WikidPad VS obsidian-releases

MoinMoin [wikipedia link] uses flat files, so does WikidPad as a personal wiki.

For an individual, I used to use WikidPad and quite like it.

There also are "serverless" wikis, like http://tiddlywiki.com/ (can be run as a standalone desktop app - see in the bottom, or Wiki on a Stick, or WikiPad

Details I didn't include but should have (I wasn't sure I'd have any replies at all... I should have had more faith, sorry)

It's a bit of a ramble, sorry about that.

MSTOICAL[0] is a fork of an old C based Forth variant, it took some help from the HN community[1] to get it to compile in a modern 64 bit environment, for which I am very thankful. However, it uses AutoConf to configure, build, install, etc... and I can't for the life of me figure out how to remove all of that logic. (C isn't my primary language, I'm willing to learn that, but adding AutoConf on top of it was too much)

In order to work on that, I was willing to switch to Linux (Ubuntu)... got everything up and running for the most part, but then I couldn't access WikidPad[2], my local Wiki with my appointments, etc. I missed a doctors appointment because of that, so went back to Windows.

The issue is around wxWindows changing the names of variables in some calls. On Windows, you just download an EXE installer and you're good to go. I couldn't figure it out because the program seems to be unwilling to support newer Python versions. (I could be wrong)

I don't understand why they felt the need to make breaking changes to wxWindows, and the python is a bit too dense for me.

So finally... I'm back in Windows 10, and decided to try to craft together a twitter clone with a bunch of weird ideas that I tossed out at 3:30 am in a twitter thread, and put into a more coherent manifesto.[3]

[0] https://github.com/mikewarot/mstoical

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30957273

[2] https://github.com/WikidPad/WikidPad

[3] https://github.com/mikewarot/iceberg/blob/main/MANIFESTO.md

When it comes to organization I would recommend using a wiki tool. The interlinked articles in a wiki is super useful to build a web of information and help you not lose track of important details. Wikidpad is a great free desktop tool.

Wikidpad is quite functional. It's not the prettiest but it does its job. I don't know if or how you can implement images. But it's free and maybe worth a try.

The closest editor that follows our first principle is Obsidian editor:

The solution was already installed on both my computer and my phone: Obsidian.

> why does open source need to "win"

Open source does not need to win.

But your ability to be in control of your computer needs to be preserved. A proprietary fridge cannot control your diet, while a proprietary App Store can control what software you install on YOUR phone (unless you live in EU, hello DMA!). The tail wags the dog, so to speak. Proprietary software has also been shown to break user workflows or remove functions in an update while leaving users with no choice whatsoever.

One alternative to having open source win is to ensure software must come with a robust warranty and other assurances you expect from the things you buy. EU's CRA will make software vulnerabilities in WiFi routers covered by warranty, for example.

You can also ensure robust and interoperable data storage options. For example, https://obsidian.md/ stores all notes in Markdown, not holding the data hostage in case users will not like how future versions will work. GDPR actually has a provision for data portability (Art. 20), but it does not seem to have a requisite effect on the industry yet.

And until the above issues are solved, open source remains the best way to ensure that a software tail cannot wag your computer dog.

[2] https://obsidian.md/

So I've had my fair share of personal websites and blogs. I have built them on stacks ranging from the most basic HTML and CSS, to hosted frameworks like Wordpress and Laravel, to the more modern single page applications built in Vue and React. For a simple content blog I think you can't go wrong with a Static Site Generator though. These days I am almost exclusively writing everything in Obsidian. Which is great because its all in standard markdown format. This allows for a really neat and easy content publishing workflow.

Consider making an Obsidian[^1] plugin, or writing to Obsidian-compatible Markdown files :)

[^1]: https://obsidian.md/

Obsidian is a writing application created to allow for offline / private note taking in markdown format, in an interface that looks a lot like our regular programming IDE. It is very flexible, with a good collection of community plugins that you can use to customize Obsidian to your heart contents.

Obsidian support via our Obsidian Plugin

Thank you!

In the beginning, I used kognise'z water.css [1], so most of the smart decisions (background/text color, margins, line spacing I think) probably come from there. Since then it's been some amount of little adjustments. The font is by Jean François Porchez, called Le Monde Livre Classic [2].

I draft in Obsidian [3] and build the site with a couple python scripts and KaTeX.

[1] https://watercss.kognise.dev/

[2] https://typofonderie.com/fr/fonts/le-monde-livre-classic

[3] https://obsidian.md/