org-roam VS Joplin

I keep absolutely everything in a single folder. Saved documents, images, movies, financial records, game saves, it doesn't matter. My hierarchical naming scheme takes care of organization. On the odd occasion I actually need a folder, I just append ".d" to the filename.

I use . as a hierarchy delimiter, so file extensions are just part of the hierarchy, and I can have multiple files with the same name except for the extension. For example, "film.spongebob.png" is a photo of spongebob, "film.spongebob.org" is a note about spongebob, and "film.spongebob.s1.e7" is my favorite episode.

I use org-roam [1] for note-taking and task/time-management. I absolutely require a plain-text system so it either had to be markdown or org-mode. Emacs was the deciding factor, else I would have still been using Dendron [2]

If OneNote is your thing, I'd probably recommend Obsidian [3] over org-roam. Despite it being the greatest program ever created, Emacs is a lot to learn "just" for taking notes.

If you like VS Code, check out Dendron. It's the one that got me into more serious PKMS instead of just chucking notes in a folder all willy nilly.

- [1]: https://www.orgroam.com/

- [2]: https://www.dendron.so/

- [3]: https://obsidian.md/

I'm using org-roam to keep my notes, which generally works well for me. There's one thing I am missing and I'm wondering if I just overlooked it, or whether it simply doesn't exist.

Org-Roam is a Roam-inspired Emacs mode that builds on top of org mode. Every node (aka note) has a unique ID that's different from its name. Every link from node A to node B actually links to the ID, so you can change node B's name without affecting the link. When you're on node B, you can open the Roam buffer and it will show you all of the links that point to that node.

Org Mode. I can export my notes to LaTeX or HTML and keep things tidy in a zettelkasten with org-roam.

Of course, the real power-user move would be to use Emacs with Org-Roam, but you have to be prepared to dive deep into the rabbit-hole. If you don't, it won't be worth it. If you do, you'll be handsomely rewarded. I know because I have, and I can highly recommend it if you like tinkering with and customising your tools. IMO, Doom Emacs is the way to go nowadays.

I'd highly recommend Org-roam. It's what has enabled me to actually start consistently keeping notes (and being able to retrieve/access them later). It's very easy with Org-roam to quickly add new notes, or add information to old notes, and the links/backlinks make (re)discoverability very easy.

I've had great success with using Joplin for this, with Syncthing as a sync backend. Works well across OSes; I use it on Linux, macOS, Windows and Android.

https://joplinapp.org/

The tools to manipulate SQL aren't that bad, no.

But rather than having a self explanatory markdown & flat file, now I have to start learning about the schema & making specific tools (in my preferred language) for manipulating Joplin's schema.

Suddenly I'm digging through 20 different technic specs to decode what data is where, how it works, and what I can do to it. Want to edit history? This is the best help you'll get, pray it's adequately technical to expedite you to your purpose: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/blob/dev/readme/dev/spec...

As I began with, I struggle to imagine anything that generates anywhere near as much user agency as flat files and markdown. Having boring common data & systems lets me apply portable skills I already have, rather than having to skill up in some particular product's own ecosystem.

Joplin is a good open source option too, feels more like the original Evernote in terms of UI/UX https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/

Joplin, an open source, extendable, Markdown-based hierarchical note-taking app: https://joplinapp.org/

It lets you choose a synchronization backend, offers applications for every major desktop and mobile OS (also has a terminal version). You can create notebooks and subnotebooks to organize your notes. You can also add tags for better search experience. I created notebooks for specific domains (work-related, home improvement, etc.) and also keep a "temp" for quick notes and W.I.P. snippets.

Its only con that it uses Electron on desktop which causes relatively slow start of the application.

done