Solo Technology

I’m a huge fan of Microsoft’s OneNote. I’m rapidly becoming a convert to EverNote as well.

Suppose I’m on my Linux machine though… what’s there for Linux that is similar or comparable? I love how both apps handle tagging and the immense flexibility in entering/finding/tracking data. Surely there’s something similar for the *nix crowd as well?

I know I could look at web options like Google Notebook or Zoho Notebook, but they’re not quite as flexible yet (right?). For instance, I like to be able to tag things — and then easily pull a list of those things… That’s just one example where OneNote and EverNote kick butt!

16 Responses to “Linux Alternative for EverNote / OneNote?”

1. Nathan on January 6th, 2008 9:25 pm
   

   Like everything in Linux it seams, the issue is finding the good ones, not if they are available. I use tomboy notes, but there are 5 or 6 others that are available. If you are using Ubuntu, open the add/remove programs console under the applications menu, and do a search for notes. sift through the first 10 or so, and try them out. I don’t think I use notes like you do, so I bet tomboy notes won’t be what you are looking for, but give it a try.

2. Seth on January 7th, 2008 12:53 pm
   

   I’m looking for the same thing at the moment. BasKet Note Pads seems to be the closest match, but I don’t have any experience with it.

3. Chris Kasten on January 7th, 2008 9:38 pm
   

   Thanks Seth & Nathan — I’ll be sure to check those two out.

4. GTD Wannabe on January 8th, 2008 5:23 pm
   

   Funny, I was just experimenting with Ubuntu, and since EN is my all time favourite program, I looked to see what I could find in the Linux world.

   I was disappointed with the lack of comparable software. The best two I found were Tomboy and Basket Note Pads. I like the look of Tomboy, and the fact that it’s very much like a wiki (which EN is not, though). But there was no image support. That’s a kiss of death.

   Basket Note Pads, does offer some image support, but it is so not like EN in ease of use. I did like it’s ability to have tags and see those notes with tags attached (like OneNote in this regard).

   However, to be honest, neither one of them came close to what EN can do. Sigh. You could try running EN under Wine though. I’ve heard that it’s possible. But I don’t know if you get all of the functionality (e.g., web clipper). Good luck!

5. Chris Kasten on January 8th, 2008 9:33 pm
   

   Hmmm… I might need a beefier linux machine if I go down the WINE route. This thing is just a p3 750 with 384 MB. Might be the best bet though.

   For Basket, looks like I’ll need to install a handful of KDE dependencies. Tomboy takes me down the mono path. Yikes! It looks cool though…

6. Nathan on January 9th, 2008 9:10 am
   

   What version of linux are you using? if you are using a good package manager(synaptic), dependencies are easy.

7. David on January 20th, 2008 9:51 am
   

   Have you tried out tiddlywiki? It’s like evernote, except that the whole application is built into a webpage which you save as an html file.

8. Chris Kasten on January 21st, 2008 10:16 pm
   

   That’s a great idea, David. I have’t looked at tiddlywiki in quite some time. I’ll add that one to the list.

   Thanks!

9. Dan on January 28th, 2008 2:44 pm
   

   You might want to check out the Luminotes personal wiki at http://luminotes.com/

   I develop it and use it with Firefox on a Linux box, so it’s definitely Linux compatible. No tagging yet, but that’s in the works for an upcoming release.

10. Chris Kasten on January 31st, 2008 8:57 pm
    

    Thanks Dan - I’ll add Luminotes to the list of apps to try.

11. Chris Kasten on January 31st, 2008 9:51 pm
    

    Hmm, the wiki variants aren’t what I’m after. At a minimum, I need to be able to do checkboxes and free form notes. (similar to what I can do with One/Ever|Note

12. Richard Hemmer on February 27th, 2008 5:55 am
    

    Hey, I just stumbled upon this entry doing a search for reports on Evernote on Linux. I have just received an invite for the Evernote Webversion, which I really, really like (image support and text recognition is extraordinary).

    I’ve used Basket Notes before, and I like it, but a webversion of Evernote and a desktop app synchronizing my notes would really be a whole lot better (considering that I’ve got a work and personal computer).

    Log story short, I guess you’ll need crossover or wine to use Evernote, most of the other note apps aren’t quite as good.

13. Richard Hemmer on February 27th, 2008 8:13 am
    

    And it’s me again.

    I have just successfully installed the EverNote Beta App for Windows via WINE. So far it works well, drag and drop does of course not work and it seems to crash whenever I click a certain button. But apart from that it works fine and synchs too with the Web version. Good stuff.

14. Chris on February 27th, 2008 4:15 pm
    

    Hey Richard - thanks for the follow-up That was a quick WINE run you made there.

    I too have been messing around with the EverNote beta and hope to get some thoughts up on that one soon. So far I’m very much on the fence about some aspects…

15. T. on May 5th, 2008 11:32 pm
    

    FYI: Zim is better than Tomboy.

16. Chris on May 6th, 2008 7:24 pm
    

    Hey T. — is this the right Zim URL?

    So far I’m kinda digging the Evernote beta… but always interested in looking at options

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