this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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Check out Obsidian! The canvas feature is very similar to onenote snd obsidian in general is the best notwtaking app/ personal knowledge management system in existence
Obsidians great! I do wish it was open-source though :(
I switched to Obsidian not too long ago.
For my needs, Joplin was a good open source alternative.
Between the two I went with Obsidian because, while the apps are closed-source, the data is accessible. All your notes are just stored in plaintext (with markdown) as simple files in a directory structure.
Joplin, in contrast, uses a SQLite database which adds a layer of complexity.
This was one of the main selling features for me (before I tried it and experienced all the other killer features). I've experienced a bad case of vendor-lock before where it was hell to export my data. So having it all available in plain text at all times is really reassuring.
Yep, Joplin is great too, that's what I use currently! I also like that it has built-in syncing with nextcloud and dropbox; as far as I know, obsidian only has their own paid-for syncing (unless you sync externally like the person below using syncthing)
There is Logseq! https://logseq.com/
Obsidian is what I use mostly, it syncs great with syncthing across all my devices. It doesn't have drawing support, so whenever I need to doodle something I end up in samsung notes again.
The Excalidraw plugin may do the trick.
Can you use that with a tablet to make hand written notes?
You can, but there is no form of exporting your handwritten notes. There's also sort of a tendency to "bend" what you've just written a bit after you lift your stylus. Like it's vectorizing and slightly correcting the path you just drew.
I have had moderate success using the built-in Scribble feature to convey my handwriting into text in the main editor. It's not super great but is serviceable. It's real opinionated about when and where new paragraphs should appear.
Ah, if Obsidian would've supported hand written notes using a stylus or something, I would've switched instantly. It's sad cause I don't want to keep using Samsung Notes tbh, but it feels like my best option so far.
You can export excalidraw files as images or svgs. My main issue has been subpar support for Samsung pens, which is in part due to Samsung requiring an SDK to detect button presses or gestures... which means hitting the toolbar button to erase stuff
It tends freeze and mess up your writing when it autosaves. Not much of an issue if you set it to every 5 minutes, but annoying at the 15 second default.
Lastly, large drawings have performance issues. A few "pages" of notes and you can start to see the renderer struggle to track your pen correctly.
Tbh I'm probably just going to use another app and export images into my obsidian repo.
Very much this. Obsidian has a learning curve. It needs more than a day to get a feel for.
Obsidian is hella based
There is an open source alternative called Logseq https://logseq.com/
@Stronk +1 for Obsidian! I love it. It's definitely different than OneNote. Notion may actually be a better fit for you, but I encourage everyone to check out Obsidian just to see if it's for you! Excellent software.
@IuseArchbtw