4 ms·

At my first job out of college in 1985 I worked for a unknown, unsuccessful mainframe company. I started a TODO.TXT file when I arrived; when I left a year late

At my first job out of college in 1985 I worked for a unknown, unsuccessful mainframe company. I started a TODO.TXT file when I arrived; when I left a year later I put my TODO.TXT (along with ADDRESS.TXT, DATES.TXT) on a 5.25" floppy and took it with me to the next company, and the next, and the next. I didn't buy my own computer until 1997, and those files finally made it to a machine I own and control. Those files have been in continuous use for 39 years. TODO.TXT's icon is the upper left icon on my desktop and I view and edit it multiple times a day. I now have 46 .txt files for managing things, where each one pertains to some particular topic: food, music, travel, a website, etc. All are listed in my main TODO.TXT and since I use vim, I can just move the cursor on top of any of the files and type "gf" to jump to that other file. When I'm done, I hit Ctrl-O to jump back to the original file. It is hypertext without the html.

undopamine 3y ago
Quite similar to how I started too! A single piece of paper with a list of videogames I wanted to finish. Then it kept expanding with time - one txt file, multiple txt files, Evernote, Notion,... Finally settled with Google Keep (checklists) + Obsidian (~2,700 text files, interconnected and easy to navigate).
hawski 3y ago
You made your private wiki. I used to use Zim and it was splendid. Then I went down a few rabbit holes and explored a more GUI-less approach, but in my case nothing ever approached the level of Zim. It is more on me, than on tools. Now, when I'm doing a job that finally doesn't cause me a burn out I am slowly going back to Zim and I like it.
- Propelloni 3y ago
  Full agreement. I use Zim Desktop Wiki for years now and still use it daily, but it has become harder. I also write on mobile and the experience is lacking. I don't mind syncing with Syncthing, but there is no good editor. Markor is able to open Zim files (which are just text files with markup) but it is just not cutting it. Maybe I need to wait until the itch becomes too large to ignore and start my own little side project :/
  - GlumWoodpecker 3y ago
    I've had great success with using Joplin for this, with Syncthing as a sync backend. Works well across OSes; I use it on Linux, macOS, Windows and Android. https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/
  - troad 3y ago
    With the added expense of increased complexity cf something like Zim, I find that MediaWiki runs pretty well in a Docker container and is quite easy to edit on mobile.
gercius 3y ago
You would (probably) like obsidian
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
lelanthran 3y ago
I did pretty much the same thing for years, using Emacs org mode (same hyperlinked setup). Then I used vim using `CTRL-Wgf`, same as you. Then I added to my .bash_profile: alias todo='vim ~/.todo' Then I test drove a bunch of todo apps (yeah, Obsidian too). The problem I found with this, eventually, is that it's really not great at allowing me to perform my most common workflow: push-context -> start-new-thing -> finish-new-thing -> pop-context Or switch-context $OLD-THING -> switch-context $NEW-THING -> switch-previous-context Or even switch-previous-context -> switch-previous-context (repeat ad nauseum) Or switch-to-most-recent-context-in-admin -> switch-to-most-recent-context-in-other-project etc. Really, my tasks are not lists, they aren't even items to do. They're contexts which I want to switch to, switch between, discard once done (to maintain high SNR), branch off from, etc. It's context management. A todolist app isn't going to cut it, and in fact, none of them did. For the last 6 months or so I've been happily using a small tool I developed for myself, to suit my workflows (like the ones above). Even made a GUI for it. It's the only thing I've used since I started with TODO files in the 90s that gets better at managing my contexts over time. Everything else gets worse over time, because the mismatch between what I want (context management) and what they provide (TODO items management) can easily be negligible when first using it with few items entered, but as that list grows so does the magnitude of the mismatch in what I want and what they do. It's missing remote sync but I'll eventually add that in (so I can use it from the phone eventually). Easily the best 1 week I've ever spent on a project.
- seletskiy 3y ago
  Hey, I've realized the same thing (that my workflows are stack-based) awhile ago, but didn't get to the point of writing a tool yet. Dare to share? Also, which approach you use to efficiently store and re-store relevant context information? I often find that intricate but important details are lost during context switch.
  - lelanthran 3y ago
    > Hey, I've realized the same thing (that my workflows are stack-based) awhile ago, but didn't get to the point of writing a tool yet. Dare to share? Sure, but because I'm only using it for myself, you're going to have to compile it yourself if you want (for now, anyway). Originally designed to be CLI app, I find I only use the GUI these days (also in the repo). Start here in case this is not for you: https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIntroduction.odp https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn... > Also, which approach you use to efficiently store and re-store relevant context information? I often find that intricate but important details are lost during context switch. Everything is stored in a hierarchical DB, AKA the filesystem :-) Each 'frame' is a directory with a specific set of files, and the directory name serves as the name of the frame. At any given time, a metainfo file in the root points to the currently active frame.

undopamine 3y ago

Quite similar to how I started too! A single piece of paper with a list of videogames I wanted to finish. Then it kept expanding with time - one txt file, multiple txt files, Evernote, Notion,... Finally settled with Google Keep (checklists) + Obsidian (~2,700 text files, interconnected and easy to navigate).

hawski 3y ago

You made your private wiki. I used to use Zim and it was splendid. Then I went down a few rabbit holes and explored a more GUI-less approach, but in my case nothing ever approached the level of Zim. It is more on me, than on tools. Now, when I'm doing a job that finally doesn't cause me a burn out I am slowly going back to Zim and I like it.

Propelloni 3y ago
Full agreement. I use Zim Desktop Wiki for years now and still use it daily, but it has become harder. I also write on mobile and the experience is lacking. I don't mind syncing with Syncthing, but there is no good editor. Markor is able to open Zim files (which are just text files with markup) but it is just not cutting it. Maybe I need to wait until the itch becomes too large to ignore and start my own little side project :/
- GlumWoodpecker 3y ago
  I've had great success with using Joplin for this, with Syncthing as a sync backend. Works well across OSes; I use it on Linux, macOS, Windows and Android. https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/
- troad 3y ago
  With the added expense of increased complexity cf something like Zim, I find that MediaWiki runs pretty well in a Docker container and is quite easy to edit on mobile.

gercius 3y ago

You would (probably) like obsidian

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

lelanthran 3y ago

I did pretty much the same thing for years, using Emacs org mode (same hyperlinked setup). Then I used vim using `CTRL-Wgf`, same as you. Then I added to my .bash_profile: alias todo='vim ~/.todo' Then I test drove a bunch of todo apps (yeah, Obsidian too). The problem I found with this, eventually, is that it's really not great at allowing me to perform my most common workflow: push-context -> start-new-thing -> finish-new-thing -> pop-context Or switch-context $OLD-THING -> switch-context $NEW-THING -> switch-previous-context Or even switch-previous-context -> switch-previous-context (repeat ad nauseum) Or switch-to-most-recent-context-in-admin -> switch-to-most-recent-context-in-other-project etc. Really, my tasks are not lists, they aren't even items to do. They're contexts which I want to switch to, switch between, discard once done (to maintain high SNR), branch off from, etc. It's context management. A todolist app isn't going to cut it, and in fact, none of them did. For the last 6 months or so I've been happily using a small tool I developed for myself, to suit my workflows (like the ones above). Even made a GUI for it. It's the only thing I've used since I started with TODO files in the 90s that gets better at managing my contexts over time. Everything else gets worse over time, because the mismatch between what I want (context management) and what they provide (TODO items management) can easily be negligible when first using it with few items entered, but as that list grows so does the magnitude of the mismatch in what I want and what they do. It's missing remote sync but I'll eventually add that in (so I can use it from the phone eventually). Easily the best 1 week I've ever spent on a project.

seletskiy 3y ago
Hey, I've realized the same thing (that my workflows are stack-based) awhile ago, but didn't get to the point of writing a tool yet. Dare to share? Also, which approach you use to efficiently store and re-store relevant context information? I often find that intricate but important details are lost during context switch.
- lelanthran 3y ago
  > Hey, I've realized the same thing (that my workflows are stack-based) awhile ago, but didn't get to the point of writing a tool yet. Dare to share? Sure, but because I'm only using it for myself, you're going to have to compile it yourself if you want (for now, anyway). Originally designed to be CLI app, I find I only use the GUI these days (also in the repo). Start here in case this is not for you: https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIntroduction.odp https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn... > Also, which approach you use to efficiently store and re-store relevant context information? I often find that intricate but important details are lost during context switch. Everything is stored in a hierarchical DB, AKA the filesystem :-) Each 'frame' is a directory with a specific set of files, and the directory name serves as the name of the frame. At any given time, a metainfo file in the root points to the currently active frame.