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651

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

« Last post by Dormouse on April 08, 2020, 06:33 PM »

And I have resigned myself to learning markdown.
Even Trello uses it.
The Pure Writer developer explained that he wouldn't offer an rtf option because coding was more complex.
Many (most?) Android programs appear to offer md options but not rtf, doc or other equivalents.
And I like WriteMonkey on the PC.

652

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

« Last post by Dormouse on April 08, 2020, 06:26 PM »

Which takes me further. Didn't take me long to think of other uses of Trello once I'd freed myself from thinking of it as for activity management to knowledge and activity management. As others have done. There is at least one detailed review of it for zettelkasten.
I realised that it has two advantages over individual documents for a zettelkasten -

• going through the card sets is much quicker and more natural and a better analogue of the card box
• input is easier

They would make a difference. Reduced security because they're online. And effort required to ensure that all the data is safe - possible with regular exports; hopefully. Would have to be tested.
Tagging would have to be as hoc - but same system as for documents.

Not sure if it goes against the whole thrust of the thread. Does a little, but I always accepted the use of database systems for active functionality. Cross platform is maintained. And the document system would still be there. Millions of users so some sort of export always likely anyway. But could be costly; no guarantee that current no/low prices for individuals will always be maintained. I don't know if I'll change anything yet. Will see how other uses go. Hmm.

653

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

« Last post by Dormouse on April 06, 2020, 04:55 AM »

Next stage was working out how to do the planning, maintain support files etc. Needs to be cross-platform. Decided on Trello (then discovered other writers use it and have documented their systems); reasonable substitute for the Scrivener cards, which is helpful for me as a visually oriented person. Primary export is JSON or print, neither of which are wonderful (with CSV if you are paying for business class), so I'll pay attention to keeping a lot of information in files linking into Trello. Which happily brings me back to a zettelkasten. 

I'll still use the myriad of other programs - Excel/Sheets, OneNote, Squid etc but they will all link in or save data to files regularly.

Very pleasing that the underlying system is unaffected.

654

General Software Discussion / Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 05, 2020, 12:24 PM »

Winamp - It was bought from AOL by Radionomy, and they promised to continue development, but they don't really seem that interested. A 3rd party that used to be part of the Winamp team at AOL, has taken up patching it and developing plugins to extend functionality under the name of WACUP, in the hopes of eventually releasing his own replacement

-app103 (February 01, 2020, 12:41 AM)

And the original developer, who sold it to AOL, founded Reaper, one of the best DAWs, which is still going strong - last release 3rd April.

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

« Last post by Dormouse on April 04, 2020, 05:32 AM »

That's the one. Some concerns because it's Chinese. Only had a quick look so far and the features aren't well explained. Looks as if a lot of writing could be done in it without taking it anywhere else,  but would still need to come back to a PC in the end. I can work with the colour scheme and the typewriter greys all lines except the one you're working on, which is especially useful on a tablet.

-Dormouse (April 01, 2020, 03:21 PM)

Looked at it further. The developer appears to work for Microsoft.
Probably has all the functionality I'd want on a tablet or phone. There's an early alpha of a desktop version for synchronising; developer emphasises that it's very early, has bugs and very incomplete functionality: I've not tried it yet.
It's .txt or .md only. This might get me to move predominantly to plaintext. Would want to check out export to WriteMonkey or Scrivener (etc).

One of the good things for me is extensive options for backgrounds, so I can get the best possible visual setup. Dark themes work okay in this format, but more control on appearance is better.

Interesting enough for me to give it a trial.
But the lack of documentation - guide or manual - is irritating. Most things I can work out but not all. And some features seem unlikely to be fixed, but I can't see how to edit them. That said, most is easy and the updates are so frequent that any manual would soon be out of date.

656

Living Room / Re: Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on April 01, 2020, 03:30 PM »

Doesn't the pen ever get dislodged when you carry it in a bag with other things? My old Samsung tablet had the pen held at the side using elastic.  That wasn't effective,  but I can see that your case would be much better especially with strong magnetism. With that and the Surface,  I ended up carrying them separately.

657

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

« Last post by Dormouse on April 01, 2020, 03:21 PM »

That's the one. Some concerns because it's Chinese. Only had a quick look so far and the features aren't well explained. Looks as if a lot of writing could be done in it without taking it anywhere else,  but would still need to come back to a PC in the end. I can work with the colour scheme and the typewriter greys all lines except the one you're working on, which is especially useful on a tablet.

Lots of programs I'm happy writing in, but not so many facilitate the organisation of a larger work too. I don't know what I will do,  but hadn't seen this one before. Very little in the way of reviews etc.

One thing I probably will do is use Diaro/Diarium for daily small writings.   I think either would be more comfortable to use than Evernote and they would only have the one use, whereas Evernote has many.

658

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

« Last post by Dormouse on April 01, 2020, 06:38 AM »

Well this is interesting....why do you go to the Journal as a middleman?  I use the Journal also, so I am wondering.

-superboyac (March 05, 2020, 12:11 PM)

It imports Evernote export files and exports into individual documents (rtf, txt, docx, pdf, or html).

-Dormouse (March 05, 2020, 03:42 PM)

Since deciding to switch to using a tablet more, I've been checking out other programs. Diaro and Diarium especially. One of them will import enex files and export into individual documents, which would bypass The Journal completely.
Also looked at programs for writing to see if there are ones I'm not familiar with.  Pure Writer seems most attractive of these so far,  though the Pro cost (£9.99) seems high for an Android program.

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Living Room / Re: Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on April 01, 2020, 04:09 AM »

The Surface pen has much stronger magnetism than the Samsung, so I can see a well working on its own. The Samsung case has a well but needs the flap to protect it from being bumped out.

Having a Book, I never really looked at cases for the tablet alone. Most of those I saw for the Surface Pro seemed designed for the keyboard too. And that's quite a different use concept. I never found the clip very useful.

660

Living Room / Re: Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on March 31, 2020, 05:17 PM »

And I have just discovered the Google Canary experimental setting to force dark mode on light web pages without reversing the colours in images 

661

Living Room / Re: Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on March 31, 2020, 04:03 PM »

I don't typically last that long.  I've coped by using an e-ink reader for certain activities (unfortunately, this technology is really taking a long time to develop nicely), staying far enough away from displays (not easy for a tablet one is holding), reducing exposure, using a single display, keeping my code within about 80 columns, etc.

One thing I found that helped on the hardware end of things was Samsung's OLED displays.  This doesn't really help for external displays (too expensive / unavailable), but for tablets and phones, it seems to be less problematic on my eyes.

I learned about eye issues a fair bit from: https://ledstrain.org/ It appears people suffer for a variety of reasons and there doesn't appear to be a single practical "drop-in" solution, but there are many ideas there to learn from.

-ewemoa (March 30, 2020, 07:06 PM)

You seem to have it much worse than me. I'm hoping mine stabilises or even improves.

I find phones and tablets much easier. I'd explained it to myself by looking at the smaller size, but also that holding it closer meant that I'd often use my other, reading, eye. (No binocular vision, one eye general purpose, the other has always specialised in reading). But, now that you mention it, I have been using Samsung tablets and phones - apart from my limited usage of the iPads (they were only required because an essential work program only runs on them).

I'll have to have a look at that website. I'd never come across it before.

662

Living Room / Re: Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on March 31, 2020, 03:53 PM »

Tablets were added to the mix; I never used my iPads much, but did use my Samsung Note tablet a lot

-Dormouse (March 29, 2020, 09:22 AM)

This has been my experience too.  Stylus technology and software that utilizes it has improved sufficiently in some places -- am hoping this trend will continue.  The issue of how to carry a stylus without losing it doesn't seem to be well-addressed yet though IMO.

-ewemoa (March 30, 2020, 07:06 PM)

I think I've acquired a solution to that 
The Samsung tablet has a very shallow hollow for the stylus with a weak magnetic link - but it works as if it is rock solid with this case. Has to be attached right but that easy so long as you remember that any which way won't do.

Carrying a tablet around is something i find comfortable, reminds me of the days when filofaxes were endemic, and I use it for lots of things that it wouldn't be worth opening a laptop for.

663

Living Room / Re: Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on March 31, 2020, 03:28 PM »

I thought that the Book came closer.

-wraith808 (March 29, 2020, 07:38 PM)

You're right of course. Hardwarewise the Book is excellent as both a laptop and tablet. It's just the software I don't find so smooth.

664

Living Room / Re: Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on March 29, 2020, 05:54 PM »

Yes. I'd like to emphasise that I like my Surface, and it's a tribute to its capability that I've been using it as a workstation instead of my desktop (which I've just taken down for renewal/rebuilding). It works OK as a tablet, and I could probably make it do better if I used it like that more - which I suppose I might in the future. But, when I came to the realisation that productivity required me to use a tablet much more of the time to cut monitor exposure, my immediate thought wasn't to just use the Surface as a tablet. Partly to avoid the switching between workstation mode and tablet but mostly because I find that the Windows programs work better on desktop than they do on tablet. And with tablets falling out of fashion I'm not sure there will be any further adjustment in that direction.

It's just a not unexpected discovery that a multi-function device is unlikely to be best at any individual function.

665

Living Room / Windows as a tablet OS

« Last post by Dormouse on March 29, 2020, 09:22 AM »

Over the years I've switched between phone/PC and then. phone/PC/laptop. Tablets were added to the mix; I never used my iPads much, but did use my Samsung Note tablet a lot until it started playing up after a few years ,at the same time as I was transitioning to mostly using Windows tablet/laptops instead of desktops (one Surface book; one Toshiba convertible). To an extent that has worked: it is useful to use Windows programs on a tablet. But only when needs must. It doesn't work easily or elegantly, so I mostly use them as a workstation. Partly i think the OS doesn't lend itself well to tablet use, though it tries and neither are the apps optimised for tablet use. The Android versions of the same programs often work much better on tablets, though usually with restricted functionality. So back to increased Android tablet use. It's not a major change in my workflow just change in the hardware I spend most time with.

Partly my switch is about eyesight changes and monitors. I really really like big busy monitors, but the brightness overwhelms me now after a few hours even though I've tweaked all my settings and limited the programs I use to ones that suit me best. Phones and tablets are much easier. I can imagine myself ending up with Android tablets/phones and Linux PCs (with Windows and/or WINE installed). Windows updates are uniquely disruptive and I seem to lose my theme setting every other day.

666

Living Room / Re: Archivarius questions (help using)

« Last post by Dormouse on March 29, 2020, 04:54 AM »

Great news!!! 

-Yatom (March 28, 2020, 09:37 PM)

Thanks for the persistence, description and precision.

Helps me remember why I chose Archivarius in the first place, but also reminds me why I drifted out of using it. A very fine program for the time, but, as it wasn't at the core of what I was doing, the time consumed always felt disproportionate. And, in the absence of self-contained expertise, the complexity required active support and preferably an equally active forum of users. I think most of my tasks just hit a "there must be a better way" moment and got broken down differently into smaller chunks. I now use the much simpler docfetcher; good enough for what I use it for now and apparently actively maintained. And less indexing, which I think is the core of my issue.

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Living Room / Re: Archivarius questions (help using)

« Last post by Dormouse on March 27, 2020, 08:09 PM »

Any possibility of a Nazarene -Nazarenes working?

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Living Room / Re: Archivarius questions (help using)

« Last post by Dormouse on March 27, 2020, 05:32 PM »

I haven't used Archivarius for a long time - I've just checked and I don't even have it installed at the moment - so I'm not in the best position to answer your questions.

My only comment is on your Nazarene Vs Nazarenes question. I don't know whether you have tried a search with a space at the end of Nazarene. Some programs will ignore spaces, but I've found surprisingly often that I have to use spaces to make a program do what I want; before and after, depending on the word.

wrt Likasoft generally, I've noticed that updates have been coming infrequently (last update 2018) and I wonder if its writer's attention may mostly be elsewhere.

669

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

« Last post by Dormouse on March 05, 2020, 03:42 PM »

Well this is interesting....why do you go to the Journal as a middleman?  I use the Journal also, so I am wondering.

-superboyac (March 05, 2020, 12:11 PM)

It imports Evernote export files and exports into individual documents (rtf, txt, docx, pdf, or html).

I don't know if it can do that for OneNote exports, which themselves are more limited than Evernote.

670

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

« Last post by Dormouse on March 04, 2020, 07:22 PM »

garh!  too many cool software!

-superboyac (March 03, 2020, 12:20 PM)

The bit I found fascinating about Roam was the description of it automatically triggering someone to do Luhmann style in depth notes without any overt instruction or direction. i doubt I'll use the program myself because it seems to be at the opposite end of my search for long term safety and system stability, and isn't multi-platform. But it does seem to have a neat set of ideas.

ok safe to say, i haven't gotten very far with this experiment.
I am still using onenote for everything, mostly because it syncs to my phone and i have no discipline yet around organizing my brain farts.

-superboyac (March 03, 2020, 12:20 PM)

I've not got far either - have been too busy tied up with other things. But my organisation is building and I have a system that I can return to whenever I am doing related stuff - so that seems to be working. But zettelkasten does seem to require discipline and preferably regularity. I struggle with the first, but the second is never likely to be possible.

I agree about using OneNote because you can also use it on your phone. I do the same with Evernote, though I have a process that can take it to separate documents (EN>The Journal>separate documents). If I were regular I would do this daily or weekly; as it is, it is when I have a large group of notes to process and the time to do it (processing a large number takes little more time than doing a little).

also, i just finished an outline to a new screenplay, and it was all developed using multiple screenwriting software essentially...scrivener, outline4d.  not sure how zettl would fit in.  still like the idea.

-superboyac (March 03, 2020, 12:20 PM)

Congratulations on completing the outline.
I've not been working on this so can't give any ideas about how I would use a zettl to help with this, more than I already have. What i would say is that i doubt a zettl approach will be especially useful for one self-contained project. I'd also say that if you are already working well using a Scrivener/Outline4D combo, then stick to using that. Even if you have a zettl, there will always be a use for specialist programs.

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

« Last post by Dormouse on March 01, 2020, 05:46 PM »

There is also a beta available for https://roamresearch.com/

-Nod5 (February 28, 2020, 10:12 AM)

A new option to take a look at: https://casual-effects.com/markdeep/

-wraith808 (February 27, 2020, 10:32 PM)

Thanks for these. Very different, but each interesting in their own way.
I've not looked at either in detail yet.

This seems to be an interesting example of Roam usage. Appears to describe a Luhmann process in action, though there's no reference to zettelkasten at all. Suggests that the move to more in-depth note taking arose purely from using Roam without any deliberate thought or action.

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

« Last post by Dormouse on February 08, 2020, 07:11 PM »

Start using AsciiDoc with the AsciiDocFX editor. That is similar to MarkDown text format files. The AsciiDocFX editor comes with an automatic (real-time) preview, so it very easy to see how your content will look like, while you are typing it. Which should cover most, if not all, of your needs to alter the layout afterwards. But if you still find a need to do so, you can alter the default CSS style sheet that editors like AsciiDocFX use to render the content as preview.

-Shades (January 06, 2020, 06:22 PM)

Thanks.
I had a quick look. Preview feature worked well, but I couldn’t set up a colour scheme to suit  me, so that rules it out.

Also doubt preview as a solution. Goes back to the days of print and proofing marks (and preview would have been wonderful then). The problem is that it works by splitting writing and reading modes, and this has an impact on focus and efficiency. Like many writers, I typically write first, check and format later.  Putting headers in wouldn’t affect focus, but putting in a bullet list would - especially if there was a need to check the preview to see if it achieved the desired appearance. Also formatting is easier done with just a mouse - at least for me.
There’s then the assumption that post-writing mode is reading. In some cases it might be, but with the zkn notes it isn’t really. I design the note format to help direct my attention appropriately when I next look at the note. But when I do, I am as likely to be in edit/change mode as in read - and that means not wanting to switch between panes.

Text files like MarkDown and AsciiDoc have also the advantage that these are very easy to search through by any and all types of search engine software (local or remote). These documents are also easy to store in any database of your choosing or to serve up as (internal) web content, if you so desire. With RTF and other document types created by word processing software, such options are very limited in the best case scenarios to non-existent.

Depending on RTF and/or other document types, will bite you in the long run, in ways you'll never expected.

-Shades (January 06, 2020, 06:22 PM)

I accept text files are easier to search and plaintext is easier to manipulate (not so sure about markdown etc - it isn’t, for instance, recognised by docfetcher as a separate file type which means text shown includes formatting).
I also accept that there are risks in using RTFs, or other more complex document types, but here I have to weigh the risk against the efficiency gains I have from using them.
And I have to be aware that many of my sources are held in document formats of all types, including PDFs, doc/docx and ebooks, as well as informational image files. And all these I suspect are more likely to give problems than RTFs. As it is, I use text files where they are sufficient and RTFs where I need the formatting.

673

General Software Discussion / .txt/.md Vs .rtf

« Last post by Dormouse on January 05, 2020, 07:16 PM »

I was looking at the file size differences and thinking that smaller must end up being faster for search etc (RTF being twice the size of the others).
So I looked closer. TXT often doesn't have the formatting I'd want when i'm reading. MD is the same size, virtually, and not hard to learn, so I checked the commands.

They're easy enough, and probably faster if you prefer the keyboard. But I always format after writing and prefer the mouse - so i think RTF may be faster for me. Accepting that there will be some markdown editors which allow input in the same way - but having spent so much time looking at programs, I'm not keen on looking again quite at the moment.

674

General Software Discussion / Efficiency Vs Complete

« Last post by Dormouse on January 05, 2020, 07:08 PM »

I was sent an academic paper today. I didn't think it was very good. Argument but no evidence. So i thought I'd delete it.
Then I thought that I have it, so it's no loss to keep it, and easier too.
Then I thought, I've read it already. I do have thoughts about it. Maybe I should make a note.
So I did. But only one note, done in a single pass. But still had to do the naming and tagging and add the link. Can't say it felt like the best use of time.
And probably inconsistent with Luhmann's injunction about selective reading.
But then, most academic papers are poor, so this is just normal.
So okay. I'm content enough to have done the note. And sure it wasn't worth going over and over.

I feel that getting this balance right is the key to making the process effective.

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

« Last post by Dormouse on January 05, 2020, 12:46 PM »

For me a helpful article because it starts simple and rules out what doesnt work in most systems; (flounders a bit in the middle imo); and only towards the end really describes the zettelkasten system as they see it.

-tomos (January 04, 2020, 07:11 PM)

Thanks. I agree that it's quite a good article, although I think it incorporates the weaknesses I personally perceive in the zettelkasten movement.

There's a reification of Luhmann as super productive, with an assumption that this is down to his unique working methodology which he described in some detail. Many academics, writers, scientists etc etc have been super productive, but they haven't left descriptions of their working methods; there has been a tendency for their productivity to be put down to their genius.

No-one else has achieved long-lived highly productive success using a zettelkasten. There simply hasn't been the time since the method became widely known. Most (all?) evangelists of the movement are relatively young. Presumably they have suffered some frustration with their previous approaches and hope that zettelkasten will help them to success. This necessarily means that they don't have experience of how a highly productive method feels in action over a long period of time, and will be proceeding on the basis of faith using the descriptions they have read of the system.

What strikes me most from this - and all the other articles - is that it is technocratic. All about the technique, digital or physical, and little about the content. Whereas, to me, the key feature is the thinking and reflection time enforced by the system. I say enforced but the degree is actually individually determined: some people will use the system as described, especially if they are using one of the programs mentioned, mechanistically and with little thought. Equating productivity with the number of notes or the number of links.

I believe that it can be a very helpful system (to some but not all), but only if people use it as an aid to their own thinking. I'd also note that Luhmann was highly successful and productive very early in his career when his zettelkasten system was still fledging.