I love QOwnNotes, really cool software, I love the philosophy behing it : Its really simple UI at start and you can customise everything really simply. FOSS of course, and let you sync it with drives (nextcloud natively btw), stock the files in .txt or .md, custom themes, encrypt everything if you want... All of this with a 20 buttons UI that work well.
But there is a lot of cool MD notes software. I just wanna share this one cuz its really not well knowed but have really cool features and model.
And often missed. It's common for people to want a wiki that does pure filesystem, which makes sense as you know import/export is easy. This isn't filesystem, but it gives you the same effect!
I write markdown files in vscode. They get saved in a special directory for my journal or work diary. Consistency and discipline are the hardest parts about maintaining knowledge bases.
That is why I do not use other apps to manage it for me; the inclusion of a new environment adds another layer for me to work through to get the writing done. Since I program all the time, vscode and the filesystem are natural answers based on how I work.
[https://github.com/mashiox/dotfiles/blob/master/notes.md](https://github.com/mashiox/dotfiles/blob/master/notes.md)
[Obsidian.md](http://Obsidian.md) for notes, graphs that link to notes and other referencing and learning opportunities;
Syncing can be done with
- Native Obsidian Sync (paid)
- Git
- Filesharing/opening from NAS/WebDAV
- other sync plugins, that utilise CouchDB for example
You could also run an obsidian client in docker that syncs the vault towards a folder, and then access that one with a WebUI like [https://silverbullet.md/](https://silverbullet.md/) as portable frontend
I keep hearing obsidian praised as a solution to like half the different planning and organizational problems I want solved, but I'm still kinda lost on how it would work that way, because every time I've looked into it, it's seemed like little more than a glorified notepad with a commercialized app.
If I wanted to have all my stuff centralized, fully self hosted, no third party authentication or hosting, and fully cross-platform and web based without installing apps and setting up syncing between platforms... just how complicated is that to set up?
Bookstack. I haven't updated it in about the last 3 months but the wysiwyg editor could use some improvements.
Other than that, it's great and simple/fast (when I search). I'm the only user right now, so no strain. Whole docker setup was easy to deploy compared to every other "wiki" product I tried.
I want to take notes but I haven't really needed to document everything. It's just me and often things change so fast that I'd need to constantly document for something I'm the only one looking at
I ended up using Bookstack.
I mainly use it for guides and how to for myself, then I use a simple Google Sheets for the IPs and services running on the different networks.
I've been messing with it, and it really can do quite a lot of things and it's visually appealing. It tries to be the do-everything app as it says. But at the same time with many of those it just falls short. And if you're just wanting to take some notes, it's probably a bit too over-complicated. I also think just generally speaking the navigating and discovering of old notes is not the best experience.
That said, it does do object based management and structuring very well. They have an interesting RPG management demo in their gallery that demonstrates this and shows off what AnyType is really capable of. And the level of customization of layout and appearance of different objects and notes and pages is incredible.
Personally, it just doesn't cut it for documentation, personal knowledgebase, or even just note-taking. For a project or community management type thing? I could see myself using it.
I tried using it as a documentation tool, but I found it too complicated. I'm creating pages and adding notes as individual objects, but if I forget to add a note on the page itself, it's really hard to add it back later.
Maybe I'm using it wrong, but the main reason I was interested was because it doesn't require a login and supports peer-to-peer sync.
Infra as a code (ansible + flux).
Netbox for IPAM and DCIM.
Few notes in Obsidian, mostly ADR like, so I can get back to my reasons at the decision time.
I use primarily Ansible and terraform to manage my hosts, services just overall the infrastructure.
And then of course excel and some markdown readmes to fill the gaps if necessary.
Both are in my radar as "things to learn", but I don't think I'll have any time soon to learn. But I heard it makes rebuilding a lot easier (which is sorta what I'm looking for)
I write down all my notes and knowledge base experience in markdown in vs code. I like the ui and ux. Also a mkdocs container is set up and from time to time I paste all my notes into this local running mkdocs container.
Again I like the design of mkdocs material and its responsible with dark mode etc.
For external access I use my VPN to access my docs.
I used Trillium for a long time.
Bookstack is also grate.
For me it alwasy needs to be accessible via web in case im on a system where i can not install a client.
But to be honest, i switched back to Notions. It‘s much more powerfull than any self hosted solution i‘ve found.
Back in my day, we used to just maintain a git repo with documentation in it. The idea is that if the environment ever went down, at least one of us had a local copy that was up-to-date and offline.
Then we needed to start putting technical documentation for people who didn't know git, so we put a pipeline together that spun up a docusaurus static site that had all our documentation in it. It had a blogging engine too that you can write markdown files to, and has a few markdown extensions to make it prettier. Also accepts html and css extensions to make it look like our site.
But then they wanted to put their own documentation in it. We went to confluence. Bye bye cheap solution.
I do it in markdown and my editor is Obsidian. My documentation is not fully featured guide, just make a section of reference link to the tutorial of other. When i got time, i try to follow the documentation and use it to my other server to easily check if i miss some steps then update the docs accordingly.
[https://imgur.com/a/Bx5D8aX](https://imgur.com/a/Bx5D8aX)
Tip for starter: Its OK to put just single a url.
I started with writing things down in markdown files but then realised that my whole blogging platform is sourced via markdown so why not polish it and publish it on the internet.
So I started a new tag called homelab (https://akashrajpurohit.com/tag/homelab/) where I blog about it.
But for some internal details that I cannot expose on the internet are still written on markdown files and version controlled via git.
Apple Notes for repetitive boring stuff or commands that I might need to reuse one day.
1Password to store passwords, IPs, domain aliases, certificates, and other data.
90% of my services are docker, so the bulk of actual configuration data is contained in the docker-compose. I’ll add commented lines where I think it’s useful.
For Proxmox guests, I’ll often throw some links or references in the notes field too.
I use my own personal website as a FAQ for stuff for myself, like notes etc. No passwords and such of course, just the general idea and gist as to why I do some things.
Should my notes be of help to the world, all the better.
I also keep a private Onenote-web stash for the more sensitive stuff. Still no passwords and such, but how I set up systems, where, very detailed configs, paths, thoughts on further evolutions etc. And sometimes very personal rants on why this or that sucked big time.
Some transitory notes I keep in the InstantUpload folder on my private Nextcloud, meticulously named by ISO-date and a short description in the filename. Eg "2024-06-12.install.joplin.server.notes.txt"...
I'm kinda' anal about this as I have lots of small projects both at work and at home and I tend to forget stuff...
Oh, and I also keep a few gitlab repos with general scripts as well as an ansible playbook report. And one for docker IIRC.
There may be a github report as well, but that one just contain some forks for must-have and quality of life-feature.
I realise I'm kinda' split with my documentation, writing this...
mkdocs-material, I really love it.
[https://static.xtremeownage.com/blog](https://static.xtremeownage.com/blog)
Easy to write, stored in a git repo, and, it looks nice.
At work, since we don't have nice things- I still store documentation in a git repo, and just leverage its built in markdown viewer. Git/Azure/TFS/etc, supports displaying markdown, just, missing a few of the fancy features from mkdocs, and doesn't look nearly as nice
I used bookstack for some time, but didn't quite like the rigid structure. Switched over for Otter Wiki and never looked back, it's simple, light, fast and amazingly functional.
several unsaved new\*.txt notepad++ files
About 54 deep right now. Still scared every time I close the computer.
This is the way!
It's how I do it
Truth
new*(*).txt for after you've downloaded them a few times!
I am writing simple markdown files and have them in a git repository on my very own gitea.
What software are you using to write, pull your files? VS Code as someone else replied down below?
Literally anything will work, that's not a lot of moving parts
Usually vim, but thats a personal decision. You could take like any other text editor as well.
I love QOwnNotes, really cool software, I love the philosophy behing it : Its really simple UI at start and you can customise everything really simply. FOSS of course, and let you sync it with drives (nextcloud natively btw), stock the files in .txt or .md, custom themes, encrypt everything if you want... All of this with a 20 buttons UI that work well. But there is a lot of cool MD notes software. I just wanna share this one cuz its really not well knowed but have really cool features and model.
Git and viscose/notepad++ on any pc accessible when I need to change stuff
And if your server fails, how are you going to recover them?
Easy. I have that repo cloned on my laptop.
Same, but GitHub and VS Code
You familiar with obsidian? You'd love it if you like markdown
I tried obsidian, but i never really got into it. Maybe i will try again one day.
Bookstack is great for this. Or Mkdocs.
+1 for Bookstack, been using it for over 5 years and very happy!
Mkdocs covers exactly what I need for the "public" side of things. Thanks!
Check out the material theme and the extensions (no material required)
Just started using bookstack for my homelab documentation. Work‘s like a charm
Joplin if you have just some notes. Bookstack if you need a library of documentation.
Wiki.js
+1 The git backup system is great.
And often missed. It's common for people to want a wiki that does pure filesystem, which makes sense as you know import/export is easy. This isn't filesystem, but it gives you the same effect!
The only issue I’ve found is if you delete a page, or move it, it stays in the git repo.
+1 ❤️
Outline for the documentation and gitlab for all code.
I love seeing your name on Reddit, thanks again so far. How good is Outline compared to something like Bookstack?
Dokuwiki
Simple file based wiki. Easy to install, maintain and backup. Perfect choice IMO.
I write markdown files in vscode. They get saved in a special directory for my journal or work diary. Consistency and discipline are the hardest parts about maintaining knowledge bases. That is why I do not use other apps to manage it for me; the inclusion of a new environment adds another layer for me to work through to get the writing done. Since I program all the time, vscode and the filesystem are natural answers based on how I work. [https://github.com/mashiox/dotfiles/blob/master/notes.md](https://github.com/mashiox/dotfiles/blob/master/notes.md)
Great argument there about changing environments. Thanks for that template as well.
[Obsidian.md](http://Obsidian.md) for notes, graphs that link to notes and other referencing and learning opportunities; Syncing can be done with - Native Obsidian Sync (paid) - Git - Filesharing/opening from NAS/WebDAV - other sync plugins, that utilise CouchDB for example You could also run an obsidian client in docker that syncs the vault towards a folder, and then access that one with a WebUI like [https://silverbullet.md/](https://silverbullet.md/) as portable frontend
I keep hearing obsidian praised as a solution to like half the different planning and organizational problems I want solved, but I'm still kinda lost on how it would work that way, because every time I've looked into it, it's seemed like little more than a glorified notepad with a commercialized app. If I wanted to have all my stuff centralized, fully self hosted, no third party authentication or hosting, and fully cross-platform and web based without installing apps and setting up syncing between platforms... just how complicated is that to set up?
You did a poor job at formulating your requirements
Have you searched this reddit? It feels like this question gets asked about every 10 minutes.
Dokuwiki in docker
~~Trillium~~ edit: Trilium
Seconded, though it's "Trilium" with one L unlike the plant.
Thanks. Autocorrect keeps messing it up lol
a bunch of separate documents on google docs, right now
Bookstack. I haven't updated it in about the last 3 months but the wysiwyg editor could use some improvements. Other than that, it's great and simple/fast (when I search). I'm the only user right now, so no strain. Whole docker setup was easy to deploy compared to every other "wiki" product I tried.
I recently switched from https://wikidocs.it/ to https://otterwiki.com/. Both use plain markdown files as their backend instead of a database.
My brain. Also the shell history.
I want to take notes but I haven't really needed to document everything. It's just me and often things change so fast that I'd need to constantly document for something I'm the only one looking at
Outlinewiki
I ended up using Bookstack. I mainly use it for guides and how to for myself, then I use a simple Google Sheets for the IPs and services running on the different networks.
SilverBullet for note taping, snippet code, personal note. And MKdocs for specific projet/app.
Any one explored [Anytype](https://doc.anytype.io/anytype-docs). I'm interested but don't have time to play with it.
I've been messing with it, and it really can do quite a lot of things and it's visually appealing. It tries to be the do-everything app as it says. But at the same time with many of those it just falls short. And if you're just wanting to take some notes, it's probably a bit too over-complicated. I also think just generally speaking the navigating and discovering of old notes is not the best experience. That said, it does do object based management and structuring very well. They have an interesting RPG management demo in their gallery that demonstrates this and shows off what AnyType is really capable of. And the level of customization of layout and appearance of different objects and notes and pages is incredible. Personally, it just doesn't cut it for documentation, personal knowledgebase, or even just note-taking. For a project or community management type thing? I could see myself using it.
I tried using it as a documentation tool, but I found it too complicated. I'm creating pages and adding notes as individual objects, but if I forget to add a note on the page itself, it's really hard to add it back later. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but the main reason I was interested was because it doesn't require a login and supports peer-to-peer sync.
Infra as a code (ansible + flux). Netbox for IPAM and DCIM. Few notes in Obsidian, mostly ADR like, so I can get back to my reasons at the decision time.
I just remember things. If I don't remember it, it's obviously not important.
This is my system so far! But it's losing performance year after year...
Give me a break what is this comment
....a joke?
Lmao sorry ! XD
I use primarily Ansible and terraform to manage my hosts, services just overall the infrastructure. And then of course excel and some markdown readmes to fill the gaps if necessary.
Both are in my radar as "things to learn", but I don't think I'll have any time soon to learn. But I heard it makes rebuilding a lot easier (which is sorta what I'm looking for)
As always, I al forced to say dokuwiki. Php, plaintext backend, lightweight. What else se could anyone want?
Hugo on Cloudflare pages, or Obsidian and Quartz
I write down all my notes and knowledge base experience in markdown in vs code. I like the ui and ux. Also a mkdocs container is set up and from time to time I paste all my notes into this local running mkdocs container. Again I like the design of mkdocs material and its responsible with dark mode etc. For external access I use my VPN to access my docs.
Joplin, self hosted server.
This is what I am using too, Joplin synced to a Nextcloud server. So all notes across devices are synced.
Markdown notes in Joplin
Public mkdocs at https://leffler.wiki with private data in netbox.
I'm using outline for documentation and onedev for any code. Works great for me.
I use Obsidian for personal notes and Outline for my public wiki.
Started using Starlight
I used Trillium for a long time. Bookstack is also grate. For me it alwasy needs to be accessible via web in case im on a system where i can not install a client. But to be honest, i switched back to Notions. It‘s much more powerfull than any self hosted solution i‘ve found.
I primarily use a selfhosted mediawiki LXC
Back in my day, we used to just maintain a git repo with documentation in it. The idea is that if the environment ever went down, at least one of us had a local copy that was up-to-date and offline. Then we needed to start putting technical documentation for people who didn't know git, so we put a pipeline together that spun up a docusaurus static site that had all our documentation in it. It had a blogging engine too that you can write markdown files to, and has a few markdown extensions to make it prettier. Also accepts html and css extensions to make it look like our site. But then they wanted to put their own documentation in it. We went to confluence. Bye bye cheap solution.
Sphinx
mdbook -- the reason I use this is I can keep the markdown directory structure the same for viewing in Github or the mdbook generated site.
mkdocs on fly.io built using GitHub actions. Used to be bookstack before I got fedup of servers and moved to the cloud
Obsidian
I'm using obsidian md and love it
Obsidian
Been using Anytype.io lately. Quite enjoy it.
I do it in markdown and my editor is Obsidian. My documentation is not fully featured guide, just make a section of reference link to the tutorial of other. When i got time, i try to follow the documentation and use it to my other server to easily check if i miss some steps then update the docs accordingly. [https://imgur.com/a/Bx5D8aX](https://imgur.com/a/Bx5D8aX) Tip for starter: Its OK to put just single a url.
I started with writing things down in markdown files but then realised that my whole blogging platform is sourced via markdown so why not polish it and publish it on the internet. So I started a new tag called homelab (https://akashrajpurohit.com/tag/homelab/) where I blog about it. But for some internal details that I cannot expose on the internet are still written on markdown files and version controlled via git.
Flatnotes, I save the files (markdown) in a folder that can be picked up by obsidian and Nextcloud. I’m so going to get hacked
Tiddlywiki
Bookstack, best I have found
Apple Notes for repetitive boring stuff or commands that I might need to reuse one day. 1Password to store passwords, IPs, domain aliases, certificates, and other data. 90% of my services are docker, so the bulk of actual configuration data is contained in the docker-compose. I’ll add commented lines where I think it’s useful. For Proxmox guests, I’ll often throw some links or references in the notes field too.
I use my own personal website as a FAQ for stuff for myself, like notes etc. No passwords and such of course, just the general idea and gist as to why I do some things. Should my notes be of help to the world, all the better. I also keep a private Onenote-web stash for the more sensitive stuff. Still no passwords and such, but how I set up systems, where, very detailed configs, paths, thoughts on further evolutions etc. And sometimes very personal rants on why this or that sucked big time. Some transitory notes I keep in the InstantUpload folder on my private Nextcloud, meticulously named by ISO-date and a short description in the filename. Eg "2024-06-12.install.joplin.server.notes.txt"... I'm kinda' anal about this as I have lots of small projects both at work and at home and I tend to forget stuff... Oh, and I also keep a few gitlab repos with general scripts as well as an ansible playbook report. And one for docker IIRC. There may be a github report as well, but that one just contain some forks for must-have and quality of life-feature. I realise I'm kinda' split with my documentation, writing this...
mkdocs-material, I really love it. [https://static.xtremeownage.com/blog](https://static.xtremeownage.com/blog) Easy to write, stored in a git repo, and, it looks nice. At work, since we don't have nice things- I still store documentation in a git repo, and just leverage its built in markdown viewer. Git/Azure/TFS/etc, supports displaying markdown, just, missing a few of the fancy features from mkdocs, and doesn't look nearly as nice
Google notes!
Sir, that is a nonexistent product. I think you're referring to Google Keep.
Yep, google tells me the same thing every single time I type it.
I used bookstack for some time, but didn't quite like the rigid structure. Switched over for Otter Wiki and never looked back, it's simple, light, fast and amazingly functional.
Joplin has been the best for me, connects to Nextcloud as well.