4 ms·

I think we conflate two types of note-taking: 1. List-style notes of things we need to remember 2. School-style notes of information and ideas I think th

I think we conflate two types of note-taking: 1. List-style notes of things we need to remember 2. School-style notes of information and ideas I think the former requires a tool, but nothing particularly sophisticated - Apple Notes for example with its search indexing is fine I think the latter we write only to stimulate our brain to process information and learn better. I think there is a discrepancy where a lot of tools attempt to make Type 2 notes more "convenient", i.e. to trying to somehow make them an extension of our brain, but the truth is that it's like hacking a hard drive to work as fast as a CPU register -- retrieving and working with information is always going to be orders of magnitude slower than working through your thoughts in your brain.

ASalazarMX 4y ago
I think this is it. I have a single markdown file for all my casual notes (1), and a folder structure for my permanent notes (2). Notes of type 2 are the most valuable long-term, and it's worth the time to select what to store, and to structure it right. I'm always on the hunt of my ideal open source, lightweight, non-cloud, cross-platform, mobile-friendly hierarchical note taking app, but I know I'm asking too much, maybe I'll never find it. Meanwhile I use plain text editors.
- DelightOne 4y ago
  > non-cloud & cross-platform Small question: how do you expect "automatic sync" to work "between platforms without a cloud"?
  - kristjank 4y ago
    Syncthing :)
    - DelightOne 4y ago
      Ahh.. so you want to only sync locally between devices.. or you want it to support your special cloud-protocol so you can run your own cloud-server... . But wouldn't the second part be cheating, not naming it cloud-based?
      - projektfu 4y ago
        Syncthing with Wireguard/Tailscale is not exactly local, not really "cloud".
      - _emacsomancer_ 4y ago
        As long as you have two connectable devices Syncthing doesn't have to be strictly local. It'll take advantage of local networks, but it's certainly not limited to that.
      - ASalazarMX 4y ago
        Non-cloud as not chained to the provider's storage services, I want to decide how to sync it between my devices. I want a tool for my notes, not SaaS. I wouldn't mind paying for my tool chain, what I wouldn't want is paying rent for my own notes.
  - itsobvioushuh 4y ago
    Syncthing
  - ASalazarMX 4y ago
    As others have said, Syncthing. I also have used DropBox or Google Drive since there is no confidential information in my permanent notes. I didn't mention it because then it wouldn't be simply text files, but encryption would be the cherry on top of my ideal app, since any storage provider could be used to sync it.
- cogitoergosome 4y ago
  Org-mode on Emacs checks all those boxes. The only issue might be the learning curve of core Emacs.
  - bastijn 4y ago
    ...Getting lost in learning org-mode is a fantastic way to avoid creating things...
    - nequo 4y ago
      Just learn the subset of it that you need to record your thoughts and get on with it.
- redavni 4y ago
  Came here to say this. I have a highly evolved note taking methodology/snippet setup(common MAC address prefixes etc)/auto-insert timestamp every line that I use VS Code for. If I spoke to someone 15 months ago, I can tell you who and the exact time/day and some shorthand notes about the call. These notes are invaluable.
  - volume 4y ago
    That sounds more powerful than Lion Kimbro's version (https://users.speakeasy.net/~lion/nb/book.pdf https://users.speakeasy.net/~lion/nb/book.pdf). You should document it!
- bbkane 4y ago
  I use gitjournal.io to sync my folder of markdown notes between PC and phone. I wrote about my little ensemble of editors and tools at https://www.bbkane.com/blog/how-i-take-notes/ https://www.bbkane.com/blog/how-i-take-notes/
maximus-decimus 4y ago
The reason I use a note-taking system is point 1 for what I'm working on now, point 2 when I'm following a tutorial and want to assimilate the subject, but there is a third point which is why I'm trying so many of them : I need a way to store information that's useful to me and be able to recover it when I need it. 3 examples would be : 1. An API is broken at work and you need to log a bug. who do you log it for? Who do you ask for help? 2. There are a few commands I need to remember to do stuff with kubectl, but can never remember the details. What are the exact commands i need to run to do this <specific use case to me> 3. I work in an area I've worked in a year ago and don't remember the definiton of business stuff. I want to be able to just look up how I defined it a year ago. The big problem for me was this is completely different from school where you just learn stuff for 4 months, vomit everything on a test and then never re-use the notes again. I find the way I took notes at university competently inadequate because it's basically impossible to retrieve specific information. After playing with a bunch of stuff I find I need 2 features : 1. hierarchical notes : instead of folders, notes are below other notes. 2. A good search function. 3. (optional) I also want markdown so I can write code blocks easily since I'm a programmer I'm trying Dendron right now because it hits all 3 points, but honestly Zim Wiki is dead simple and is unreasonably effective if you don't care about markdown.

ASalazarMX 4y ago

I think this is it. I have a single markdown file for all my casual notes (1), and a folder structure for my permanent notes (2). Notes of type 2 are the most valuable long-term, and it's worth the time to select what to store, and to structure it right. I'm always on the hunt of my ideal open source, lightweight, non-cloud, cross-platform, mobile-friendly hierarchical note taking app, but I know I'm asking too much, maybe I'll never find it. Meanwhile I use plain text editors.

DelightOne 4y ago
> non-cloud & cross-platform Small question: how do you expect "automatic sync" to work "between platforms without a cloud"?
- kristjank 4y ago
  Syncthing :)
  - DelightOne 4y ago
    Ahh.. so you want to only sync locally between devices.. or you want it to support your special cloud-protocol so you can run your own cloud-server... . But wouldn't the second part be cheating, not naming it cloud-based?
    - projektfu 4y ago
      Syncthing with Wireguard/Tailscale is not exactly local, not really "cloud".
    - _emacsomancer_ 4y ago
      As long as you have two connectable devices Syncthing doesn't have to be strictly local. It'll take advantage of local networks, but it's certainly not limited to that.
    - ASalazarMX 4y ago
      Non-cloud as not chained to the provider's storage services, I want to decide how to sync it between my devices. I want a tool for my notes, not SaaS. I wouldn't mind paying for my tool chain, what I wouldn't want is paying rent for my own notes.
- itsobvioushuh 4y ago
  Syncthing
- ASalazarMX 4y ago
  As others have said, Syncthing. I also have used DropBox or Google Drive since there is no confidential information in my permanent notes. I didn't mention it because then it wouldn't be simply text files, but encryption would be the cherry on top of my ideal app, since any storage provider could be used to sync it.
cogitoergosome 4y ago
Org-mode on Emacs checks all those boxes. The only issue might be the learning curve of core Emacs.
- bastijn 4y ago
  ...Getting lost in learning org-mode is a fantastic way to avoid creating things...
  - nequo 4y ago
    Just learn the subset of it that you need to record your thoughts and get on with it.
redavni 4y ago
Came here to say this. I have a highly evolved note taking methodology/snippet setup(common MAC address prefixes etc)/auto-insert timestamp every line that I use VS Code for. If I spoke to someone 15 months ago, I can tell you who and the exact time/day and some shorthand notes about the call. These notes are invaluable.
- volume 4y ago
  That sounds more powerful than Lion Kimbro's version (https://users.speakeasy.net/~lion/nb/book.pdf https://users.speakeasy.net/~lion/nb/book.pdf). You should document it!
bbkane 4y ago
I use gitjournal.io to sync my folder of markdown notes between PC and phone. I wrote about my little ensemble of editors and tools at https://www.bbkane.com/blog/how-i-take-notes/ https://www.bbkane.com/blog/how-i-take-notes/

maximus-decimus 4y ago

The reason I use a note-taking system is point 1 for what I'm working on now, point 2 when I'm following a tutorial and want to assimilate the subject, but there is a third point which is why I'm trying so many of them : I need a way to store information that's useful to me and be able to recover it when I need it. 3 examples would be : 1. An API is broken at work and you need to log a bug. who do you log it for? Who do you ask for help? 2. There are a few commands I need to remember to do stuff with kubectl, but can never remember the details. What are the exact commands i need to run to do this <specific use case to me> 3. I work in an area I've worked in a year ago and don't remember the definiton of business stuff. I want to be able to just look up how I defined it a year ago. The big problem for me was this is completely different from school where you just learn stuff for 4 months, vomit everything on a test and then never re-use the notes again. I find the way I took notes at university competently inadequate because it's basically impossible to retrieve specific information. After playing with a bunch of stuff I find I need 2 features : 1. hierarchical notes : instead of folders, notes are below other notes. 2. A good search function. 3. (optional) I also want markdown so I can write code blocks easily since I'm a programmer I'm trying Dendron right now because it hits all 3 points, but honestly Zim Wiki is dead simple and is unreasonably effective if you don't care about markdown.