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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.
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.
I'm dyslexic. I can barely write with a pen and paper, but I can type well. Taking notes on a laptop was the only way I got through many of my classes.
"This mission is too important to allow you to jeopardize it." -- HAL
I'd certainly vote for keeping as much stuff in text files as possible.
Whilst I can understand the wish to store images and handwritten annotations, it'll be difficult to search for the idea that you were trying to get down with the annotation. Long-term, it'd be easier to store images as files, and annotate them in separate text files. Convert PDF files to text (having access to the source of pdftotext helps here!). Email is mostly text anyway...
It's easy to cross-reference from one file to another (and if you stick to text you won't have the hassle of the delay that a word processor or PDF viewer would impose going from one to another).
Personally I use "emacs" to edit notes files behind "Above & Beyond" (but the first of these isn't compulsary and the second is no help to you as it's Windows only), and a bit of self-discipline to put the same info in the same place at the top of each one.
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?
Much of the reason why I did better with Graffiti in class is that Graffiti is very easy to write without looking, because it's all in one place. With paper and pen, I couldn't watch the professor and chalkboard as much, because without looking at what I was writing I'd end up with a jumble of letters overlapping or the text wandering up and over other text and stuff like that. So the advantage isn't Graffiti itself, it's just the idea of one letter at a time, all in the same spot.
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...