cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43147928
I built a note-taking app because the one I wanted didn’t exist. Clean UI, local .md files, no cloud, no account.
Built with Rust + Tauri 2.0 + SvelteKit. Full-text search powered by Tantivy. Graph view, AI writing tools (bring your own key), Obsidian import, version history.
Available for Linux (AppImage, APT, AUR), Windows, and macOS. Source: https://codeberg.org/ArkHost/HelixNotes
Do I get it right that this is like Obsidian, but free and open source?
How does it compare to Obsidian? Does it have note linking using square brackets?
Not to be rude or anything like that, where I’m going is not the “we already have obsidian, why you made this” but “currently obsidian is one of the few non-FOSS things I use in Linux, would be happy to replace obsidian with this if it’s a good substitute”.
I don’t use obsidian plugins, so I understand that HelixNotes doesn’t have this whole plugin ecosystem and can’t replace obsidian for people that rely on plugins, but for me it’s fine.
Is android app coming?
Yes, local-first markdown like Obsidian, but fully open source (AGPL-3.0).
Note linking with square brackets - yes, supported. Graph view too so you can see connections between notes.
If you don’t rely on Obsidian plugins, you’ll feel right at home.
Android is on the roadmap, but the desktop experience comes first. Still early days.
Thanks, gotta try this!
Well, there’s Markor on android, so even without a dedicated android app, I can use Helix Notes + syncthing + Markor on the phone and ditch obsidian if it’s good.
That’s exactly the way I do it. However, the mobile app is something that will be made in the near future.
Have a look at Trilium. Anything Obsidian can do, it does better. And syncing is native.
Can you tell me more? Is it FOSS? Is it electron? Is it a UI for a folder of markdown files? Is there a native android app? What is “native” syncing? Do I have to pay for some kind of cloud?
You can see by yourself at https://triliumnotes.org/
It’s FOSS, it’s web so you can use it hosted, or local first as an electron app, or both and then they will sync together.
It is NOT a UI for a folder of markdown files, because that’s silly when you expect from your system to hold relationships, metadata, rich note types, notes to coexist in multiple places, etc. Since it’s FOSS, and since you can sync your notes real-time and distributed across machines, there’s nothing wrong with this.
You can use the web version on Android as a PWA, but it won’t sync offline. There are workarounds to run a local server on your device for that use cases (not ideal in terms of user-friendlyness, but gets the job done).
You don’t need to pay anything to anyone if you host it yourself or if you keep it local. There is no official hosted plan, some people offer to do that for a tiny fee at https://www.pikapods.com/ (never used them, some people say they are decent).
You lost me at electron…
This is a neat project. Congrats on the release! I’m looking forward to see how this develops!
Thanks, appreciate it!
Is it related at all to the Helix editor, same shortcuts etc, or is it just a naming coincidence?
It’s just a naming coincidence. It has nothing to do with the Helix editor.
If you have to use a third party app to sync, it’s not local-first, it’s just local.
Local-first means your data lives on your device as the source of truth, not on someone else’s server. How you choose to sync it - if at all, is up to you. That’s the point.
nope… that’s just local.
in that regard every text editor or any software that just CRUDs files locally would be local-first and the term would be meaningless
local-first means that it does not need internet-access to work and use the app and synchronization comes later, when there’s time and internet access. please read up on this.
https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/
these are the guys who coined the term
edit: i originally wrote “local-first means that it does need internet-access to work and use the app…”, which is bullshit and also doesn’t make sense in the context. i added the “not” so it is clear.
Just went to download this, but there isn’t a build for apple silicon??
Do Intel macs even exist anymore??? Lol
The current DMG is an Intel build but runs fine on Apple Silicon through Rosetta. Native ARM build is on the list.
