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Note-taking Software for Unix?
donniejones18 asks: "I've been trying to find note-taking software for my university classes, work, etc. but all I can seem to discover is Windows-based software, such as OneNote or GoBinder. I would like to know what software Slashdot readers use for note-taking in Linux? If not, would anyone be interested in working together on this project? Ideally the software would support the insertion of PDFs, images, and other documents for handwritten annotation from a tablet PC, PDA or by mouse from a PC."
I use KNotes, it's an upgrade to the "Post-it Notes" solution.
PS: Please don't sue me.
Previous note software topic5 8
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/21/21182
Being a recent undergrad myself ... What the hell is wrong with the good old fashioned 3 ring binder? Using a note book or PDA is way over kill for the over priced joke of an education that you're getting.
Use openoffice so you can add pictures, spreadsheets and crap as well as being able to save them in a PDF format for printing on campus. I have used OO for 3 years of uni note taking, happily.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
I take my class notes in LaTeX using vim. I stick to paper and pencil for math (can't remember LaTeX math bindings fast enough), and other drawing type classes.
Makes for readable notes when I have to go back to them.
See e.g. here
Use tools such as mv(1), mkdir(1) , ln(1) and grep to organize,
It seems to me like you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Just suck it up and write in a notebook. You'll spend more time on the solution to your contrived problem than paying attention in class, which is what you shoulda been doing in the first place.
--- Remember boys and girls --- emacs is a pretty good OS, if only it had a decent text editor
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
When I was an undergrad, the profs were just starting to make their lecture slides available before or after the lecture. Then again, I always read the book ahead of time (not all at once, mind you), so the lectures were "additional content" that helped me get more out of the info I already had (in the best case scenario, anyway; sometimes, as many know, it was just a rehash).
Just don't know if this is the "right tool" for the problem(?) you are having.
This is not funny. Not in a million years.
/. was in South Korea, probably the parent post would be (1) e-mailed to YOU! so we all old folks could profit!
It's not informative, nor insightful, because the OP explicitly asked for something that "support the insertion of PDFs, images, and other documents for handwritten annotation from a tablet PC, PDA or by mouse from a PC."
Let's see... it is probably a troll, and is certainly flamebait (I, for one, am hooked).
If
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
It's a pretty decent notes program that lets you graphicly associate ideas...But it Might not be exactly what your lookign for. http://www.insilmaril.de/vym
I've been at uni for 4 years now and I've been asked this same question a few times by foks that know I'm 'up' on computers.
k ety-clack-move-on-back/
My answer is always: Ditch the laptop, use pen and paper.
It works, if you lose it, drop it, wear it out etc then it costs very little to replace. And it doesn't break so you wont be spending all you lecture fixing it and not taking notes.
And if those reasons don't convince you then think of it from the lecturer's point of view and read http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2005/08/13/clic
Use pen and paper. Please.
See a doctor about getting that stick removed from your ass.
http://notecase.sourceforge.net/ is really nice.
especially the tree view on the left.
Also if you dual boot, then you can use the same dat file.
if
Maybe you can split the difference between Computer and Paper... I haven't used this product, but I had come across it a while back.
http://www.acecad.com.tw/digimemo/dm-a501.htm
It allows you to write on regular paper. The problem with this: I think the software is Windows based. I did however find a freshmeat project
http://freshmeat.net/projects/digimemoa501converte r/
to convert the files to UNIX, so maybe that will work.
This would allow you to have both a paper copy, ease of 'data' entry, and a computer based backup to print/review.
... First Slashdot Post!!!THINK ONCE, THINK TWICE, THINK DON'T PUKE IN THE DATACENTER.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Freemind is a mind map tool written in Java. I use it on Linux and Windows. I can live without it for my day to day work... http://freemind.sf.net
I don't have an answer, but I want to know why is a computer overkill for taking notes in class?? I personally think it's perfect. Some people type faster then they can write with a pen and a computer can be used for taking notes much faster. Plus you can take those notes and print them out so you can study under the tree. I personally would take MORE notes when using a computer. Plus with the built in mic you may be able to even record some of the lecture as well. Also, many campuses also have WiFi networks. You can e-mail those notes home and pull in links mentioned in class instantly. I honestly see NOTHING wrong with wanting to use a computer to take notes. Paper notes can always get lost and while the same thing can happen with computer files, it's easy to back them up. You can use a floppy, a USB key, aq gmail account.....
Gorkman
I build and maintain networks, and whatever else happens to need doing network or computer wise. I don't do the same thing day in, day out. A good part of my working hours are spent just-in-time learning, so I can finish the job at hand. And tomorrow, it'll be something else. Notes for me are a necessity.
As such, my laptop goes where ever I go. It's also been my experience that paper doesn't travel well via email, it's a bitch to backup, handwriting styles and quality vary greatly, and it's very imprecise ( hmmn, is that a dot, a comma, or just a glob of ink? )
In Bob we trust.
I've been using LyX (http://www.lyx.org/) to take research notes for quite some time. It has all the advantages of Latex (it runs latex in the background to generate the PS, PDF, etc..) combined with a sexy GUI with floating menus for the math stuff (so you don't have to remember all of those "crazy" names) as well as letting you directly type the ones you do know by heart... All in all, the best thing since sliced bread... at least for note taking (notes in sliced bread tend to get mouldy after a couple of weeks!)
Just use a lightweight wiki on a local-only apache server.
I personally use roWiki, mainly because it's easy for me to hack new features onto.
I have been trying to convince our management to pursue a *nix version, but we haven't so far - siting low demand.
I suppose that someone inclined enough to use it on Linux can work with the XML exports and a little XSL.
Any takers?
But I just blew my last mod point.
43 folders just ran an article about making one big text file, which followed up on an O'Reilly post on the same topic. Bottom line is that one thing all productive geeks share is that they stay organized by just adding stuff to a plain text file. It is a good life hack, which is intrinsically cross-platform & easy to use & small.
This is the software that I'm currently using after trying difference note taking software for Linux:v isionHistory
http://shared.snapgrid.com/gtd_tiddlywiki.html#Re
It actually a small webapp that u can use your browser to open with but that's the point because I always has my browser open anyways.
You can add and remove tasks as editing and change information very quickly in one pape.
Check it out.
How about tomboy?
Celebrate the finer things in life
No, it's GNU that's not Unix.
One of the problems with normal pen-and-paper you can't do keyword searches on your notes. I have messing writing sometimes and cannot read what I wrote. And notes get easily disorganized and even when well organized it can be hard to find the right information come study time. As well, I always end up making a study sheet and it would be nice to just copy and paste what I need while speed reading though it.
;) ... not practical anyways only one page at a time and then I'd have to shake everything off!!!).
.. I think they purposefully inflated the system requirements so the OEMs could sell more expensive systems), I would have bought one for university.
Some of you guys (and gals!) in computer science (prob most of the audience here) might find it practical to type away on a laptop. Or you don't have to worry much about "keywords", thus the pen and paper.
I'm in 4th year in a Liberal Arts program - and I know of several business, communications and other majors as well that are dying for a better digital notetaking alternative. Since I have a nice desktop system (iMac G5) a laptop is not practical and affordable used ones are either missing things (ethernet), are in need of replacement parts (old HDD), or I don't feel like lugging it around on the bus back from university. And there's no warranty. Overall, though, I don't mind useing a note-pad like program to type in notes.
I'd like to know if there is a small monochrome display that you can simply write-on that will save all your notes. I've thought of scanning in all my notes but its too tedious. (Please don't suggest an etch-a-sketch, I've already thought of it
Someone's mentionned the Ace Cad (http://www.acecad.com.tw/eng/application.htm) notepad. To me, the usefullness of this thing is self-defeating. 1) You need special ink and finding it is hard; 2) You still end up wasting paper; 3) it only works on Windows; 4) You can't easily clean up the file digitally afterwards; 5) its $150 CAN. I do like the fact it uses Flash memory as storage. But it loses some of its appeal.
IMO, Microsoft missed the boat on the Tablet PCs. If they had lowered the system requirements (I'm sure they could have
A PDA isn't a half-bad idea with a keyboard attached I supposed.Any other suggestions?
So your parents bought you a hyper-expensive tablet pc, so you could "write" your school notes on it?
Brilliant.
There have actually been several great inventions since Unix - one of them is called Paper. Sometimes, it's just the "Best tool for the Job"tm
I'm just messing with ya...
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Check out Tomboy [1] if you use GNOME, or don't mind pulling in a million dependencies for a simple note-taking app.
[1] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/tomboy/
I've been using FreeMind for a couple of years to take notes, and it's brilliant. You need to subscribe to the Mind Maps approach to note taking first, but having done that ~10 years ago, I haven't found a commercial product to touch FreeMind.
More and more, I use it in preference to Powerpoint for presentations. Being able to drill down on points while retaining the context of other points onscreen, is a really powerful way to keep audiences interested, and also lets you change tack mid-presentation if you've misjudged the prior knowledge of your audience.
Free, rock solid, export to XML, link to other documents and Web sites, simple interface that stays out of the way. What more could you want?
I use Ecco every day and it rocks. Although written for win95 and not having an update for the last 10 years, it is still a very well written PIM with very competent outlining capability.
I know of some people who have already gotten it working via wine.
Have not tried myself as I do not hack in linux and am tied to my windoze box:
http://www.thenakedpc.com/dan/pims/ecco.html
Regarding NoteTaker types, single panel outliners are the only way to play. I have always found the common multi-pane outliners to be too abstracted visually and non-intuitive.
If you decide to play with a Mac, Omni Outliner and NoteTaker are very competent products as well. Omni is very simple and written by some of the best hackers in the industry. NoteTaker has very nice features including OPML xml support.
I tried MS OneNote and it SUCKED (compared to Ecco, Omni Outliner, NoteTaker)... I mean really sucked. It is amazing what kind of over featured under planned crap 1000 underpaid monkeys can create.
BTW - NoteTaker is planning a multi-platform release although they have been saying this for some time now.
JsD
did you mean _can't_ live without it ???
FreeNoteQT runs on the newer Zauruses (Zaurusi?). I've installed it but not yet played with it to any significant extent.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
an ircd with multiple classmates and logging enabled. Works like a charm.
unless you adamantly refuse to take notes with pencil and paper. Get a cheap sheet fed scanner, like the HP Offijet 4215 all-in-one ($100). The paper feed is vertical like a printer (well, it is a printer) and monochrome scans go really fast, like 5 seconds a page. You can take notes on 8.5x11 paper and scan them in every day/week/month in just a few minutes with xscanimage. Convert the pages to a single PDF with your favorite free software such as Imagemagick, PDFTK, or whatever... I was able to scan hundreds of pages of notes from the past, as well as essentially all the research notes I do now. I don't use this particular model for printing at all, so I don't even know if it works in Linux (haven't even opened up the starter cartridges) but this thing is very useful for scanning many 8.5x11 pages without lifting a finger.
If you have a unixy laptop, installing a local wiki might be a solution.
There are many different wiki sistems, from very simple, to very very extensive. Im sure yu can find soemthing you like. Take your pick here http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines
Many will have plugins to draw simple diagrams, can attach files etc.
The one I use extensively is TWiki : http://twiki.org/
Both for note taking and group collaboration in my university department.
Complexity is a measure of our ignorance...
they are not mutually exclusive.
Oups, Yes .. I can't :)
Once synched, I could do pretty much whatever I wanted with the text. For input, I splurged to buy one of those folding keyboards. It worked fairly well. The best bit was that I could work on papers pretty much anywhere.
But once I got into upper level classes, I found that the my notes needed a level of organization that was much easier to enforce with pencil and paper. When taking notes, I would put the date in the left margin along with key words to use as something of an index. I used the equivalent of a second margin to keep track of page number of texts. The remainder of the page, I used to either jot down selected quotations or explanations.
Obviously, this could be replicated in software, but I've found the paper and pen to be both quicker, harder to destroy, easier to work with and more flexible. (On the last point, replicating diagrams from the chalkboard or writing down formulas is far easeir via pen and paper.) Interestingly, once I started to take notes this way, I began to write outlines for papers with ink instead of my word processor, and eventually began writing my first drafts for my papers with ink.
Now, all my notes live in manilla folders in a filebox. There have been several times when I've had to go back and find specific information. Despite that some of my notes survive only in electronic format, I find it easier to find information in my paper based notes. The ability to search through the digital version doesn't make up for the ability to visually scan the index. Many times, the word I think I'm looking for is not the word that is actually used in my notes. When looking things up by looking through the index, this is almost never a problem.
The best of both worlds, IMO, would be to use pen and paper and, as others have mentioned, scan the notes into digital format. But another consideration here is to keep in mind that different people have different brains and, consequently, different learning styles. A method of taking notes that works well for one person won't necessarily work well for another person.
I do use a wiki & I also think whatever works for you is whatever is best. So I'd be the last one to say you're wrong. However, I will be more than willing to point out why text has usually worked better for me.
(As I mentioned on that 43 folders page) vim's folding support and markers do let you keep things organized well enough. I still find the search tools for plaintext files are still faster and more useful than wiki searches (not only do you have the highlighting and ability to jump to the next results (as firefox can give you), but you can do something to all matching lines or replace all occurrences with something else, etc. etc.
The browser dependence of wikis (and the javascript & GUI-hungry elements of the default TiddlyWiki install) leave a sour taste in my mouth. It is a lot quicker for me to edit a text file than wait for my browser to load.
TW does have some good things going for it--low threshold to share your wiki with others in a way that won't intimidate them, being the only one I can think of which vim doesn't share. The incremental seach, tagging, regexp support, though shared by vim, aren't in most other wikis.
Do you use the default, a variant, or TW with any plugins?
GNU is not Unix. Linux is not an OS. GNU/Linux is an OS distribution comprised of the GNU project and the Linux kernel. Therefore, GNU/Linux is also not Unix. But it IS Unix-like. Glad to have cleared all that up for the trogs. :)
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
All of the above recommendations clearly illustrate a common problem with a lot of Linux users. It seems that although they are quick to deride Microsoft and their software, they don't actually have the slightest clue what the software is or what it can do. Certainly they have never actually used the software so they are completely unqualified to make ANY statement at all. But, that doesn't stop them for even one second. Here's a news flash, Microsoft has advanced beyond Windows 95, which you like to use as a benchmark. Microsaoft is about to release its fourth operating system since Windows 95. It is called Vista and it is amazing!
The Microsoft OneNote software that the original poster referenced is a wickedly cool piece of software that came out in 2003. There is nothing like it in the Linux world. Nothing like it! OneNote goes far beyond recording quick thoughts in a text editor. OneNote can store, organize, format, and search notes(more accurately, information) of any kind including
OneNote is a KILLER application that Microsoft hardly even talks about. Here is a Flash demo of OneNote 2003 for the unwashed masses.
While I support users of Microsoft systems, I use Linux exclusively and resent the fact that there is a plethora of really amazing software out there which there are no Linux equivalents for and worse yet, no one working on the problem. OneNote is a great example of this. But, the zealots would rather blindly mouth off against Microsoft than realize that while they are mouthing off Microsoft IS innovating. Microsoft is creating wickedly cool software that the Linux community isn't even aware of but, is quick to deride simply because it comes from Microsoft. The original poster even went so far as to ask if someone wanted to work with him to develop something like OneNote if nothing else existed. No one has offered or commented about this. All the posts have either been flames or recommendations of software that are nothing like OneNote.
Microsoft IS innovating. You, and me, are being left behind! I am sick of it and after six years of using Linux exclusively, I am considering switching to Microsoft Vista and leaving all this BS behind. How sad is that?
http://basket.kde.org/
it really is great and exactly what your looking for.
Why take notes on a keyboard?
- handwriting 25 wpm, borderline legibility, cannot edit/restructure/search
- typing 70-80 wpm, completely legible, can edit/restructure/search
And if you ask why does one need 70-80 wpm, you've never tried to keep up with Dr W's immunology lectures! I do admit to taking more selective notes by hand, simply because it's slower. But if I have to capture a high rate of information-flow, keyboard is best.
Keyboard is frequently a Treo600 with PalmOne keyboard. I can then email notes to myself or to my Backpack page http://www.backpackit.com/ for immediate backup.
I also use an internal Wiki, for keeping ongoing expanding notes. Current favorite is DokuWiki http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:dokuwiki: installation's elementary, and it stores info as readable flatfiles.
Re pen and paper: After years of recording on 3-ring paper, reshuffling, refiling and losing, I got religion and now make a point of (almost) never writing anything that I mean to keep on a single piece of paper. It all goes into notebooks, tens of notebooks. BTW, check the permanence of the ink, if there's any chance you'll want them longterm. I recently retrieved some old letters and notes from my parents' basement. The turquoise ink I so loved back then? - It was faded almost to unreadability.
This is the closest recommendation to the request, so far. Also, please see this post immediately above.
Use Emacs or XEmacs in outline mode. If you want fancier output, use consistent markup (either homebrew or something like markdown) and write a script to convert it to your preferred fancy format (e.g. LaTeX or HTML).
If you're writing down math lectures, learn LaTeX and use it to jot down equations.
Easy!
(Well, to say, anyway--I've never tried it. But you can't go wrong with a text file and a scripting language.)
Kjots, the easiest to use. Much improved now you can nest folders. Gjots, more features. TreePad (windows version) still more, but harder to use and not free. Treeline is supposed to be good but I have never got it to work.
So graphical tools are good for this problem-space, depending upon your needs.
Here're two projects inspired by Microsoft Journal:
http://freshmeat.net/projects/jarnal/
http://www.adebenham.com/gournal/
Depending on your needs, you might find a drawing program of use --- I use Futurewave SmartSketch (old PenPoint program ported to Mac OS and Windows which morphed into Flash) on my Stylistic 2300
So look at
http://www.cenon.info/
or use GIMP for bitmaps
If you do a lot of math, you may find the Freehand Formula Entry System (FFES) of use:
http://www.cs.queensu.ca/drl/ffes/
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.