Unless I'm missing something very obvious, the source repository https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook only includes the client apps and not the server, and the parent organization "streetwriters" doesn't seem to have any other repositories for the server. How are you supposed to run your own instance without that?
There's also a lot of marketing-speak in the repository documentation and little to no documentation on how to actually deploy it. Overall this leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
Compare this for example to Bookstack, which gets right to the point for how to install and deploy, with no marketing nonsense. https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack
I have moved on to a plaintext lifestyle that isn't tied to any tooling. If I have to protect/encrypt the content, I will look at doing that at the container -- such as a Vault.
Tools such as Obsidian[1] are a good option for me, as I can use it as that -- a tool and not worry about the content being tied to any platform - open or otherwise. For your Vault protection, tools such as the Cryptomator[2] works well.
I reason that tools will come and go. Even for many open source ones, I had my experience of being unable to rebuild/recompile because of the outdated libraries, unmaintained code, etc. The world moves on, real fast. Plain text is and will still work in the future. I'm also OK, spicing it up a bit with MarkDown, which still can maintain human readability even if the reader doesn't know what Markdowns are.
I'm not against using tooling in a group/team, where the tooling plays a good role in making the experience smooth. I would also definitely love to pay for tools that helps the team improve and save time and frustrations.
Best of luck to your product, and I hope it serves the use cases of others who need it.
Similar here. For personal use, I don't bother with the extra hassle of wiki software, but just maintain Markdown files in my `~/wiki/` directory.
For example, my notes about Stable Fusion are in `~/wiki/stable-fusion.md`.
Since I have my Emacs Markdown mode tweaked to be semi-WYSIWYG, the only downside is that links between pages is a little messier than if I used wiki software. (I might tweak Emacs a bit more, to have link text in square brackets navigate to the right filename.)
Someday, these files might end up in wiki software, but I'm in no hurry, and I'm capturing and accessing the info now.
>Tools such as Obsidian are a good option for me, as I can use it as that -- a tool and not worry about the content being tied to any platform - open or otherwise.
Fine, but (because the OP is about an open-source solution) we should mention that Obsidian is not open-source.
But then when your collection gets to a certain size it's barely usable without an app. You lose all the easy traversal between interlinked notes for instance. I think plain text sets the bar very low for the functionality absolutely required from an app, but doesn't eliminate it.
I'm still a happy Evernote subscriber since a few years ago. When Galaxy Notes were my main phones, lots of my (handwriting) notes are stored in it.
Nevertheless, I'm still looking for open source alternative. Evernote is certainly more user friendly because it has built-in Word-like WYSWYIG editor. Obsidian, on the other side, is like vim: there's a reading mode, and there's an editing mode. A bit confusing at first.
BTW, just noticed Obsidian is Electron-powered, like VSCode. Hmmm....
Encryption is nice, but what I really want is local-first, multi-device, and a very short time between when I launch the app and when I start being able to type. When I want to capture an idea or want to spend my limited time journalling, I want it fast. Hyperlinking and adding photos are nice.
Evernote has been focusing on collaborative features I don’t care about. Startup time to when I can start typing have been getting worse over the years. I’ve been seriously looking for a good replacement that lets me import from Evernote.
Joplin is significantly better than Evernote for being quick to start typing. Sync runs in the background without preventing you from editing which is why I moved over. Has a decent ability to import notes from Evernote to Joplin as well.
I use sublime text for that. It launches super fast, and after I capture whatever idea I have I usually copy the doc over to notion. Sometimes, all I need is to just capture whatever thought I have and not worry at all about copying them to notion or other tools (especially common when coding / debugging, I will just have an idea and then either excute on it or create a github issue)
My primary requirement for personal note taking is self hosting. That's the only thing that assures me that my years of notes will be available when I wake up every morning.
(And if I don't wake up one morning, I doubt I'll miss the availability of my notes)
I am curious what kind of information do you have in your notes that you keep them around for years.
Not trying to mock or anything but I am wondering if I too would benefit from such a thing. Most of my notes are ephemeral and I delete them soon (within weeks at most).
StandardNotes makes daily encrypted exports to your Google drive, mailbox, and others.
That's not self hosted but it's texts files so... Good enough for me.
I get that Evernote seems stagnant (or even dead by many accounts) and it certainly is lacking in critical features such as e2ee, but all these (paid) alternatives are only covering a small fraction of Evernote functionally: mostly text notes. No OCR, no easy meeting notes, no templates...
Luckily, where I am I've access to (really!) low cost EN subscription (maybe I've got grandfathered into it? Right now it works out less than 1usd/year) So I'm just never tempted to find alternatives despite it's shortcomings.
Yes, I use Evernote as a searchable scanned documents database (I don’t need plain text notes, and I have thousands of scans lying around from the last 12 years). Every bill, receipt, signed contract, insurance claim etc. gets scanned and goes to Evernote, with tags for quick access. I pay full $80/year for it.
I would really love to switch to something else, but there is no alternative. There is no other document database with built-in OCR. I tried for years to find it, but apparently there is nothing else.
Managing plain-text notes is the easiest part. I could do it with Orgmode if I wanted to. But I don’t know how I could manage my scanned documents, if not in Evernote.
I am more likely to journal and blog if the friction to creating a post is as simple as opening a document and writing. The important part of journalling or note software is that you actually create notes. I did use Hetzner to run a Wordpress blog but it had an overhead of server expenses and keeping Wordpress up-to-date.
I don't want my data trapped in a proprietary system where it is difficult to export, so I use plaintext. I looked into Publii [1] but I prefer my current plaintext setup. Today I journal software ideas, computer ideas, startup ideas and community ideas on GitHub in the open, as README.md files. My journal is all public on GitHub at the following links. There are over 550+ journal entries, I am sure you shall enjoy them.
Wow! GPL-licensed, Free as in Freedom, encrypted note taking! This is great. I think I'll probably end up self hosting this just on principle, but I signed up for a year just to show support! The fact that the Notesnook community is on discord is a little annoying, but other than that, I have no qualms with this, can't wait to try it out.
Why? We all have to pay for shelter and food. This looks like what could become a fantastic business and product. I applaud their commitments to privacy and open-source at such an early stage. I am looking forward to hearing about Notesnook more in the future.
More and more I’m thinking of having open software that runs on client hardware and that sync via simple P2P connections. For example having some Evernote clone where the mobile app is in sync with the desktop app without using a centralized server.
My issue is being trapped in SaaS platforms with bad business models that threaten the existence of the service. Think of Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, Facebook, heck even Uber and Uber eats clones.
Though I’m not into the crypto stuff. I’d be OK if banks kept centralized ledgers that these free-to-use privacy-oriented P2P services could use, for crowd sourced applications.
I really miss the feeling of the internet in the 90s and 00s but how could people work on these projects while still make a living?
Didn't even have to check. I just assumed it was Electron at first sight. That's just how software is these days.
And some wonder why so many people are still using Emacs or Apple Notes to take notes. Even the most minimal input lag and stuttering gets me out of my writing mood. Electron is the gaming equivalent of playing at 30 FPS with motion blur.
If you are interested in this kind of app you may like to take a look at https://cryptpad.org, a full featured collaborative office suite. End-to-end encrypted, built from the ground to know as little as needed about you and easy to host.
Try it on our flagship instance: https://cryptpad.fr, no registration required!
Fun fact: Joplin log files include plaintext secret keys when you enable E2EE. I moved away from Joplin after that plus a data loss incident where Joplin decided that it wanted to delete all of my notes in the repository. Too many foot guns there! I did like the software though.
> Notesnook is our proof that privacy does not (always) have to come at the cost of convenience
Won’t implementing note sharing be harder for this app than for one that isn’t encrypted?
Encrypted data storage is harder to work with than plaintext data storage and until developers have good tools to close that gap, they’re not going to.
[+] [-] lopkeny12ko|3 years ago|reply
There's also a lot of marketing-speak in the repository documentation and little to no documentation on how to actually deploy it. Overall this leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
Compare this for example to Bookstack, which gets right to the point for how to install and deploy, with no marketing nonsense. https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack
[+] [-] snthd|3 years ago|reply
>September onwards
>Open source sync server + self hosting
[+] [-] lupire|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Brajeshwar|3 years ago|reply
Tools such as Obsidian[1] are a good option for me, as I can use it as that -- a tool and not worry about the content being tied to any platform - open or otherwise. For your Vault protection, tools such as the Cryptomator[2] works well.
I reason that tools will come and go. Even for many open source ones, I had my experience of being unable to rebuild/recompile because of the outdated libraries, unmaintained code, etc. The world moves on, real fast. Plain text is and will still work in the future. I'm also OK, spicing it up a bit with MarkDown, which still can maintain human readability even if the reader doesn't know what Markdowns are.
I'm not against using tooling in a group/team, where the tooling plays a good role in making the experience smooth. I would also definitely love to pay for tools that helps the team improve and save time and frustrations.
Best of luck to your product, and I hope it serves the use cases of others who need it.
1. https://obsidian.md
2. https://cryptomator.org
[+] [-] neilv|3 years ago|reply
For example, my notes about Stable Fusion are in `~/wiki/stable-fusion.md`.
Since I have my Emacs Markdown mode tweaked to be semi-WYSIWYG, the only downside is that links between pages is a little messier than if I used wiki software. (I might tweak Emacs a bit more, to have link text in square brackets navigate to the right filename.)
Someday, these files might end up in wiki software, but I'm in no hurry, and I'm capturing and accessing the info now.
[+] [-] hollerith|3 years ago|reply
Fine, but (because the OP is about an open-source solution) we should mention that Obsidian is not open-source.
[+] [-] ajvs|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anta40|3 years ago|reply
Nevertheless, I'm still looking for open source alternative. Evernote is certainly more user friendly because it has built-in Word-like WYSWYIG editor. Obsidian, on the other side, is like vim: there's a reading mode, and there's an editing mode. A bit confusing at first.
BTW, just noticed Obsidian is Electron-powered, like VSCode. Hmmm....
[+] [-] NonNefarious|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hosh|3 years ago|reply
Evernote has been focusing on collaborative features I don’t care about. Startup time to when I can start typing have been getting worse over the years. I’ve been seriously looking for a good replacement that lets me import from Evernote.
[+] [-] mdeepwell|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikeodds|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 650REDHAIR|3 years ago|reply
Plenty of great new features, but the core is still snappy and easy to use.
[+] [-] dr_dshiv|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adonese|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throwaway0asd|3 years ago|reply
https://github.com/prettydiff/share-file-systems
[+] [-] Pent|3 years ago|reply
looking for one-tool to do it all is a mistake
[+] [-] jbverschoor|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ianopolous|3 years ago|reply
We have a markdown based wiki viewer and editor- https://peergos.org/posts/markdown-browser
There is also secure sharing of documents or folders with others.
Peergos is a generic P2P E2EE filesystem with a bunch of apps on top, and you can write your own too - https://peergos.org/posts/a-better-web
Disclaimer: co-founder here
[+] [-] speps|3 years ago|reply
I've tried IPFS before but I hit a bug when using it so gave up on my idea for a side project. Might give this a go!
[+] [-] maxloh|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kid64|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BLKNSLVR|3 years ago|reply
(And if I don't wake up one morning, I doubt I'll miss the availability of my notes)
[+] [-] redditor98654|3 years ago|reply
Not trying to mock or anything but I am wondering if I too would benefit from such a thing. Most of my notes are ephemeral and I delete them soon (within weeks at most).
[+] [-] fguerraz|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 627467|3 years ago|reply
Luckily, where I am I've access to (really!) low cost EN subscription (maybe I've got grandfathered into it? Right now it works out less than 1usd/year) So I'm just never tempted to find alternatives despite it's shortcomings.
[+] [-] atemerev|3 years ago|reply
I would really love to switch to something else, but there is no alternative. There is no other document database with built-in OCR. I tried for years to find it, but apparently there is nothing else.
Managing plain-text notes is the easiest part. I could do it with Orgmode if I wanted to. But I don’t know how I could manage my scanned documents, if not in Evernote.
[+] [-] samsquire|3 years ago|reply
I don't want my data trapped in a proprietary system where it is difficult to export, so I use plaintext. I looked into Publii [1] but I prefer my current plaintext setup. Today I journal software ideas, computer ideas, startup ideas and community ideas on GitHub in the open, as README.md files. My journal is all public on GitHub at the following links. There are over 550+ journal entries, I am sure you shall enjoy them.
https://github.com/samsquire/ideas
https://github.com/samsquire/ideas2
https://github.com/samsquire/ideas3
https://github.com/samsquire/ideas4
https://github.com/samsquire/startups
https://getpublii.com/
[+] [-] gopiandcode|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] exfil|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mark_story|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] barefeg|3 years ago|reply
My issue is being trapped in SaaS platforms with bad business models that threaten the existence of the service. Think of Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, Facebook, heck even Uber and Uber eats clones.
Though I’m not into the crypto stuff. I’d be OK if banks kept centralized ledgers that these free-to-use privacy-oriented P2P services could use, for crowd sourced applications.
I really miss the feeling of the internet in the 90s and 00s but how could people work on these projects while still make a living?
[+] [-] bityard|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oefrha|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sha-3|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coldblues|3 years ago|reply
And some wonder why so many people are still using Emacs or Apple Notes to take notes. Even the most minimal input lag and stuttering gets me out of my writing mood. Electron is the gaming equivalent of playing at 30 FPS with motion blur.
[+] [-] vie00001|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mthld|3 years ago|reply
Try it on our flagship instance: https://cryptpad.fr, no registration required!
[+] [-] nvr219|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CGamesPlay|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] khalilravanna|3 years ago|reply
https://www.inkdrop.app/
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] conradev|3 years ago|reply
Won’t implementing note sharing be harder for this app than for one that isn’t encrypted?
Encrypted data storage is harder to work with than plaintext data storage and until developers have good tools to close that gap, they’re not going to.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] t0bia_s|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maxloh|3 years ago|reply
[1]: https://www.getoutline.com/
[+] [-] Fire-Dragon-DoL|3 years ago|reply