startups VS org-roam

I wrote a list of startups I would like here:

https://github.com/samsquire/startups

Thanks for posting this Ask HN question.

I journal ideas and thoughts about computers and software. I am interested in software architecture, parallelism, async, coroutines, database internals, programming language implementation, software design and the web.

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas (2013)

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas2

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas3

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas4 <-- this is recent but needs editing

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas5 <-- this is what I'm working on now

https://github.com/samsquire/startups

https://github.com/samsquire/blog <-- thoughts I want to write about, but incomplete

I use README.md on GitHub and create a heading at the bottom for each entry. I use Typora on Windows or the GitHub web interface to edit.

https://github.com/samsquire/startups was listed in the "Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?". It was not relevant there (the ideas are not money-making) but relevant to this question.

I am more likely to journal and blog if the friction to creating a post is as simple as opening a document and writing. The important part of journalling or note software is that you actually create notes. I did use Hetzner to run a Wordpress blog but it had an overhead of server expenses and keeping Wordpress up-to-date.

I don't want my data trapped in a proprietary system where it is difficult to export, so I use plaintext. I looked into Publii [1] but I prefer my current plaintext setup. Today I journal software ideas, computer ideas, startup ideas and community ideas on GitHub in the open, as README.md files. My journal is all public on GitHub at the following links. There are over 550+ journal entries, I am sure you shall enjoy them.

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas2

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas3

https://github.com/samsquire/ideas4

https://github.com/samsquire/startups

https://getpublii.com/

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.