Zim - Desktop Wiki

[ThinkBuntu]

Anyone use this app? I'm in love! I don't think I've gotten so much use out of one program in such a short time since Sherlock came out for Mac OS (was it 8?).

Anyone else use this sort of software? I find it to be the perfect balance between a text editor and word processor, but it trumps both for the purpose because of the linking and namespace tools included. Not to mention that it takes up far less space than anything from a word processor, while still having good formatting tools.

[notwen]

Here (http://pardus-larus.student.utwente.nl/~pardus/projects/zim/) is a link for the curious. I may have o give this a try once I get home. Certainly looks cool.

[ThinkBuntu]

It's a great tool for logging ideas and thoughts. Instead of one long text document, you just branch our your idea using links. Great thought organizer.

[LaRoza]

Thanks ThinkBuntu, was looking for something like that.

[Polygon]

whats the difference between this and tomboy?

[smartboyathome]

Thanks for this! It is so useful to me, as it keeps me organized!


whats the difference between this and tomboy?

Tomboy uses several windows, which can get confusing (trust me, I tried it, and hated it). Zim is centralized, allowing for more navigation.

[ThinkBuntu]

Zim uses fairly standard wiki formatting, meaning you could make good sense of your text files if you viewed them with a text editor.

Zim runs purely off of Perl and is cross-platform if you're willing to do a little work. I may be mistaken, but doesn't Tomboy run off Mono?

Zim works with additional repositories, so I have three right now: One for personal stuff, one for recipes, and one for the company I work at. Is that a difference? I don't know, but Tomboy never really did much for my productivity, and Zim is a godsend.

[K.Mandla]

I use that to put together a speed guide for Feisty. It's excellent for organizing pages if they have a natural hierarchy.

[Biochem]

I tried and like it but has , for me, one major draw back that makes it almost useless: Table support.

I really wish there was a zim/tomboy like app that support table and pictures :(

[nickburns]

I just installed it and have already fallen in love. One thing I hated about TomboyNotes was getting to the files. I like that you can select were you want the files, so it is easier to check them in and out of a repository.

Also the single screen is really nice, when I take notes in Tomboy I have cascading forms all over my desktop and it gets to be a bit much.

Thanks for the tip.

[smartboyathome]

I tried and like it but has , for me, one major draw back that makes it almost useless: Table support.

I really wish there was a zim/tomboy like app that support table and pictures :(

It does support pictures. Edit > Insert Image :)

[euler_fan]

I too use it and love it. I keep all kinds of things in it.

[potrick]

This was a godsend for my jobsearch: I could organize all my contacts and cover letters in a way that could be easily accessed when critical phone calls finally happened. Now that I'm working, I intended to use it even more.

[reclusivemonkey]

I personally prefer TiddlyWiki (http://www.tiddlywiki.com/)

It lives on my 4Gb USB drive on my keyring. Whether I am at home (Linux) or work (Windows), I can use it. I can even use it on my mum's iBook when I am there should I need to.

[beow]

I also fancy zim as as a superior alternative to tomboy. To convert my tomboy notes to zim I made a script, it is available here (http://blafs.com/diverse.html).

[bobbocanfly]

Zim is absolutely amazing! I tried it once a while ago and never really found a good reason to keep it. But now i use it as a place for jsut jotting down random stuff that normally ends up strewn around my home directory as a pile of fragmented text files. Also using it as a homework diary as the one my school gave me fell apart after 2 days and im not pay £3 to get another).

[n3tfury]

you just branch our your idea using links. Great thought organizer.

you know what links are?

[disraeli]

Great one! Finally I can get rid of dozens of Opera notes

[50words]

I like it, as well. I find it really useful for organizing longer pieces of writing. If I were still in school, it would make a fantastic notetaking app.

I only wish it automatically linked like ZuluPad (Win). That's where you can really take advantage of the wiki format.

[markba]

whats the difference between this and tomboy?

I used to use Tomboy, until I found out it was getting constantly in the way:

- several notes cluttering up the desktop
- unasked text formatting (bullets)
- not responsive (probably due mono)
- sometimes loosing focus (probably due mono)
- no (easy) shortcuts for formatting (headers)
- no plain text files for storage (xml-formatted with some guid-filename), I like to be in control
- inability to have multiple repositories in a flexible way
- inability to have a networked repository due to a bug (not checking for modified files when saving) - this was a showstopper for me (note: this should be solved in the current version of tomboy, something called 'note synchronization', look pretty cool btw)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2336685#poststop

[urukrama]

I never quite figured out how to use zim. Then I found notecase (in the repos). It looks similar to zim, but is much simpler to use (read: I understood how to use it). It is one of my favourite apps now.

[Grafster]

I also fancy zim as as a superior alternative to tomboy. To convert my tomboy notes to zim I made a script, it is available here (http://blafs.com/diverse.html).
This script was a godsend! Thanks!

[SunnyRabbiera]

Ow, the zim I have tried really slugs down... it had to be removed...
But basket works fine.

[clesage]

I love Zim!

I tried Notecase, gjots2, tomboy and basket.
- I remember having success with Notecase in the past, but the hotkeys didn't work in this install. Otherwise it looks pretty slick too.
- gjots2 doesn't have undo!
- tomboy clutters itself across the desktop. I found it very easy to use on a note-by-note basis, but very unusable overall.
- basket feels heavy and bloated. Multi-columns is cool, but why do things animate when I open a page? And clicking on a window makes a new item. I don't like how this program feels.

Zim on the other hand is light, quick and wonderful. I keep my whole project structure in a single repository, including all my todo items.

The only problems I have, are that the Ubuntu package is almost 9 months out of date, and I don't know how to install the module that the spell-checker needs.

Check out the Zim changelog. In August he added a whole bunch of new features, including ways to style your page formatting. The latest version is 0.23, and the Ubuntu version is 0.19. Can anyone recommend a repository where I can update to a later version? I'm not comfortable with compiling. (EDIT: Nevermind, I found v0.20 in the Hardy repositories.)

Cheers

[50words]

After playing with Zim for a while, I went back to Tomboy. Although Tomboy is crashy on my system, the feature I like most is the automatic linking. For me, that is the most useful.

Zim is great, just not as good for my purposes.

[23meg]

The only problems I have, are that the Ubuntu package is almost 9 months out of date, and I don't know how to install the module that the spell-checker needs.

Check out the Zim changelog. In August he added a whole bunch of new features, including ways to style your page formatting. The latest version is 0.23, and the Ubuntu version is 0.19. Can anyone recommend a repository where I can update to a later version? I'm not comfortable with compiling.

I've filed a bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/zim/+bug/165285

[rats54]

Hi, I have been using Zim for awhile and have only one problem with it. I cannot get it to install on Windows XP. I have followed the instructions from the Zim website, but either I am doing something wrong or the instructions are flawed. I have tried them on three different XP boxes.

Has anyone successfully installed Zim on an XP box? If so, can you tell me the secret?

Thanks

[TeaSwigger]

Just adding an update for anyone interested in this app: Zim's official site is now http://zim-wiki.org (the author seems to have forgotten to update the link to his site in the "about" dialog as of v.0.28 ).

I was using the also-handy NoteCase but unfortunately its author has quit; Zim is still active / maintained as far as I can tell. With so many apps coming and going I'm coming to appreciate one of Zim's points: it works with individual plain text files instead of a file that could be a problem when the app goes.

[HappinessNow]

Just adding an update for anyone interested in this app: Zim's official site is now http://zim-wiki.org (the author seems to have forgotten to update the link to his site in the "about" dialog as of v.0.28 ).

I was using the also-handy NoteCase but unfortunately its author has quit; Zim is still active / maintained as far as I can tell. With so many apps coming and going I'm coming to appreciate one of Zim's points: it works with individual plain text files instead of a file that could be a problem when the app goes.
way to bring back to life a two year old dead thread