I built a tool for myself earlier this year that's very similar to this, and I wrote a bit about it here [1].
For the most part, I found that flashcards only help when they are crafted with care, and it's a skill that needs to be learnt [2]. But what I found particularly useful about my hacked-up setup is that every card is contextualized: if I need a refresher for the content of a card, I can revisit the location (website/pdf) for it.
Author here. You can move the sqlite database to a separate location by setting a variable, and that should resolve the syncing issues. I do this and have the files synced via Dropbox across my different machines.
I tried storing the db in a shared Syncthing directory, but I had to make sure I only had one copy of Emacs running on any given machine. I of course couldn't do that so I would get conflicts with the db file and have to manually clean it up. Did I miss something?
Hi, author of org-roam here. Maybe I'll set up a Gitter for Org-roam. Org-roam is a reflection of my current workflow, but I'd also like feedback on what to work on next and what people like to see. Maybe creating a GitHub issue is too much of a barrier to entry.
I'm in the process of moving all my organization stuff into org-mode. This includes agenda, todo lists, project management and notes. This is a long process with a lot of fine tunings and try/errors. But, for me it's like what you said about writing : it's in the process of doing it that you think. This helps me understand my actual needs. And emacs/orgmode is so powerfull and customizable that it's a very goos tool to do that.
Some weeks ago, I read your series of articles about org-mode workflow. I was especially insterested by the one about zettelkasten. This was a trigger for me to switch my notes into org-mode. So I would like first to thank you for your good quality articles !
What interests me in your new package is the automatic link/backlink detection between notes. This is a really great feature I was missing that in the other packages. I'm currently using zetteldeft and I insert hashtags into my notes to be able to search them by tag.
I would like to try org-roam. My question is : in what way should I modify my current note files to be compatible with org-roam ?
> My question is : in what way should I modify my current note files to be compatible with org-roam ?
In contrast to zetteldeft, the links in org-roam are real file links. This means you need to replace all of the zetteldeft links with actual org file-links.
good to hear (: feel free to make feature requests/bug reports on the repo. It should become a lot more stable soon, then we can start making it more awesome.
As already echoed in some other comments in this thread:
What is your experience with Notion? How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system?
I had a run at org-mode, specifically with interest in literate and pkm, and it was too painful/buggy, with the obvious rabbit hole of config. So far, Notion appears to be "good-enough", but it's slow and there is some export friction I feel could be smoothed over with org.
> How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system?
I think Notion targets users who just want to take notes, and not spend time messing around with config. Notion has what I will term "sane defaults", but if something doesn't feel right, there's no way to change it. My system also has sane defaults, and the code powering it is simple and easy to tweak as you please.
Another difference is that Notion is online-first. I'm of the opinion that PKMs should be offline-first, and that the data should be entirely in your control.
Org-mode is just plain text, which is incredibly important for the longevity of the system. It's a system that will be around in a few decades. Can you say the same about Notion?
Org-mode also has an amazing ecosystem of packages, with first-class support for math, tables, images, citations and code. You also have the editing power of Emacs, rather than some web-based IDE.
> it was too painful/buggy, with the obvious rabbit hole of config
I feel like the defaults of Org-mode are pretty good. At least you get to make the decision of trading off your time configuring Org, and using it as it is.
My Emacs configuration hasn't changed in some time. This project started out as 27 lines of Emacs Lisp in my config, but since there was some interest in making it more widely usable, I took some time to polish and release it. To the end user, it should be just plug and play.
I think you definitely highlighted the other side of the coin with Notion: once you're out on the edges of what it can do, there's no way to extend/change/modify.
The performance also comes to mind. Emacs will always be faster vs. an Electron app.
I think I just need to bite the bullet and take some time to really learn Emacs/org, I think after the initial learning curve the flexibility and power will really pay off.
One other question: Sometimes I'll be listening to a podcast, or reading, or will just generally have a thought or idea, and Emacs isn't easily reachable. What's the best way(IYO) to get that in to your system?
Thanks again and I'm hopeful you'll keep up the writing, it's done quite well.
I do this kind of stream-of-consciousness recording by just sending messages to myself on Telegram, sort of like a mobile fleeting note. Some people like doing it through voice, but typing is fine with me.
After that I just refine the saved messages and transfer them into my system.
> Emacs will always be faster vs. an Electron app.
No, but it should certainly take up less memory. Emacs lisp is slow, I think the basic operations would be faster if it were an Electron app.
For the most part, I found that flashcards only help when they are crafted with care, and it's a skill that needs to be learnt [2]. But what I found particularly useful about my hacked-up setup is that every card is contextualized: if I need a refresher for the content of a card, I can revisit the location (website/pdf) for it.
[1]: https://blog.jethro.dev/posts/taking_srs_seriously/ [2]: https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/