this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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58
Anytype as an alternative to Notion or Obsidian (lemmy.one)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Stumbled on this program called Anytype a while ago, a note-taking application similar to Notion. It's surprisingly well polished and works for me.

They have a lot of aspects which seem like they'd appeal to more privacy-conscious people. Plus decentralization should appeal to Lemmings of course. But as far as I'm aware I've never heard anyone talk about this program. I was wondering if this is just due to obscurity, or if there are reasons it's not often recommended.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I gave it a try, but what turns me off is the weird decentralization that's sort of black box? Like I have a recovery phrase which I associate with blockchain stuff, and there's a vague button that says "offload data to our backup node". And then I seem to have an account with them? The settings mentions deleting an account which is weird, because I thought it was local/lan sync only.

Their website says "No server", but in the settings on the app it says I've used xxMB out of 1GB of remote storage, where/what is that if there's no server involved? Where is my data being uploaded to?

I can't seem to find where it stores data in a standard format on my local filesystem, so if anytype shuts down how do I migrate? It looks like my local data is even encrypted for some reason??

Basically both on their website and in the app it feels like the concept is all over the place, it can't decide if it's local where you own your data, stored on a server somewhere, or some sort of weird blockchain decentralized thing where your data just might vanish one day.

For the app itself I can't figure out how to get an editing/format tool bar like I have in onenote, to change font, size, headings, insert tables, and that sort of thing.

Navigation is also confusing, I created a new note (page?) and now I can only find it in "All Objects" which is just a giant mess of stuff, whereas I'm looking for something like a tab bar with my sections and pages organized in a tree or something like onenote does it.

Overall my impression is it's very confusing to use and understand, with a lot going on in the UI but still missing basic editing tools and organization.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It also seems to use a remarkable amount of CPU power for some reason, I could hear my PC's fans spin up significantly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

It does feel a bit laggy on my lower powered laptop.

[–] forensic_potato 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

I just found this yesterday so I cannot properly give a review on it, but I found Logseq which seems to be a privacy-focused knowledge management and collaboration platform. It seems very promising and reminds me somewhat of Obsidian

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I've been using it for several months by now, I keep everything synced with Syncthing and it's been working really well. Android app is still rough around the edges but it does work alright.

My understanding is it was developed as an answer to Roam Research specifically, and while its model might not work for everyone, I love it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I am trying this program on mobile and Mac but am hesitant to try on windows as the virus total scan is coming back positive for 2 hits. Any concerns there?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It is foss software with a big community. Not getting any safer

[–] tpWinthropeIII 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The community can only read the source code, as of yet. All of the source code has been provided by a set of internal developers.

The fact that it is open source means that, if somehow two malware elements have made it into the source code, then someone will eventually report it. But this doesn't mean that two malware elements cannot be there right now.

These two malware hits on total virus scan should be communicated to the developers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Totally agree, FOSS doesn’t mean immune from malice. I saw some articles talking about a signing issue but that was years ago. Odd they haven’t addressed it in that amount of time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I tried looking for where the company developing Logseq was located and couldn't find any information at all. The only thing I found was this in the T&C

If you have any questions or suggestions about the Terms and Conditions, do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

It's FOSS, I don't think a particular company is developing it

[–] soenketk 12 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Been using it on a daily basis for many months now. It has proven to be reliable for me

[–] ElusiveClarity 4 points 7 months ago

I’m not a power user by any means but I moved over from obsidian and haven’t had any issues so far. I’m using the free cloud storage right now but will look into self hosting if I get more serious about it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Is it feasible to just sync the database with Nextcloud (I.e. is the database just a bunch of files)?

[–] soenketk 1 points 7 months ago

Can't say for sure. Everything is considered an object in anytype. As I understand it every line of text, every bullet point could be its own file. Instead of one markdown file for each page like obsidian does. How this will affect the syncing I can't say.

Right now you can't turn off the built-in sync with their servers (except by blocking traffic with a firewall). So there isn't really anything to gain in hosting the files yourself.

They plan to implement 3rd party sync though and there seems to be a docker image to self host, that would likely be a better option. https://doc.anytype.io/anytype-docs/data-and-security/data-storage-and-deletion/self-hosting

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

I tried a bunch of these note taking apps and didn't really get on with any of them. I now use the Vscode/Vscodium extension Foam which essentially gives all the note taking features and graph view in what is already a good text editor.

So long as you are mainly writing notes and don't need the database features that AnyType has or the DataView plug in Obsidian has (though there might be another vscode extension for this - I've never looked), then you'd be fine.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

I came across it a little while back (after watching a Linux Experiment video) but haven’t gotten into it yet.

The video (if anyone is curious): https://tilvids.com/w/5XTPqzq54ENNm7kELSaoTw

[–] LunchEnjoyer 2 points 7 months ago

Tried it for a week, but personally found it all to confusing for being a note taking app..

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

I'm liking it a lot, been using it for a few months.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you like note taking software: https://youtu.be/XRpHIa-2XCE

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/XRpHIa-2XCE

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I just installed it. In need to look more in to it. But thank you for mentioning it. Never got really in to notion and