which work. Having a tool that can adapt to an inevitably changing worklflow has been really a game changer for my capacity to take notes, log my days, and write in general.
- disinterred 4y ago
  100%. Org-mode is markdown on steroids and already supports everything these markdown note-takers do plus more. The only reason people keep reinventing the wheel is because they don't want to use emacs.
rschachte 4y ago
Nice tip, thanks!
raybb 4y ago
Which GitHub alternatives have something similar to GitHub pages?
- zufallsheld 4y ago
  Gitlab has Pages: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/ https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/
- jszymborski 4y ago
  There are some hints as to how to do this with Gitea in this issue[0]. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem very easy to do w/o running a CI task or something like that. [0] https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/302 https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/302
sodimel 4y ago
Nice! We tried using the Wiki of a gitlab project in my company to gather some knowledge in a single place, but it was too "hard" to go to a page and edit it. So we moved the content in the repo. Again, we had to search if our content was already written or not, and we were spending time trying to find files and words instead of writing shorts texts. So we moved our content on the gitlab issues of the repo. Issues have the same markdown support, we can use ctrl+v to insert screenshots, we can add tags to the issues, we can assign people to relevant issues, we can comment with new things to do/add, and we can use the search bar to find relevant content. All our "knowledge doc" is stored insides the issues of an empty project named "doc". We were just thinking about something to replace an older system not used anymore, and since it's been 2 years I think I can say that issues really work well for us (small team, 6 devs, some of us write more issues than others). For personal notes I did what every dev do when they think about a problem ("Why not make my ideal tool myself?"), and I created n.py, a very small Python program that's used to take incremental notes using any program (I used sublime text, nano and now I'm learning vim through it), search in the notes content and display them (repo here: https://git.bitmycode.com/sodimel/n https://git.bitmycode.com/sodimel/n).
- dnsmichi 4y ago
  GitLab team member here, thanks for sharing your experience! The UX with editing the wiki, using WYSIWYG content editor [0] has been improved in recent releases. [1] I peeked into 15.2 (self-managed release coming on Friday, July 22) which brings rendering Mermaid, PlantUML, Kroki diagrams previews. [2] Maybe the wiki can be worth to revisit in the future, there are more features underway, suggest diving into this epic [3] > Issues have the same markdown support, we can use ctrl+v to insert screenshots, we can add tags to the issues, we can assign people to relevant issues, we can comment with new things to do/add, and we can use the search bar to find relevant content. All our "knowledge doc" is stored insides the issues of an empty project named "doc". Great to see that you have found a workflow, and use issues to keep things documented and organized. Maybe a suggestion for creating an entry point into the dcc project: Use GitLab CI/CD to read the issues from the REST API, group by label, and render a Markdown README.md file which gets pushed to the repository automatically. That way the "index" is generated and provides greater visibility into the documentation issues. I like API challenges, so I've hacked [4] a small script [5] using python-gitlab to better illustrate what I mean :-) Uses issues [6] with labels to generate an index.md [7] (can also be README.md for example). Feel free to repurpose for your own needs, if that helps. The missing step is to automate it using GitLab CI/CD Schedules, but that's documented. [0] https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/wiki/#content-editor https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/wiki/#content-editor [1] https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2022/05/22/gitlab-15-0-released/#edit-code-blocks-links-and-media-inline-in-the-wysiwyg-editor https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2022/05/22/gitlab-15-0-rel... [2] https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/86701 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/86701 [3] https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/5401 https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/5401 [4] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/merge_requests/9 https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/merge_requests/... [5] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/tree/main/python#issue-index-creation https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/tree/main/pytho... [6] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/issues https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/issues [7] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/blob/main/index.md https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/blob/main/index...
jjkmk 4y ago
Great tip, this works better than onenote.
stakkur 4y ago
I basically do this with Dropbox, Emacs, and git, but just for shared 'personal' note taking/journaling amongst multiple devices.
jszymborski 4y ago
I do this for a knowledge-base in our lab (especially for our server infrastructure). Only difference is that I just edit in VSCodium. It's pretty great, I can send a github URL to someone and if its a private repo, its both a "private"[0] and practical way to share information. I will say I do something similar on my personal KB at noteaureus.org except I also run it through Hugo. The GitHub method is a bit nicer for including collaborators that aren't familiar with Hugo, but I do like using Hugo over GitHub for two reasons: 1) You can tag posts 2) You aren't beholden to the whims of Microsoft (or anyone for that matter) The main drawback I can think of is that it's kinda baroque to make things password protected on Hugo in a meaningful way. [0] For certain definitions of private.
emerongi 4y ago
I've tried all kinds of things and even just a couple weeks ago tried out some other tools, but none of them beat simple text files. I push to Gitlab and I can view the notes on my phone. Editing is a bit of a pain, but since it's not often that I edit notes on the phone, I accept it. For me, managing tasks in text files is the hard part. Recently I added snippets to VSCode to easily tag my tasks and set due dates (the snippets just add searchable identifiers at the end of the line). Greping these identifiers is easy, however for due dates I will need a quick script to pick up all the tasks and order them. Shouldn't be too hard and can even be in a Gitlab CI pipeline to automatically re-order the list on every push. Re-reading my comment, it reminds me of the legendary "Dropbox is just FTP" comment :D.
- falcolas 4y ago
  So, there's "todo.txt-cli"† that can help manage todo files in a more task-orientated fashion, while still just using text files. As a bonus, it got something of a cult following a few years back, and there are apps for both mobile platforms which can interact with them too (even out of dropbox, iirc). † https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt-cli https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt-cli
- dustinsterk 4y ago
  Not the author, but I also use VSCode and installed "TodoMD" for my tasks. Highly recommend! https://github.com/usernamehw/vscode-todo-md https://github.com/usernamehw/vscode-todo-md
- autoexec 4y ago
  > I've tried all kinds of things and even just a couple weeks ago tried out some other tools, but none of them beat simple text files. I've been exploring various alternatives recently, and what I really miss with simple text files are features like attachments and inline images. Even color adds a lot of utility. Right now I'm looking at Zim which is a wiki that stores content as text files but offers a bit more structure and functionality. It's not as full featured as I'd like in the fonts/colors department, but it checks a lot of boxes (including having todo lists and actual check boxes). Spellcheck is another problem since it doesn't include one natively and the plug-in a huge pain to install and get working.
cybg 4y ago
I use GitJournal app. And Obsidian for PC.
- tdub311 4y ago
  Any reason you prefer GitJournal to the Obsidian app?
dnsmichi 4y ago
GitLab team member here, thanks for sharing! I'm using the Web IDE to take notes in most of my projects, work and personal, and publish the notes with MkDocs and GitLab Pages to a searchable frontend/domain when needed. Editing also happens in Gitpod with live preview in the browser. You can find all resources for o11y.love [0] and opsindev.news [1] in the GitLab projects, including .gitpod.yml configuration, mkdocs.yml setup, .gitlab-ci.yml deployments. I have been writing lots of documentation in my past OSS projects, so I am used to Markdown as markup language, taking notes very fast. Learning Markdown requires some practice, and can be helped within Gitpod and the VS Code extensions, if the default preview is not sufficient. [2] [3] You can also sync the notes repository offline into VS Code as desktop IDE for example. Using Obsidian.md to take notes and publish with GitLab pages [4] looks promising too; I have not tried it yet. [0] https://gitlab.com/everyonecancontribute/observability/o11y.love https://gitlab.com/everyonecancontribute/observability/o11y.... [1] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news [2] https://www.gitpod.io/docs/ides-and-editors/vscode-extensions https://www.gitpod.io/docs/ides-and-editors/vscode-extension... [3] https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown [4] https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2022/03/15/publishing-obsidian-notes-with-gitlab-pages/ https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2022/03/15/publishing-obsidian...
- zerop 4y ago
  Wanted to explore your site: https://opsindev.news/ https://opsindev.news/, but it's giving SSL error to me.
  - PcChip 4y ago
    could it be your local environment blocking the .news TLD, and giving you a redirect? (for example, Cisco Umbrella (formerly OpenDNS Umbrella))
  - dnsmichi 4y ago
    Thanks for flagging. opsindev.news is hosted on GitLab Pages using Let's Encrypt. Maybe the TLS ciphers or versions do not match. Which error message do you see, browser/OS and location may help (if you want to share) If the MkDocs website does not work, suggest the following workarounds: Newsletter issues in [0] as markdown files, example [1] or the newsletter archive on Buttondown [2]. I'm using Buttondown to send the newsletter, MkDocs serves as web-searchable archive. Kudos to Michael Hausenblas here for the idea, he publishes the o11y.news newsletter. [0] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/tree/main/docs/archive https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/tree/main/docs/a... [1] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/blob/main/docs/archive/2022-07-12.md https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/blob/main/docs/a... [2] https://buttondown.email/opsindev.news/ https://buttondown.email/opsindev.news/
eterevsky 4y ago
One downside to a Git repo is that it doesn't have an easy-to-use mobile app like Google Keep or Apple Notes.
- jaimehrubiks 4y ago
  THIS. To me the the most important thing about note taking is clicking a button and immediately being able to write something, either pc or phone. I use google keep because it's the most straight forward way for me and it is synced. I would love a replacement (because it's so limited, and don't like the desktop client...), but it needs to be as convenient.
  - ppetty 4y ago
    Totally agree, and to date my workaround is that my default view for the repo is the initial README.md in edit mode ... I drop stuff that's top of mind or urgent and then afterwards (or later) move to a different file if needed.
- dangoor 4y ago
  This is one of the big reasons to use Obsidian (or similar). You still get markdown files on disk, and you can even still put it in a git repo if you really want. But you also get decent desktop/mobile apps with higher-level organization tools on top.
  - chrisweekly 4y ago
    Absolutely yes. Obsidian is might as well have been called "MarkdownOS" it's so powerful, flexible, extensible, etc. Amazing plugins like dataview and Excalidraw, and a world-class editing experience (hotkey-togglable WYSIWYG mode) etc... it's become the heart and hub of my system and I recommend it without reservation.
- gofreddygo 4y ago
  This is my comfort zone: Todo = plain text. sublime/keep/applenotes/pen+paper/whiteboard/ Work notes = outlook drafts. Personal notes = google docs. Some plain text conventions I use. [ ] a todo [x] done task. I delete it after couple weeks. [ ] another task __some extra notes. Anything with double underscores means WIP. I just search for it and continue from there
iKlsR 4y ago
See https://github.com/jbranchaud/til https://github.com/jbranchaud/til I think this guy pioneered it many moons ago, I've been doing something similar ever since I saw that. Previously... - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22908044 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22908044
tsaifu 4y ago
Yeah, web IDEs have made life a lot easier but I don't think the experience works well for a minimal note taking flow. one of the most important things for me when it comes to a note-taking app is to be able to write free form and without the need for too much process - obviously this is not quite possible in markdown or really most digital formats, but also just the fact that I know git is backing my notes store creates a maintenance burden in my mind that I'm not sure I care for. I used to use jupyter notebooks way back when which felt more flexible but even that began to feel too heavy a process. Do you use git at all in terms of committing notes and looking through history, or are you only ever adding on top and treating a commit like a save in a notepad app? This is a bit peripheral but I've been considering investing in a remarkable tablet, but using it obviously requires me to carry an additional physical device around.
- ppetty 4y ago
  So for both use cases (Gitlab & Github) their web IDEs are leveraging Git (from the web GUI). So the cool aspect of all of this is that I could clone the repo locally and maybe even re-purpose for a Hugo site. But the core benefit of version control is there.
  - tsaifu 4y ago
    Oh yeah, I know. Let me rephrase - do you actually leverage the functionality that git (through Github/Gitlab) provides you in your note-taking? Do you go back in the history to see what you committed - do you bisect or look at meta, or commit in atomic ways so that things are more "organized" from a timeline perspective?
    - ppetty 4y ago
      Yes! One nice aspect of version controlled notes: change management "trail". Meaning that I don't have to note what specific changes occurred to a requirement in a project but can just change the requirement. If I need to research why something took longer than expected one of the first ways to research that is via file history from git or from Gitlab / Github's History user experiences.
Mylloon 4y ago
Personally, I use Obsidian.md [1] to take notes, especially because there is an extension for excalidraw [2] that I particularly like. To publish my notes, I use PineDocs [3] which generates a very nice website with the markdown files I synchronize the machine that hosts PineDocs with my note-taking machine using Syncthing [4] [1] https://obsidian.md/ https://obsidian.md/ [2] https://excalidraw.com/ https://excalidraw.com/ [3] https://github.com/xy2z/PineDocs https://github.com/xy2z/PineDocs [4] https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/
- moystard 4y ago
  I am also very satisfied of Obsidian. Do you use excalidraw with a tablet or graphic tablet, or with your mouse? I have been exploring ways of taking manuscript notes.
  - Mylloon 4y ago
    With a mouse, I use it in class
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- weberer 4y ago
  I've switched from Obsidian to Joplin, which is a nicer looking FOSS alternative.
  - capableweb 4y ago
    Last time I checked, Joplin stores a bunch of metadata in databases and such, is that still true? I'm still using Obsidian after some years, mainly because it's just a directory of Markdown files (and some JSON configuration in the .obsidian directory), but also for the plugin ecosystem. Would it be hard to use terminal git to sync my Joplin database manually?
- and0 4y ago
  I've been really enjoying Obsidian. I think of it as VSCode but for Markdown, with an extension marketplace more for notes than code. Turning markdown into an interactive kanban is especially powerful, and more extensions are being added all the time. I am going to check out Joplin soon, though. Obsidian could be a little friendlier and come with a couple more batteries for someone like me.
k6hkUZtLUM 4y ago
Do you think this could be useful in a classroom environment? Maybe shared notes for students and/or groups? My personal workflow is Plain Text files (often markdown) in a Notes folder on Dropbox. nvAlt on my main machine to quickly search, edit, and create notes. A shortcut in terminal that cd's me into the directory, rg for cli search, and Editorial for mobile access. I have thousands of notes and have only had a few sync issues over the years.
vorticalbox 4y ago
Recently I've been using joplin [0] has mobile and desktop apps and uses a number of cloud storage to sync. [0] https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/
- qvrjuec 4y ago
  I tried wholeheartedly to migrate to using Joplin from apple notes so I could use a native client on more platforms than my phone + laptop, but it was frustrating in so many ways. S3 storage syncing frequently broke on the iOS app, simple auto-formatting insidiously defied my expectations, and it was very difficult to keep things organized without very explicitly labeling my notes (which I don't have to do with Apple notes, as you can see a preview of the text contained inside of the note). I'd love to revisit joplin in a few years when I have more time to tinker or contribute to the project, though.
- NabiDev 4y ago
  Syncing in joplin is a pain. It brokes everytime.
  - vorticalbox 4y ago
    I've not encountered this at all so far, syncing between my Linux desktop, android via Dropbox as always worked.
    - zcmack 4y ago
      yeah syncing works fine so long as you rely on ... some other thing that actually works :D
      - vorticalbox 4y ago
        This is true, however I like that I can use a cloud storage I am already using than having another service I need maintain. If dropbox drop off the Internet there are other options I can use to sync.
enviclash 4y ago
Today I had a demo of zenkit hypernotes, it is kind of intelligence-driven, but the usefulness of some features (blocks?) seem unclear to me
- CSZenkit 4y ago
  Hey, there's a great article in the knowledgebase about Pages and Blocks in Hypernotes. If it's still unclear to you afterwards, feel free to ask a more specific question :) Link: https://help.zenkit.com/en/support/solutions/articles/43000624775-pages-and-blocks#Blocks https://help.zenkit.com/en/support/solutions/articles/430006...
staindk 4y ago
None of my note taking is amazing but I'm quite happy with the state of it. Most of my personal notes end up in Google Keep as that has a bunch of nifty sharing/reminder/etc. features built in. At work I take all my notes in a "diary.md" markdown file in a pinned VSCode tab. I started taking bullet-pointed daily notes to help remind myself about what happened the previous day to make standup meetings easier... it has helped tremendously past that too though, as I now habitually take notes for meetings and other goings-on as well. To start, the basic process was: 1. Set up a diary.md file in its own folder, open it in my main VSCode window, and pin the tab 2. Set up a VSCode Markdown snippet for "td" (for 'today') -> generates requisite headings, with the current day's date and the first bullet point for note-taking 3. Set up personal private git repository in the diary folder so that my notes don't die if my laptop does 4. Set up bash alias "gpn" (for 'git push notes') -> auto commit my notes with some "automated macro commit" message and push to remote 5. Each year I start fresh and rename the old diary.md file by adding the year number to it and filing it away in the repo/archive folder. If I'm working on a bigger project I'll set up a separate Markdown file in the same repo and make project-specific notes in there, while keeping the standup bullet points in diary.md - otherwise for message drafts or more general meetings notes I just add them under subheadings inside the day's "diary entry".
- Keyframe 4y ago
  Google Keep is a treasure. I sincerely hope Google doesn't kill that one too!
  - slenk 4y ago
    Well...prepare to get burned, no offense. I gave up on relying fully on anything goog after Google Reader :(
  - baxtr 4y ago
    I wouldn’t bet on it…
  - yokoprime 4y ago
    Now you've pretty much put it on deathwatch
jarenmf 4y ago
I use vimwiki this way. I changed the landing page name to `README.md` and used markdown files so I can always see it rendered beautifully on Github. I have another vim extension that automatically commits and pushes the changes.
dangus 4y ago
Yes...it's a git repository with VSCode attached, which you can do locally as well. Arguably, this is better with a local copy of VSCode rather than the web editor, which is missing features in comparison. As a bonus you can choose any git provider you'd like.
throwaway_9120 4y ago
Notion has replaced all my note taking apps, bookmarking apps, idea dump apps etc A single source of truth for me.
- arawde 4y ago
  I've become more and more fond of Notion over the last few months. The composition of "blocks" is very nice, and even things like how indentation is done makes a huge difference in taking notes. I can manage meal planning, grocery lists, todos, essay drafts, and software projects all in one tool. It's also very easy to interlink things and make notes as verbose or minimal as you like from page to page. I can define an item in my weekly todos but then link to a project page that's part of a kanban board that has more context. Overall the UX just feels really elegant compared to everything else I've tried to use.
somenewaccount1 4y ago
Lol. So adorable. Private repos weren't always free. And make sure you don't accidentally ever make it private, you would be surprised what credentials you might have accidentally put in it's got history. And then you have log in to a second github account if your company forces github tied to a company email. No such thing as a free lunch.
higgins 4y ago
Yes! I keep a daily log tracked in git. All of it public although some information is encrypted with my privatization tool (https://github.com/higgins/privatize https://github.com/higgins/privatize). The log itself is a simple org file but I parse and render it in html here so that I can share important event dates (eg: my wedding) with my family and friends. Here is what I did yesterday: https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=07-18-2022 https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=07-18-2022 Here is my wedding date: https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=03-04-2022 https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=03-04-2022
voydik 4y ago
I, too, have been digging Obsidian
recroad 4y ago
I have tried so many of these and ended up landing on the free version of Notion. I like the multi-device support and the nested content idea. The desktop app is stable and the web one is performant as well.
dukeofdoom 4y ago
Can someone recommend a note taking app that will stay at the front of the screen. I sometimes record voiceovers in final cut, and want to read back my notes. I simultaneously want to have both final cut in full screen and the note app up front. Stupid thing goes into the background as soon as I click on final cut. Stickies do the same. I also want to be able to set the font size of my notes, and would prefer the app would just give me plain text and not try to format html when I copy something from the browser into it.
- pacifika 4y ago
  Tot has that option in the window menu https://tot.rocks/ https://tot.rocks/
  - dukeofdoom 4y ago
    thanks
WaitWaitWha 4y ago
Your implementation/idea looks interesting, but I am looking in different direction. I do not want web based. I am often in areas where I do not have network access. I do not want to deal with security breaches, vulnerabilities, down times. I do not want to type things. I am looking for a tool that will take voice recording and convert it to text on my desktops and and most importantly my (Android) mobile devices. I have been using text files in markdown and raw text before that, for decades. They are searchable, quick and accessible across multiple platforms. Yet, I still use my dictaphone[0]. It requires pressing a single button, it records my voice, time stamps it, and files it. I am looking for a solution where the app behaves as a dictaphone, and voice-to-text is performed, and the files are local if I want them to be. Make something like that and I am willing to drop coins. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictation_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictation_machine
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  I’ve been planning to build this for mac/ios/ipad and have researched/used the foundations - let me know if I can reach out if you are interested in testing or giving feedback, unfortunately Android isn’t a priority as I’m solo indie and favor native
  - WaitWaitWha 4y ago
    Thank you for the offer. I do not belong to the Church of the Fruit ;) so I cannot provide help with testing. When you have something for the Beevil Junta, let me know. (I am allowed, this is dad jokes week.)
    - wahnfrieden 4y ago
      I'm guessing the Voiceline app shared is too outline/fragment oriented for your use case? Something more freeform document oriented would be better?
- ge96 4y ago
  Dragon speech? Has integrations like Evernote. I know that's online but they have apps too.
marzell 4y ago
What does Step 3 mean here? What is meant by "..."? Are you talking about the Explorer menu in Github? Or the dotfile package manager (ellipsis)?
jmconfuzeus 4y ago
I've been using Joplin lately. Syncing is done via Syncthing. I like it for the markdown and encryption. Also free.
sys_64738 4y ago
I tried various utilities for this but eventually settled on Microsoft One Note. It seems like it has staying power IMO.
gps0 4y ago
You could of course use a text editor, but here's an interesting program: TreeSheets - https://strlen.com/treesheets/ https://strlen.com/treesheets/
frostyiguana 4y ago
I'm using both a git repo for remote sync / save and notable as a markdown interface/gui for it because it allows for automatic tag and frontmatter update for these markdown files.
Kenneth21 4y ago
[dead]

215 points by ppetty 4y ago

mbgu 4y ago

emacs org mode

_ank_it 4y ago
with org-roam
- ews 4y ago
  Just putting this here: I am using denote nowadays after org-roam and while it's not org-roam (I miss the dailies) it gets some stuff really right (tags, directories)
yashasolutions 4y ago
this. I have used some many note taking app before emacs - from simplenotes, to joplin, and many other on Mac, Windows and linux, I cannot list them all, but since I have understood how to build a workflow around emacs, I have finally something I can stick to and which work. Having a tool that can adapt to an inevitably changing worklflow has been really a game changer for my capacity to take notes, log my days, and write in general.
disinterred 4y ago
100%. Org-mode is markdown on steroids and already supports everything these markdown note-takers do plus more. The only reason people keep reinventing the wheel is because they don't want to use emacs.

rschachte 4y ago

Nice tip, thanks!

raybb 4y ago

Which GitHub alternatives have something similar to GitHub pages?

zufallsheld 4y ago
Gitlab has Pages: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/ https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/
jszymborski 4y ago
There are some hints as to how to do this with Gitea in this issue[0]. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem very easy to do w/o running a CI task or something like that. [0] https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/302 https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/302

sodimel 4y ago

Nice! We tried using the Wiki of a gitlab project in my company to gather some knowledge in a single place, but it was too "hard" to go to a page and edit it. So we moved the content in the repo. Again, we had to search if our content was already written or not, and we were spending time trying to find files and words instead of writing shorts texts. So we moved our content on the gitlab issues of the repo. Issues have the same markdown support, we can use ctrl+v to insert screenshots, we can add tags to the issues, we can assign people to relevant issues, we can comment with new things to do/add, and we can use the search bar to find relevant content. All our "knowledge doc" is stored insides the issues of an empty project named "doc". We were just thinking about something to replace an older system not used anymore, and since it's been 2 years I think I can say that issues really work well for us (small team, 6 devs, some of us write more issues than others). For personal notes I did what every dev do when they think about a problem ("Why not make my ideal tool myself?"), and I created n.py, a very small Python program that's used to take incremental notes using any program (I used sublime text, nano and now I'm learning vim through it), search in the notes content and display them (repo here: https://git.bitmycode.com/sodimel/n https://git.bitmycode.com/sodimel/n).

dnsmichi 4y ago
GitLab team member here, thanks for sharing your experience! The UX with editing the wiki, using WYSIWYG content editor [0] has been improved in recent releases. [1] I peeked into 15.2 (self-managed release coming on Friday, July 22) which brings rendering Mermaid, PlantUML, Kroki diagrams previews. [2] Maybe the wiki can be worth to revisit in the future, there are more features underway, suggest diving into this epic [3] > Issues have the same markdown support, we can use ctrl+v to insert screenshots, we can add tags to the issues, we can assign people to relevant issues, we can comment with new things to do/add, and we can use the search bar to find relevant content. All our "knowledge doc" is stored insides the issues of an empty project named "doc". Great to see that you have found a workflow, and use issues to keep things documented and organized. Maybe a suggestion for creating an entry point into the dcc project: Use GitLab CI/CD to read the issues from the REST API, group by label, and render a Markdown README.md file which gets pushed to the repository automatically. That way the "index" is generated and provides greater visibility into the documentation issues. I like API challenges, so I've hacked [4] a small script [5] using python-gitlab to better illustrate what I mean :-) Uses issues [6] with labels to generate an index.md [7] (can also be README.md for example). Feel free to repurpose for your own needs, if that helps. The missing step is to automate it using GitLab CI/CD Schedules, but that's documented. [0] https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/wiki/#content-editor https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/wiki/#content-editor [1] https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2022/05/22/gitlab-15-0-released/#edit-code-blocks-links-and-media-inline-in-the-wysiwyg-editor https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2022/05/22/gitlab-15-0-rel... [2] https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/86701 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/86701 [3] https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/5401 https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/5401 [4] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/merge_requests/9 https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/merge_requests/... [5] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/tree/main/python#issue-index-creation https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/tree/main/pytho... [6] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/issues https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/issues [7] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/blob/main/index.md https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/api-playground/-/blob/main/index...

jjkmk 4y ago

Great tip, this works better than onenote.

stakkur 4y ago

I basically do this with Dropbox, Emacs, and git, but just for shared 'personal' note taking/journaling amongst multiple devices.

jszymborski 4y ago

I do this for a knowledge-base in our lab (especially for our server infrastructure). Only difference is that I just edit in VSCodium. It's pretty great, I can send a github URL to someone and if its a private repo, its both a "private"[0] and practical way to share information. I will say I do something similar on my personal KB at noteaureus.org except I also run it through Hugo. The GitHub method is a bit nicer for including collaborators that aren't familiar with Hugo, but I do like using Hugo over GitHub for two reasons: 1) You can tag posts 2) You aren't beholden to the whims of Microsoft (or anyone for that matter) The main drawback I can think of is that it's kinda baroque to make things password protected on Hugo in a meaningful way. [0] For certain definitions of private.

emerongi 4y ago

I've tried all kinds of things and even just a couple weeks ago tried out some other tools, but none of them beat simple text files. I push to Gitlab and I can view the notes on my phone. Editing is a bit of a pain, but since it's not often that I edit notes on the phone, I accept it. For me, managing tasks in text files is the hard part. Recently I added snippets to VSCode to easily tag my tasks and set due dates (the snippets just add searchable identifiers at the end of the line). Greping these identifiers is easy, however for due dates I will need a quick script to pick up all the tasks and order them. Shouldn't be too hard and can even be in a Gitlab CI pipeline to automatically re-order the list on every push. Re-reading my comment, it reminds me of the legendary "Dropbox is just FTP" comment :D.

falcolas 4y ago
So, there's "todo.txt-cli"† that can help manage todo files in a more task-orientated fashion, while still just using text files. As a bonus, it got something of a cult following a few years back, and there are apps for both mobile platforms which can interact with them too (even out of dropbox, iirc). † https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt-cli https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt-cli
dustinsterk 4y ago
Not the author, but I also use VSCode and installed "TodoMD" for my tasks. Highly recommend! https://github.com/usernamehw/vscode-todo-md https://github.com/usernamehw/vscode-todo-md
autoexec 4y ago
> I've tried all kinds of things and even just a couple weeks ago tried out some other tools, but none of them beat simple text files. I've been exploring various alternatives recently, and what I really miss with simple text files are features like attachments and inline images. Even color adds a lot of utility. Right now I'm looking at Zim which is a wiki that stores content as text files but offers a bit more structure and functionality. It's not as full featured as I'd like in the fonts/colors department, but it checks a lot of boxes (including having todo lists and actual check boxes). Spellcheck is another problem since it doesn't include one natively and the plug-in a huge pain to install and get working.

cybg 4y ago

I use GitJournal app. And Obsidian for PC.

tdub311 4y ago
Any reason you prefer GitJournal to the Obsidian app?

dnsmichi 4y ago

GitLab team member here, thanks for sharing! I'm using the Web IDE to take notes in most of my projects, work and personal, and publish the notes with MkDocs and GitLab Pages to a searchable frontend/domain when needed. Editing also happens in Gitpod with live preview in the browser. You can find all resources for o11y.love [0] and opsindev.news [1] in the GitLab projects, including .gitpod.yml configuration, mkdocs.yml setup, .gitlab-ci.yml deployments. I have been writing lots of documentation in my past OSS projects, so I am used to Markdown as markup language, taking notes very fast. Learning Markdown requires some practice, and can be helped within Gitpod and the VS Code extensions, if the default preview is not sufficient. [2] [3] You can also sync the notes repository offline into VS Code as desktop IDE for example. Using Obsidian.md to take notes and publish with GitLab pages [4] looks promising too; I have not tried it yet. [0] https://gitlab.com/everyonecancontribute/observability/o11y.love https://gitlab.com/everyonecancontribute/observability/o11y.... [1] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news [2] https://www.gitpod.io/docs/ides-and-editors/vscode-extensions https://www.gitpod.io/docs/ides-and-editors/vscode-extension... [3] https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown [4] https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2022/03/15/publishing-obsidian-notes-with-gitlab-pages/ https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2022/03/15/publishing-obsidian...

zerop 4y ago
Wanted to explore your site: https://opsindev.news/ https://opsindev.news/, but it's giving SSL error to me.
- PcChip 4y ago
  could it be your local environment blocking the .news TLD, and giving you a redirect? (for example, Cisco Umbrella (formerly OpenDNS Umbrella))
- dnsmichi 4y ago
  Thanks for flagging. opsindev.news is hosted on GitLab Pages using Let's Encrypt. Maybe the TLS ciphers or versions do not match. Which error message do you see, browser/OS and location may help (if you want to share) If the MkDocs website does not work, suggest the following workarounds: Newsletter issues in [0] as markdown files, example [1] or the newsletter archive on Buttondown [2]. I'm using Buttondown to send the newsletter, MkDocs serves as web-searchable archive. Kudos to Michael Hausenblas here for the idea, he publishes the o11y.news newsletter. [0] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/tree/main/docs/archive https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/tree/main/docs/a... [1] https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/blob/main/docs/archive/2022-07-12.md https://gitlab.com/dnsmichi/opsindev.news/-/blob/main/docs/a... [2] https://buttondown.email/opsindev.news/ https://buttondown.email/opsindev.news/

eterevsky 4y ago

One downside to a Git repo is that it doesn't have an easy-to-use mobile app like Google Keep or Apple Notes.

jaimehrubiks 4y ago
THIS. To me the the most important thing about note taking is clicking a button and immediately being able to write something, either pc or phone. I use google keep because it's the most straight forward way for me and it is synced. I would love a replacement (because it's so limited, and don't like the desktop client...), but it needs to be as convenient.
- ppetty 4y ago
  Totally agree, and to date my workaround is that my default view for the repo is the initial README.md in edit mode ... I drop stuff that's top of mind or urgent and then afterwards (or later) move to a different file if needed.
dangoor 4y ago
This is one of the big reasons to use Obsidian (or similar). You still get markdown files on disk, and you can even still put it in a git repo if you really want. But you also get decent desktop/mobile apps with higher-level organization tools on top.
- chrisweekly 4y ago
  Absolutely yes. Obsidian is might as well have been called "MarkdownOS" it's so powerful, flexible, extensible, etc. Amazing plugins like dataview and Excalidraw, and a world-class editing experience (hotkey-togglable WYSIWYG mode) etc... it's become the heart and hub of my system and I recommend it without reservation.
gofreddygo 4y ago
This is my comfort zone: Todo = plain text. sublime/keep/applenotes/pen+paper/whiteboard/ Work notes = outlook drafts. Personal notes = google docs. Some plain text conventions I use. [ ] a todo [x] done task. I delete it after couple weeks. [ ] another task __some extra notes. Anything with double underscores means WIP. I just search for it and continue from there

iKlsR 4y ago

See https://github.com/jbranchaud/til https://github.com/jbranchaud/til I think this guy pioneered it many moons ago, I've been doing something similar ever since I saw that. Previously... - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22908044 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22908044

tsaifu 4y ago

Yeah, web IDEs have made life a lot easier but I don't think the experience works well for a minimal note taking flow. one of the most important things for me when it comes to a note-taking app is to be able to write free form and without the need for too much process - obviously this is not quite possible in markdown or really most digital formats, but also just the fact that I know git is backing my notes store creates a maintenance burden in my mind that I'm not sure I care for. I used to use jupyter notebooks way back when which felt more flexible but even that began to feel too heavy a process. Do you use git at all in terms of committing notes and looking through history, or are you only ever adding on top and treating a commit like a save in a notepad app? This is a bit peripheral but I've been considering investing in a remarkable tablet, but using it obviously requires me to carry an additional physical device around.

ppetty 4y ago
So for both use cases (Gitlab & Github) their web IDEs are leveraging Git (from the web GUI). So the cool aspect of all of this is that I could clone the repo locally and maybe even re-purpose for a Hugo site. But the core benefit of version control is there.
- tsaifu 4y ago
  Oh yeah, I know. Let me rephrase - do you actually leverage the functionality that git (through Github/Gitlab) provides you in your note-taking? Do you go back in the history to see what you committed - do you bisect or look at meta, or commit in atomic ways so that things are more "organized" from a timeline perspective?
  - ppetty 4y ago
    Yes! One nice aspect of version controlled notes: change management "trail". Meaning that I don't have to note what specific changes occurred to a requirement in a project but can just change the requirement. If I need to research why something took longer than expected one of the first ways to research that is via file history from git or from Gitlab / Github's History user experiences.

Mylloon 4y ago

Personally, I use Obsidian.md [1] to take notes, especially because there is an extension for excalidraw [2] that I particularly like. To publish my notes, I use PineDocs [3] which generates a very nice website with the markdown files I synchronize the machine that hosts PineDocs with my note-taking machine using Syncthing [4] [1] https://obsidian.md/ https://obsidian.md/ [2] https://excalidraw.com/ https://excalidraw.com/ [3] https://github.com/xy2z/PineDocs https://github.com/xy2z/PineDocs [4] https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/

moystard 4y ago
I am also very satisfied of Obsidian. Do you use excalidraw with a tablet or graphic tablet, or with your mouse? I have been exploring ways of taking manuscript notes.
- Mylloon 4y ago
  With a mouse, I use it in class
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
weberer 4y ago
I've switched from Obsidian to Joplin, which is a nicer looking FOSS alternative.
- capableweb 4y ago
  Last time I checked, Joplin stores a bunch of metadata in databases and such, is that still true? I'm still using Obsidian after some years, mainly because it's just a directory of Markdown files (and some JSON configuration in the .obsidian directory), but also for the plugin ecosystem. Would it be hard to use terminal git to sync my Joplin database manually?
and0 4y ago
I've been really enjoying Obsidian. I think of it as VSCode but for Markdown, with an extension marketplace more for notes than code. Turning markdown into an interactive kanban is especially powerful, and more extensions are being added all the time. I am going to check out Joplin soon, though. Obsidian could be a little friendlier and come with a couple more batteries for someone like me.

k6hkUZtLUM 4y ago

Do you think this could be useful in a classroom environment? Maybe shared notes for students and/or groups? My personal workflow is Plain Text files (often markdown) in a Notes folder on Dropbox. nvAlt on my main machine to quickly search, edit, and create notes. A shortcut in terminal that cd's me into the directory, rg for cli search, and Editorial for mobile access. I have thousands of notes and have only had a few sync issues over the years.

vorticalbox 4y ago

Recently I've been using joplin [0] has mobile and desktop apps and uses a number of cloud storage to sync. [0] https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/

qvrjuec 4y ago
I tried wholeheartedly to migrate to using Joplin from apple notes so I could use a native client on more platforms than my phone + laptop, but it was frustrating in so many ways. S3 storage syncing frequently broke on the iOS app, simple auto-formatting insidiously defied my expectations, and it was very difficult to keep things organized without very explicitly labeling my notes (which I don't have to do with Apple notes, as you can see a preview of the text contained inside of the note). I'd love to revisit joplin in a few years when I have more time to tinker or contribute to the project, though.
NabiDev 4y ago
Syncing in joplin is a pain. It brokes everytime.
- vorticalbox 4y ago
  I've not encountered this at all so far, syncing between my Linux desktop, android via Dropbox as always worked.
  - zcmack 4y ago
    yeah syncing works fine so long as you rely on ... some other thing that actually works :D
    - vorticalbox 4y ago
      This is true, however I like that I can use a cloud storage I am already using than having another service I need maintain. If dropbox drop off the Internet there are other options I can use to sync.

enviclash 4y ago

Today I had a demo of zenkit hypernotes, it is kind of intelligence-driven, but the usefulness of some features (blocks?) seem unclear to me

CSZenkit 4y ago
Hey, there's a great article in the knowledgebase about Pages and Blocks in Hypernotes. If it's still unclear to you afterwards, feel free to ask a more specific question :) Link: https://help.zenkit.com/en/support/solutions/articles/43000624775-pages-and-blocks#Blocks https://help.zenkit.com/en/support/solutions/articles/430006...

staindk 4y ago

None of my note taking is amazing but I'm quite happy with the state of it. Most of my personal notes end up in Google Keep as that has a bunch of nifty sharing/reminder/etc. features built in. At work I take all my notes in a "diary.md" markdown file in a pinned VSCode tab. I started taking bullet-pointed daily notes to help remind myself about what happened the previous day to make standup meetings easier... it has helped tremendously past that too though, as I now habitually take notes for meetings and other goings-on as well. To start, the basic process was: 1. Set up a diary.md file in its own folder, open it in my main VSCode window, and pin the tab 2. Set up a VSCode Markdown snippet for "td" (for 'today') -> generates requisite headings, with the current day's date and the first bullet point for note-taking 3. Set up personal private git repository in the diary folder so that my notes don't die if my laptop does 4. Set up bash alias "gpn" (for 'git push notes') -> auto commit my notes with some "automated macro commit" message and push to remote 5. Each year I start fresh and rename the old diary.md file by adding the year number to it and filing it away in the repo/archive folder. If I'm working on a bigger project I'll set up a separate Markdown file in the same repo and make project-specific notes in there, while keeping the standup bullet points in diary.md - otherwise for message drafts or more general meetings notes I just add them under subheadings inside the day's "diary entry".

Keyframe 4y ago
Google Keep is a treasure. I sincerely hope Google doesn't kill that one too!
- slenk 4y ago
  Well...prepare to get burned, no offense. I gave up on relying fully on anything goog after Google Reader :(
- baxtr 4y ago
  I wouldn’t bet on it…
- yokoprime 4y ago
  Now you've pretty much put it on deathwatch

jarenmf 4y ago

I use vimwiki this way. I changed the landing page name to `README.md` and used markdown files so I can always see it rendered beautifully on Github. I have another vim extension that automatically commits and pushes the changes.

dangus 4y ago

Yes...it's a git repository with VSCode attached, which you can do locally as well. Arguably, this is better with a local copy of VSCode rather than the web editor, which is missing features in comparison. As a bonus you can choose any git provider you'd like.

throwaway_9120 4y ago

Notion has replaced all my note taking apps, bookmarking apps, idea dump apps etc A single source of truth for me.

arawde 4y ago
I've become more and more fond of Notion over the last few months. The composition of "blocks" is very nice, and even things like how indentation is done makes a huge difference in taking notes. I can manage meal planning, grocery lists, todos, essay drafts, and software projects all in one tool. It's also very easy to interlink things and make notes as verbose or minimal as you like from page to page. I can define an item in my weekly todos but then link to a project page that's part of a kanban board that has more context. Overall the UX just feels really elegant compared to everything else I've tried to use.

somenewaccount1 4y ago

Lol. So adorable. Private repos weren't always free. And make sure you don't accidentally ever make it private, you would be surprised what credentials you might have accidentally put in it's got history. And then you have log in to a second github account if your company forces github tied to a company email. No such thing as a free lunch.

higgins 4y ago

Yes! I keep a daily log tracked in git. All of it public although some information is encrypted with my privatization tool (https://github.com/higgins/privatize https://github.com/higgins/privatize). The log itself is a simple org file but I parse and render it in html here so that I can share important event dates (eg: my wedding) with my family and friends. Here is what I did yesterday: https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=07-18-2022 https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=07-18-2022 Here is my wedding date: https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=03-04-2022 https://encapsulate.me/log.html?date=03-04-2022

voydik 4y ago

I, too, have been digging Obsidian

recroad 4y ago

I have tried so many of these and ended up landing on the free version of Notion. I like the multi-device support and the nested content idea. The desktop app is stable and the web one is performant as well.

dukeofdoom 4y ago

Can someone recommend a note taking app that will stay at the front of the screen. I sometimes record voiceovers in final cut, and want to read back my notes. I simultaneously want to have both final cut in full screen and the note app up front. Stupid thing goes into the background as soon as I click on final cut. Stickies do the same. I also want to be able to set the font size of my notes, and would prefer the app would just give me plain text and not try to format html when I copy something from the browser into it.

pacifika 4y ago
Tot has that option in the window menu https://tot.rocks/ https://tot.rocks/
- dukeofdoom 4y ago
  thanks

WaitWaitWha 4y ago

Your implementation/idea looks interesting, but I am looking in different direction. I do not want web based. I am often in areas where I do not have network access. I do not want to deal with security breaches, vulnerabilities, down times. I do not want to type things. I am looking for a tool that will take voice recording and convert it to text on my desktops and and most importantly my (Android) mobile devices. I have been using text files in markdown and raw text before that, for decades. They are searchable, quick and accessible across multiple platforms. Yet, I still use my dictaphone[0]. It requires pressing a single button, it records my voice, time stamps it, and files it. I am looking for a solution where the app behaves as a dictaphone, and voice-to-text is performed, and the files are local if I want them to be. Make something like that and I am willing to drop coins. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictation_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictation_machine

wahnfrieden 4y ago
I’ve been planning to build this for mac/ios/ipad and have researched/used the foundations - let me know if I can reach out if you are interested in testing or giving feedback, unfortunately Android isn’t a priority as I’m solo indie and favor native
- WaitWaitWha 4y ago
  Thank you for the offer. I do not belong to the Church of the Fruit ;) so I cannot provide help with testing. When you have something for the Beevil Junta, let me know. (I am allowed, this is dad jokes week.)
  - wahnfrieden 4y ago
    I'm guessing the Voiceline app shared is too outline/fragment oriented for your use case? Something more freeform document oriented would be better?
ge96 4y ago
Dragon speech? Has integrations like Evernote. I know that's online but they have apps too.

marzell 4y ago

What does Step 3 mean here? What is meant by "..."? Are you talking about the Explorer menu in Github? Or the dotfile package manager (ellipsis)?

jmconfuzeus 4y ago

I've been using Joplin lately. Syncing is done via Syncthing. I like it for the markdown and encryption. Also free.

sys_64738 4y ago

I tried various utilities for this but eventually settled on Microsoft One Note. It seems like it has staying power IMO.

gps0 4y ago

You could of course use a text editor, but here's an interesting program: TreeSheets - https://strlen.com/treesheets/ https://strlen.com/treesheets/

frostyiguana 4y ago

I'm using both a git repo for remote sync / save and notable as a markdown interface/gui for it because it allows for automatic tag and frontmatter update for these markdown files.

Kenneth21 4y ago

[dead]