Messages

101

Living Room / Re: Experimenting with a multi-camera setup for zoom, streaming, board game vlogging

« on: July 25, 2020, 01:29 AM »

The software I'm using currently is the commercial tool XSplit Broadcaster but I will also be trying out the open source alternative OBS (Open Broadcaster Software).
They both let you create "scenes" with different cameras and overlays and combine them into one virtual camera that another tool (such as Zoom) sees.

-mouser (July 23, 2020, 02:57 PM)

I use OBS, I like OBS better.  I also use an elgato streamdeck for physical buttons that can do whatever you want, makes life a lot easier.
OBS probably has a more active community, and more features if you dig into it.

I want to do green screen stuff also.  I'll get around to it.  I have been working on my setup in these times as well.

How do you have 4 monitors connected?  what kind of gpu?  I tried to do 4 but i only had 3 slots, and after that the adapters dont work well. 

102

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 21, 2020, 10:37 PM »

There's just a lot of random interspersion about new software- not that I mind, but all of it has sort of littered the thread. 

-wraith808 (July 19, 2020, 03:10 PM)

I don't see any random posts or any littering. It's a conversation,  people write what feels relevant to them at the time.

It might be good to separate out the software into a different thread.

-wraith808 (July 19, 2020, 03:10 PM)

I'd certainly not want anything split out, because that would lose the to and fro of the conversation.

There's nothing to stop someone starting a thread about note-taking software or about zettelkasten.

-Dormouse (July 19, 2020, 03:39 PM)

There are interjections of just software postings in a lot of places from people that don't really take part in the other parts of the conversation.  It's very easy to note them, so I'd be surprised if you missed them.

So how do you guys deal with images?
Do you place them in the same folder as the txt notes?  or in a subfolder?

-superboyac (July 19, 2020, 03:36 PM)

I stayed away from images, but have started using them with that paste image extension that I've added to VS Code.  I put them in a subfolder whereever the note is rather than a central location.

-wraith808 (July 19, 2020, 04:30 PM)

thanks everyone for the image suggestions.  I don't know what I'll do yet, I'm just going to do anything right now, no standards.

regarding the the ADD discussion here loll.....
I love this forum.  It is so chill.  And without much moderation or even hardly any issues ever.  You never know what topic takes off and I feel it's all done very nicely and organically.  Also makes for good reading TBH.  You know waaaay back in the day, my original notetaking thread ended up being the biggest thread here, who would have known?  It's cool.


I'm still trying to adopt some form of atomic or zettel approach to my notes.  I have 2 book ideas to work on and I want to try it out on them.  I feel just trying this method, without success, has been helpful in understanding the way I organize etc.  It's almost made me too aware of how disorganized my thoughts are, and even my notes, and how maybe they are not even helping me.

103

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 19, 2020, 03:36 PM »

So how do you guys deal with images?
Do you place them in the same folder as the txt notes?  or in a subfolder?

104

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 13, 2020, 11:04 PM »

Dendron is a local-first, markdown based, hierarchical note-taking application built on top of VSCode and friends:
https://github.com/dendronhq/dendron

-panzer (July 13, 2020, 03:24 PM)

Not using it wholesale, but there were some really good extensions that I'd not seen.  I've found that the major advantage of using VS code- the fact that I can mix and match functionality.


From this one, I am using:

Paste Image - https://marketplace....n.vscode-paste-image
- lets you directly paste an image into the document, and it will create the image file and insert the link.
Markdown Shortcuts - https://marketplace....n.markdown-shortcuts
- adds a lot of shortcuts for commonly used commands to the command line.  Also does some pretty interesting formatting of pre-existing text.

-wraith808 (July 13, 2020, 04:55 PM)

Man, I have to say I am VERY impressed by the slick interfaces these people are coming up with.  It's like you want all the good bits of each in one.

105

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 13, 2020, 01:47 AM »

Pico generates the files on the fly.  I upload Markdown, and it stays as Markdown.  It's just rendered in the browser.

-wraith808 (July 12, 2020, 08:29 PM)

PICO FOR THE WIN!!  awesome...i swear i searched for hours sheesh

106

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 12, 2020, 04:40 PM »

What’s Wrong with Markdown?
https://www.adamhyde...wrong-with-markdown/

-panzer (July 09, 2020, 08:52 PM)

I enjoyed reading this, but it stopped so quickly.
I think he could make it a weekly blog for a few years and then bundle it up into a book.

-Dormouse (July 10, 2020, 04:47 AM)

yes indeed lol.

I find Markdown attractive for writing on the computer.  The guy has good points. 
Part of the attraction is that developers have been trying to use markdown to create nice gui's for writing, like zettlr.  It's very satisfying to see all the colors and headings change by putting the pound or asterisk symbol, etc.

It's nice that a lot of people have latched on to the format, and we all feel we can use these text files to get around in life.  I think part of this guy's comments doesn't appreciate the aesthetics of the writing community.

But again, on a technical level, he has points...and I have struggled very much with the conversion of documents.

My dream is that something like markdown text files can be used to create live websites, similar to what andy matsuchack has going on in his blog that he won't share with anyone.

from the website perspective...i can't stand how big of a beast wordpress is when 90% of what i want to do is covered by markdown files.  I just want to sync markdown files to a server and have a website created around that, i think it would be great and so would a lot of others.  I just don't think the formatting issues this guy mentions is that big a deal.  So you write a conversion thing using css to customize the markdown styles.  so what?  That's easy and people would LOVE that.

html and wysiwig html editors are similar too, but they never took off like this.  rtf was sort of supposed to be like markdown.

but the idea of self contained, formatted plain text documents is VERY attractive.  Html or markdown, but markdown is frankly more smooth.

i would ask everyone who is obsessed with this like me to think back on the evolution of all this (from a note taking perspective, not programming)....
we've seen (even right here on these discussion forums) how evernote took off and evolved.  This idea of not being able to move notes easily in and out of software is a huge pain, and like the OP here, we want to avoid this forever.  I loved evernote, but hated this particular aspect of it.  And they are all like that. 

plain text files --> good looking website
whoever does this nicely will be king.

107

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 12, 2020, 04:13 PM »

So, one thing I found out about using VS code for editing- the editor isn't actually plain text.  I was writing up some e-mails in response to a couple of action items that I had in a note, planning to transfer it to gmail to send.  When I copied and pasted the text, it came in formatted like it is in VS Code.  Just thought it was a jarring thing that some might find interesting.  In no way a deal breaker, but just something to be aware of.

-wraith808 (July 11, 2020, 11:22 AM)

that's super weird.  Kind of cool, if it could be a feature you can manually control.

108

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 06, 2020, 12:05 PM »

The file name will also need at least one letter. Number only gives problems too.

-Dormouse (July 06, 2020, 04:48 AM)

Ideally, the user can define how the filename should be.  You can name it "ID title.md" or "title.md" or whatever.   We just need a way to rename files using the ID number.  It's perfect for Zettlr because it is already tracking the ID in the text continuously.  Zettlr can even use the yaml header to detect ID or title changes instantly, which is awesome....now just sync it with the filename also.

If Zettlr does that, I say it becomes king of the hill.  But Obsidian might be winning currently.

109

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 05, 2020, 08:13 PM »

I like how Zettlr has the preview sort of built into the main editor

-superboyac (July 02, 2020, 05:43 PM)

I notice that many zettlr users have problems transitioning to other programs because filename isn't the same as the note name

-Dormouse (July 05, 2020, 07:48 AM)

i just made a feature request for this.  TO have a feature in the program to rename files based on ID (what i wrote in an earlier post here).  The developer likes the idea and seems willing to implement it, and others also have said they like the idea.  Hopefully it will happen!

110

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 04, 2020, 04:38 PM »

https://notes.andymatuschak.org

This website design is so incredible.  I want this.  How can I do this?

-superboyac (July 02, 2020, 05:45 PM)

It's very similar to gingko, so you could use that for the same.  I keep a lot of my notes in that.  It just doesn't have the reference links nor the mouseovers.

-wraith808 (July 02, 2020, 08:04 PM)

I just saw right on his front page....he says he doesn't make the system available to others.  He's still testing it out and doesn't want to scale it yet.

-superboyac (July 02, 2020, 11:23 PM)

Oh, I know that.  I was suggesting Gingko as an alternative.

-wraith808 (July 03, 2020, 07:17 PM)

Ideally, for this sort of thing I'd like to get some website where all i have to do is sync my markdown files to the site, and it displays properly (lilke a regular markdown preview).  THe closest thing I've come across is that jekyll program which github uses, and i also tried installing on a ubuntu machine myself.  But it still requires quite a bit of tweaking. 

I think you are right, these techs are really blowing up right now, I'm sure many cool options are coming our way.

I tried using the standard foam-github sync, and that works well enough I suppose.  But the internal linking is something to be desired.

the PERFECT website would be like:
you just sync your markdown files
the website also has a graph-like network navigation
the website also has something keeping track of tags and links

111

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 03, 2020, 02:02 AM »

You know, I love these plugins implemented in VS COde and SUblime....

But, the problem I am having is when you set all those panes up with the various things (the graph map, links, preview)...how do you keep them locked there?  It's too easy for files to open up in one of the side panes.  It happens all the time, and is annoying I always have to click in the one I want active and then open.  I just realized i spent most of the time trying to open things in the right pane.  I must be doing something wrong, or else this is almost a deal breaker.

112

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 02, 2020, 11:23 PM »

https://notes.andymatuschak.org

This website design is so incredible.  I want this.  How can I do this?

-superboyac (July 02, 2020, 05:45 PM)

It's very similar to gingko, so you could use that for the same.  I keep a lot of my notes in that.  It just doesn't have the reference links nor the mouseovers.

-wraith808 (July 02, 2020, 08:04 PM)

I just saw right on his front page....he says he doesn't make the system available to others.  He's still testing it out and doesn't want to scale it yet.

113

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 02, 2020, 05:45 PM »

https://notes.andymatuschak.org

This website design is so incredible.  I want this.  How can I do this?

114

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 02, 2020, 05:43 PM »

OK I think I have VS Code running foam pretty well now.
This is an excellent option, I hope it continues.

It has nice side-by-side preview options, which is great.  For a smoother experience, I like how Zettlr has the preview sort of built into the main editor....vs two panes of editor+preview.  I like both, and I might even lean towards the two pane.

The killer feature is the graph pane, that shows the note links.  So now this takes the place of Obsidian in a sense.  Or they are competing features.

VS Code is a very nice program.

115

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: July 02, 2020, 02:13 PM »

What I'm doing right now is a combination of things.  I took the extensions from foam but used the format of obsidian- I write in obsidian or in vs code.  Really liking it so far.

-wraith808 (June 25, 2020, 10:40 PM)

man i am not understanding how to even install foam.  it's an extension of vs code, which is an editor?  these programs are so complicated loll....ill get it sheesh.

-superboyac (June 25, 2020, 10:55 PM)

1. Go to https://github.com/f...bubble/foam-template
2. Click use thiis template
3. Fill out the name of the repo that you want to use for Foam, and make it private or public as you wish
4. Open VS code.
5. Go to the source control tab and click clone
6. Clone it to your local drive wherever you want your Zettel stored
7. Authenticate to GitHub
8. After it is cloned, it will ask you to install recommended extensions.  Do that (it will change your theme- booo... but you can change it back)
9. There is no 9.  You're there.

-wraith808 (June 26, 2020, 10:22 AM)

I followed this, thanks.
I installed foam just fine, but I can't get all the features to work in VS code.  I'm getting workspace errors, the minimap is disappearing even though its one etc, so many GUI issues.  It's going to take a while to get this setup.

116

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 25, 2020, 10:55 PM »

What I'm doing right now is a combination of things.  I took the extensions from foam but used the format of obsidian- I write in obsidian or in vs code.  Really liking it so far.

-wraith808 (June 25, 2020, 10:40 PM)

man i am not understanding how to even install foam.  it's an extension of vs code, which is an editor?  these programs are so complicated loll....ill get it sheesh.

117

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 25, 2020, 10:13 PM »

foam could be a winner.

118

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 24, 2020, 06:59 PM »

How to never lose another memory again:
https://superorganiz...-lose-another-memory

-panzer (June 24, 2020, 04:28 PM)

I use the Journal (software) for this precisely.
the right side of the interface is just a data/calendar picker.  SO you click on any date and go to your notes for that day.  The notes have no structure to it.  This has been my "inbox" for a while now.  This is where i go from here to my notetaker's "inbox".  And from there, my new method using this topic in the thread with zettels, is to take these inbox items and formalize them into a atomized archive.  That last step is something i never did until learning about this zettel stuff.  That's the part I want to practice to make my productivity better.

There is something very valuable about going back and chronologically reading through your original thoughts.  I've always noticed it being valuable for me, but did not know how to make use of it.  And the answer I think will be this process of atomizing ideas and perhaps adding a standard header to note files.

I am a huge fan of outlining and outliners.  Anything to make outlining easier and prettier, I'm a big fan of.  What I don't like about all this zettel stuff is how its so much in the programmer's world of things.  Meaning all these code formatting features.  But I'm looking at it from a non programmer perspective.  I'd prefer to have outlining features over code formatting features.  I'm sure it (markdown) can be resolved somehow.  Maybe distinguish the <tab> character vs spaces. 

119

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 24, 2020, 01:27 PM »

brainstorm: plaintext note content hierarchy via indentation

I more and more like the idea of hierarchical notes via pythonic indentation
  with 2 spaces instead of 4, for compactness
  minimal yet very readable in code editor set to show whitespace and fixed width font
  problem: markdown and asciidoc use space/tab indentation for other things
    markdown treats 4 indentation spaces as a code block
    markdown collapses e.g. 3 or 14 spaces to no indentation
      https://stackoverflo...-help#advanced-lists
      https://stackoverflo...ab-space-in-markdown
    https://asciidoctor....tax-quick-reference/

Any ideas/workarounds on using such compact pythonic indentation effectively in markdown based notes apps/systems?

Comparison examples

1. pythonic indentation (2 spaces)
Note: markdown collapses these indents and shows all on one line if not two suffix spaces.

Sun
  big
  hot
  bright
    https://en.wikipedia...rg/wiki/Sun#Sunlight

2. Markdown nested list

- Sun
    - big
    - hot
    - bright
        - https://en.wikipedia...rg/wiki/Sun#Sunlight

3. Markdown nested list alternating bullet characters (more compact, but still extra characters)

- Sun
  + big
  + hot
  + bright
    - https://en.wikipedia...rg/wiki/Sun#Sunlight

Examples screenshot from VS Code with raw and preview tabs
[ Invalid Attachment ]

Wishes unlikely to come true
I wish markdown by default rendered indentation as indentation! For code blocks there is already the three fence ``` prefix/suffix.

I even wish that minus - and plus + at line start (with/without indentation) defaulted to not be interpreted as bullet point list formatting. They should function as list formatting characters only when preceded by a line prefixed with some other character that would start a list. For example a dot . character.

-Nod5 (June 23, 2020, 03:25 AM)

I didnt realize until now that markdown couldn't do indentation.  That would be nice if it were implemented.  It's not even in any of the other markdown flavors?

120

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 24, 2020, 12:41 PM »

OK what do you guys think of this idea:

A tool that can be run where you load in all your folders and files, and it renames the files based on the ID-title tag in the yaml header.

You can control and even preview the new names before executing.
You can tweak the paramenters to fit your header.
You can tweak how the new name format should be.  ID.md or ID - title.md....or title.md etc etc

This tool is great and would be independent of your notetaking software.

121

General Software Discussion / Re: Fastest/Easiest HDD to HDD transfer?

« on: June 24, 2020, 12:37 PM »

So I have a smallish ssd as my boot drive, so I use a larger HDD to install all my apps to. Well that drive is about to crap its pants (about to die), so I have a new drive that should be arriving today. I was going to put two partitions on said new drive, and wanted to move all of my installed apps to one of the new partitions. I then was going to remove the old drive, and change the drive letter of the new partition to that of the old drive that is about to die. So my question is, what would be the easiest method to achieve this, preferably without having to uninstall all the apps from the old drive, and reinstall them on the new drive? The old drive is a 2TB drive and the new drive is a 6TB (being split into two 3TB partitions) if that info is needed.

-nite_monkey (June 24, 2020, 07:51 AM)

I do this all the time.
There is no foolproof way to just transfer the contents and have it work flawlessly.  But you can get close, or good enough where you wouldn't even notice for a while.  I'd copy all the files over exactly as they are.  I wouldn't do all that partition stuff.  I'd copy from one disk to the other, swap them, and continue as if nothing happened.  After I saw that was working, then I'd consider some additional modifications to partitions etc.

But what I'd really do is install the hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch.  Not that bad, but will take some time.

Windows also has their own WIndows Easy Transfer or something.  Should be ok.  I've used it, it was ok, i can't remember any issues.

Bare minimum, you want to save all your custom data somewhere first before you try all this.  I usually save program files, programdata, all that user local roaming stuff, documents....frankly i'll just save the entire drive before something like this. 

122

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 23, 2020, 04:38 PM »

ugh...more software issues.

Is it a problem if I DON'T put my tags in the yaml header?
The reason why is because Zettlr's nifty tag features don't work if the tag is in the yaml.  It works fine if it's outside the yaml.

123

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 23, 2020, 04:21 PM »

https://notes.andymatuschak.org/
(very cool site design btw)
but i don't get what evergreen notes are.

-superboyac (June 23, 2020, 11:46 AM)

These are his notes,  so many of them are evergreen.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. All it really means is that they are notes that have a long-term value rather than temporary notes. Which notes ticks that box is up to you.
He developed his system after playing with zettelkasten ideas.
But you want your own system. Some of his ideas are interesting and useful,  but I believe it's always a mistake to follow any of these systems rigidly without fitting their ideas into what suits you.

-Dormouse (June 23, 2020, 01:15 PM)

I'm starting to agree with you.

So far, the features I think are important to me are: atomicity and inbox-to-final.  I already have good note taking discipline, so what's missing are these two ideas.  THe inbox thing i like because i currently have no way of organizing.  WHen it comes to creating a final product, I waste a lot of time recreating and finding everything and spend a lot of time re-thinking things over again that i've already solved.

software update:
I'm back to liking zettlr again.  I like the display and writing comfort.
The yaml header is key.
I'll not be including any ID's in filenames.  Only in the yaml header.
Sublime is good, but it will take some time to make it look and feel perfect.  This will be a project.

124

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 23, 2020, 11:55 AM »

I've been very hesitant to commit to zettel because i first want to know the tools I'm going to use.  I think this will work for now.

-superboyac (June 22, 2020, 07:01 PM)

Before committing too hard to zettel, it's worth thinking about Andy Matuschak's evergreen notes.
I'm not following either really. I think they have a strong appeal to those who are attracted to a rigid system. I do subscribe to atomicity, though I think there are a variety of ways to achieve it, and I do believe it is important both to think and to record the results of the thinking. And I use a whole variety of links. The problem with thinking is that it takes the time it takes, and insights, leaps and eurekas are only possible when your mind is open rather than on a trail or on a schedule.

-Dormouse (June 22, 2020, 07:57 PM)

OK you got me thinking outside the box...
Well...if that's the case, I don't really care about that ID number.  I think it makes the filenames look ugly, and its complicating matters for me, and I don't see how useful they are when i can find this very quickly using universal search as you type stuff.  I have so many text file searching tools.  I can find anything anytime.

But the "atomicity" idea is the important one i think.  Zettel and this green guy both are centered around it, and it's something I really haven't done in my notes.  I think that is where to focus on.

I like the yaml headers.

I like qownnotes if I don't have to get locked into a zettel system.

125

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: June 23, 2020, 11:46 AM »

evergreen notes

-Dormouse (June 22, 2020, 07:57 PM)

I am interested...
I went to this siite
https://notes.andymatuschak.org/
(very cool site design btw)
but i don't get what evergreen notes are.  Is there a sample I can see somewhere?  Even zettel, its best to see examples than to figure out the philosophy through the flowery discussions.