[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

does anyone know a simple app that allows hyperlinking within notes? I want to create a roam-style knowledge base, but most tools are too heavy for my purposes. I prefer to keep things cross-compatible and future proof with .txt or .rtf, but to my knowledge, neither allow hyperlinking to documents

[jpitz]

TiddlyWiki https://tiddlywiki.com/

[diggan]

Fair bit of warning: TiddlyWiki is the opposite of heavy, which means it's a bit shallow on the surface by allow custom data types/pages. I love this, makes you basically be able to build your own content systems on top of TiddlyWiki, but people expecting it's just "notes you can link together" might have to readjust their expectations.

Another great thing about TiddlyWiki is that the content can be stored in barebones files that you can read/parse outside of TiddlyWiki, and you can also run the frontend client offline with just a single index.html, if you want to. So fits what M5x7wI3CmbEem10 pretty nicely.

So thumbs up for TiddlyWiki but it can be a bit... Tiddly to fickle with sometimes.

[cmehdy]

Yesterday there was a Show HN about Obsidian[0] which you might be interested in.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23324598

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

you need an account for it though, right? meaning they have access to your stuff. and because they use unique formatting such as `![[filename]]`, it may not be easily cross-compatible

[Hates_]

No account needed. It just works off local markdown files.

[cgriswald]

No account needed. They don't have access to your stuff—it works on local files—but appear to be working on a cloud option. They claim to support Commonmark and Github Flavored Markdown. [[filename]] is just a shortcut for [filename](filename), but in any case "Export to standard Markdown links" is on their short-term roadmap.

You might also check out Zim.

[nighthawk454]

I believe in yesterdays thread there was mention of the app storing all files locally in a portable Markdown format

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

Have you heard anything about Joplin? I believe it behaves similarly.

[dunefox]

Not that great since it lacks Latex support.

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

I just wanted simple hyperlinking.

[rukuu001]

Hate to be that guy but... org-mode :)

I use it as an outliner, to link to documents (using org-roam), and liberally sprinkle TODOs among the notes, which the agenda picks up.

Took a while to get comfortable with it, but it's totally worth it.

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

I'm concerned because the emacs community is significantly smaller than the vi community. Do you happen to know anything about vim-org?

[rukuu001]

I tried vim-org previously (I’m a Vim user at heart) and didn’t have any success, but I hadn’t grokked org-mode at that point anyway. So definitely worth trying it out.

[_alex_]

citation needed

[mrshu]

If you do not mind a bit of setup, I have found Vim in combination with VimWiki (https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki) a very good fit for this scenario.

It supports markdown formatting, does hyperlinks pretty well (even jumping back and forth is quite nice), is as cross-compatible as Vim and stores the notes in future-proof .md files.

I suggest you give it a shot.

[marvinblum]

Hm that's hard to accomplish with simple text files. You can checkout Emvi [1]. That's not exactly what you're looking for but you can link everything using the @ key and export to HTML and markdown.

[1] https://emvi.com/

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

it's unfortunate that just being able to link documents is difficult within text files

[simantel]

https://notebag.app/

[codemac]

org-mode allows linking within notes.

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

still a bit too heavy for my purposes, but it looks like it may be the only option. I was trying not to resort to `.md` files, but that may be a more future-roof option to be honest.

[_alex_]

org is as future proof as anything else

[ImprobableTruth]

if you do decide to check out emacs, look at org-roam. My experience with it has been amazing so far.

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

how is it compared to org-zettelkasten or vim-org?

[jxy]

Use acme from plan9port. Every file is automatically a link.

[flarg]

zim desktop wiki

[cryptonode]

Take a look at https://www.notion.so

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

notion is a proprietary format, unfortunately. I also want to keep things in local storage for security reasons

[Enginerrrd]

Depends what you mean by "heavy", and what platform you're looking for. Vimwiki maybe?

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

I can keep things on local storage and preferably in `.txt` or `.rtf`

[gexla]

Why not Roam?

[M5x7wI3CmbEem10]

Roam is closed-beta and a proprietary format.

[gexla]

I get that. But I'm also skeptical of any product / service which attempts to bolt on Roam-like features.

Note taking apps have been around for a long time, and now all of a sudden it's a hot new thing to add bio-directional links?

The developers talked about starting out not knowing what they would end up with but that they would know when they saw it. That process took them two years (?) of exploration and development to get to what they have now. That's worth tipping them at least a few months subscription for anyone looking for a note taking app with Roam features. Throw these guys a bone for getting us past the stagnation.

Also, anything Roam-like is still going to be half-assed. If they aren't furthering the thread, then they're just copying. If they're just copying, then they don't have the understanding of the problem that the Roam developers have. If I feel Roam brought value to the world, then I should follow those developers who delivered rather than the copy cats.

Granted, Roam didn't create the idea of of linking notes. They didn't create the idea of the bullet blocks. They did create the interface which made it all work on a screen though.

[ImprobableTruth]

Hell, even if they had straight up invented backlinks I wouldn't be willing to deal with an application that costs $15 per month and gives me absolutely no control over my data. The possibility that an outage could cause me to lose work alone prevents me from ever giving it a shot.

And the idea that even though the copycats deliver to me the superior product, I should still give what amounts to charity to Roam because they designed a nice interface just strikes me as absurd. I don't see the point in being overly concerned about supporting new research since we already have a mechanism for that: patents. If Roam truly believes their work is revolutionary, they should have just applied for a patent.

[gexla]

> The possibility that an outage could cause me to lose work alone prevents me from ever giving it a shot.

They have an excellent data download option in the app. You can download in Markdown or JSON and then restore. The JSON format restores everything. The Markdown format restores syntax. I download both with every session.

> And the idea that even though the copycats deliver to me the superior product, I should still give what amounts to charity to Roam because they designed a nice interface just strikes me as absurd.

Where in my comment did I mention Roam being inferior? Right now it's the opposite. Copycats are offering bolt-on roam-like features which don't work the same. The developers don't have the same understanding of the problem that the Roam developers have.

Why is Roam blowing up right now when it's just another note taking app? People are seeing something in it that they haven't seen in other apps. Bolting on copy-cat features isn't going to capture whatever magic Roam is doing. People are doing themselves a disservice by looking for a Roam alternative. If you tried Roam and believe it sucks, then you aren't looking for an alternative, you're just looking for something with links (Roam does way more than that though.)

I have no personal stake in the app. I'm just amazed at the reviews that Roam has got. I have seen loads of people say that Roam has changed the way they take notes. Some even say it has been life changing. The service has been blowing up.

[2snakes]

There is an export to markdown, and the developer has specifically said he is going to continue to allow that. There is a converter for tag/highlight/todo from Obsidian.md

[Takch]

jDownloader vielleicht ....