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Note-handling applications redux ... (I lost one) ...

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Paul Keith:
Hmm... what kind of features are you looking for?

I thought you were looking for a tagging system but if a bare bones wiki is enough, you could try Tomboy Notes for Linux or TiddlyWiki.

If you're looking for a Mempad that's even more bare bones but has more features than Notepad, you could try going the route of Akelpad and then just add your preferred plug-ins.

barney:
Yeah, Paul,

It gets kinda confusin', but I am looking for a tagging system.  Not all of 'em are Web-based.

Tomboy is out 'cause this is a Win XP shop (and because it's limited to a single _notebook_, i.e., category, not tag).  TiddlyWiki is out for the reasons noted previously about Web interfaces ... yeah I know, it's just browser, but the issues stated previously rule it out.

Currently, I'm entertaining either bLADE Wiki or Tobu as substitute vehicles.  My guy agrees that one or the other should suffice, but we're both concerned about the education requirements.

Actually, Tobu is a kind of horizontal equivalent to that app which I lost.  More limited in tags, but reasonably easy to teach, we think.

Personally, I've used InfoSelect since before it became InfoSelect - think the DOS app was Total Recall, or Instant Recall, or some such, but really don't remember.  It's a great app, and has a search capability that I've not found in any other application, but it has one great downfall - you cannot tag individual entries.  You can search on any content in any entry, but you cannot search on _classes_ of entries w/o first pigeonholing them.

What I lost was a true tagging system, the next step up, to my mind, from a hierarchical system, with a 1.x version number - no reverse ego trip involved - and a way to report unforeseen issues.

I didn't like the free-form assignment of tags, 'cause typos can kill ya in a system like that if you have very many inputs, but for this situation, particularly with the primary _search_ feature being selection of created tags, that's not a significant issue.  And since the inputs/tags are going to be in a fairly restricted arena, free-form input is not all that heinous.  I mean, reporting problems on recreational sailing vessels does not normally enter the mainstream vocabulary of other transportation modes, ya know?

Tobu seems to fill the niche pretty well.  I don't like the layout, and don't like the search implementation, but it'll likely work given the current requirements.  At least, my guy thinks so.  And it's the best we've found to date.

I apologize if I've led you all astray with the 'tag' bit.  To me, it's not a Web 2.0 thing, it existed long before the Web.  Hell, I built a personal tracking system in PC File+ (DOS 3.x, I think, but long before Windows worked) that was based upon tags/keywords.  Mind, I didn't _call_ 'em that (think I called 'em classes, but that's another word that doesn't mean the same today as when I was really creative), but that's what they were - tags. 

At this rate, if Tobu doesn't work, I'll prolly have to write the damned thing myself, and I really wasn't looking to learn how to do that with the newer languages.  Might be able to do it with PHP if I can find a decent GUI/compiler system, or maybe an older - 3 or 5 - VB version, but then that's another thread, isn't it?

Sorry, I'm tired, my mind is wandering, and I need sleep. [Why is there no smiley for yawn?]  See y'all later.

Make a good day ...
                         ... barn

Paul Keith:
Thanks for mentioning Tobu. I haven't heard of that app before.

Haven't tried it but if resource requirements doesn't bother you, you might opt for argument mapping tools like Compendium.

Link: http://compendium.open.ac.uk/institute/

Reading Tobu's features kind of reminded me of it's List node implementation. It probably won't make much difference feature-wise though it could potentially give you more ways to present your materials.

There are other more popular ones like PersonalBrain and MindManager but I'm biased towards it because I found it's interface comfortable.

It also has a tagging system but not very well implemented and while it doesn't have the features of a wiki, it allows you to copy paste two identical objects in two different locations simultaneously.

barney:
If anyone is still monitoring this thread, thought I'd letcha know I found the blasted thing! :D

The app I couldn't remember is Incollector, a minimalist note manager for Linux/Windows.  Doesn't do everything I thought it did, but it'll fit fine into the niche where it's needed.

Showed it to my guy yesterday (Sunday) and he loved it.

Also just recently found a thread on Note Managers that was started back in 2006.

Looks as though I have a lot of reading to catch up on! :o

Thanks for the help, folk ... lotsa new toys to play with. :)

Edvard:
Nice find Barney!
(using now...)  :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:

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