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Comment by ibnishak | Hacker News Reader

It is time to give a shout out to my favorite note taking app: Trilium https://github.com/zadam/trilium

Pros:

  1. Data is saved in SQlite. I am at 33k notes and it springs open instantaneously.    
  2. Notes can be arranged into arbitrarily deep tree. Single note can be placed into multiple places in the tree. (Think soft-links)     
  3. WYSIWYG support (CKEditor)   
  4. Tags, advanced scripting features    
  5. Other ususal wiki stuff like backlinks, note-map etc

Cons:

  1. Electron.    
  2. Data is saved in SQlite, not plain text.

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I use Joplin, which has a similar feature set but also mobile apps:

https://joplinapp.org/

It supports various types of file stores for syncing between devices. I've used OneDrive and WebDAV. The project has also recently launched a cloud service for people who want to sync between devices but don't want to set up a network file store.

It's my current note-taking app of choice, and I sponsor it on GitHub.

Having a proper database for note systems isn't necessarily a bad idea. For large knowledge bases, it lets you do arbitrary queries at least somewhat efficiently. Many apps just limit the kinds of searches/queries you can do, but eventually you end up needing to have an ad hoc query optimizer and planner or for users to have control over query evaluation so they can do the optimization themselves.

However, you could probably still use sqlite for analytic queries by just creating an in-memory or temporary database at startup then watching for file changes to keep the database consistent. Creating this database probably won't take that long unless you are trying to store all of Wikipedia in your knowledge base.

I love trilium, in fact I think I'm going to start a hosting service for it (built-in syncing mechanism). For a few reasons: 1. Sync to allow the sharing of notes publicly, which allows you to create simple websites very quickly. 2. Instant access as long as you have a browser. 3. As a backup. It's an incredible application and I'm proud to have contributed to it in the past no matter how little.

I love this program, I've used it every day at work for years for my personal knowledgebase

> Cons: 1. Electron.

Sounds like you're happy with the performance though, why a con?

As a rule, I try to minimize the number of electron applications. Suppose I am reading something in my web browser and want to jot down something. Be it firefox and chrome, the demands on RAM is considerable at this point. An electron note taking app and VSCodium are also usually open side by side. God forbid if I have to open a fourth application and that is also electron, my system will start to mildly grumble. Note here, my system while not exactly a gaming behemoth, ain't no potato either.

I am not blind to the advantages electron brings to a developer. Including electron as a con is in no way a critic of the developer but a expression of disbelief that the developer world has not yet managed to agree upon and popularize a reasonable electron alternative.

PS: Webview hoards memory in linux for some reason.

Thats happy enough, despite being electron. I autoreject all electron apps because I don't have a fancy dev/gamer laptop.

That looks freakin awesome!

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