Hi. Basically, I’m asking for suggestions. Do you know any good note taking app that works on linux desktop? I’m looking for something that I can use instead of Notion or Obsidian, with some nice to have:

  • Open source (that’s the reason I’m not that much into Obsidian, it could disappear tomorrow and I could not replace it with a community maintained fork)
  • Markdown based. I’d like to know that I can replace that app for another one when I want, and that’s not possible when they use their own obscure format
  • Local. I’m not interested in paying monthly for cloud storage. And actually, I’d prefer to know for certain that nothing leaves my local machine
  • Nice UX. I know that using plain text files and vim might do the job, but I’d like something more user friendly and with nice features (Notion, for example, nails it in my opinion)
  • Bonus: Can also be used on android (I’m aware this is a though one, and is not a deal breaker)

I know that all those requirements are hard to fulfill and I don’t even know if something like that exists, so I’d appreciate any kind of suggestion. For example, It’d be great if an open source like that exists, but I’m not completely closed to open-source-ish proprietary apps (e.g. licenses not really open but close enough), as long as they are free to use and work on linux.

Edit: Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. The most suggested alternative was Joplin so I’ll give it a try. However, as most of you mentioned, at the core it’s all markdown so I could easily try the other alternatives with the same knowledge base at a later point :)

  • paddumba@feddit.orgEnglish
    34·
    17 days ago

    Joplin - switched two weeks ago and I’m super happy. Open source, many extensions, sync via WebDAV, app for all systems,… Perfect system for me :).

    • TCB13@lemmy.world
      8·
      17 days ago

      Yeah I use Joplin as well it’s good but I can’t say it looks good. They could just copy the UI of some other app and it would be the best note app ever. Another thing missing is a web version that doesn’t require syncing everything to the browser storage and themes in iOS.

    • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
      4·
      17 days ago

      How’s the data portability? Like, if you decide to move everything away from it, for whatever reason, would your notes be easily migrated to another platform?

      When I ditched Evernote, the nightmare to get my notes into a different platform really left a sour taste in my mouth.

      Now I prefer plain txt files for anything I plan to keep, and something like Synology Notes for things I need organized, but wouldn’t care if they were trapped in the Synology Notes platform.

    • QuizzaciousOtter@lemm.ee
      2·
      16 days ago

      Agreed. I tried pretty much every other alternative because Joplin’s UI seems a bit dated and I’m a sucker for eye candy. But in the end I came back to Joplin. It’s really good and the UI actually grows on me too. Not modern and flashy but also not ugly and it works well in practice.