zim – a desktop wiki for Ubuntu Linux
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Creating a new page is as easy as linking to a non-existing page. This tool is intended to keep track of TODO lists or serve as a personal scratch book.
Install zim in ubuntu
sudo aptitude install zim
This will complete the zim installation.
Using Zim
If you want to open zim Go to Applications--->Accessories--->Zim Desktop Wiki
Once it opens you should see similar to the following screen here you need to click on add
Now you need to enter the name and directory to store your pages
You need to select your page click on open
Here you need to enter your content and save
How does this compare to using Tomboy Notes (on Ubuntu/Gtk) ?
IMHO it is much better than tomboy, it has more features, such as linking to images, better formating tools, integration with calendar, and a few more.
I started using it as note taking application, instead of tomboy because I’ve decided to remove all mono apps from my computer.
One thing I do miss in Zim that tomboy has is the ability to minimize it to the Notification Area and the ability to use it as a panel applet.
Actually, you can make Zim to minimize to Notification Area. You just need to enable TrayIcon plugin from the (Edit -> Preferences -> Plugins) and restart it. Also you can can add Zim as a starter applet to panel or make it start as deamon, just needs a little bit of work.
Compared to Tomboy, besides Zim supports images in notes, it also have an built-in Equation Editor with a TeX-like syntax and exporting to html.
One more thing, new 0.26 version is coming with bazzar version control in addition to SVN. So versioning will be much more easier for every one.
I don’t know which version of Ubuntu you are using, but Hardy has no “Edit -> Preferences -> Plugins”. It also doesn’t have a System -> Preferences -> Plugins. You can, however add applications to the panel by right-clicking on the panel, then selecting Add-To-Panel, Application Launcher, then picking Zim (or whatever) from the launch menu folder you have it in.
I would rather (and in fact I have) install Mediawiki to be used only on localhost to act as a repository for all my scattered thoughts and notes.
Greetings,
Mikko
And the later (0.25) version from Debian installs just fine…. (Ubuntu has 0.23)
Thanks for this…
@Ben2K – once a notebook isopened the plugins are accessible through the Edit -> Preferences menus
ryts
If you are looking for another note-taking app similar to Zim and Tomboy, you may want to check out TakeNote http://rasm.ods.org/takenote. It’s younger in development but has a few differences in how to display notes (treeview, listview) that might be useful.
TiddlyWiki rules. Easy to use, functionally rich, handy for carrying around on a USB stick. No install required. Cross platform.
I have found Zim to be a great tool to store all manner of snippets of information.
Zim is targeted as a local-desktop based wiki that serves as a repository of notes and pieces of information. I now use it most of my writing and I even compile, edit and organise the textual content for entire websites in Zim before adding that content to a CMS system.
Because it is a local app, file based and operates with a relatively low system overhead, Zim should be a critical application on the new sub-notebooks such as the Asus-EEE.
The speed, customability, text file format, wiki-type syntax and operation, with add-ons such as a spell-checker, word-count and even support for subversion/CVS, – Zim is a crucial tool in my daily work. Most importantly, the continual development and implementation of new functionality in Zim is the major reason why I am sticking with Zim despite many contenders in this software category.
A .deb of the latest versions of Zim can be downloaded from the downloads link at zim-wiki.org. I consider it to be essential to install the latest version of Zim!
I too am impressed with zim and have been using it for the vast and complex notes of nursing school. The one and only feature I miss from Tomboy/gnotes is that a link is created automatically if you type the name of an existing link. This would be a great feature to be able turn on/off. I find myself constantly checking the index: “did I already make a page about catecholemines/ HCTZ / Dr. Blahblah?” Tomboy/Gnote does that and I find it to be an excellent reenforcement of what I’m learning, especially as the amount of data grows. One question about TiddyWiki: does that one-bg-file get a little unruly after a while? I have a lot of data to enter and want to use a single wiki app all the way through to my masters.
Actually, TiddlyWiki though easy to use and portable, has some issues when used or viewed in GoogleChrome browser. You are unable to save your local TW file due to the way that GC handles local files in the browser environment. There is no known workaround at the moment.
I love that Zim supports TeX for equations. Great for math class!
How does one backup data in the zim wiki. I am planning to do a fresh install of Ubuntu. Grateful for any help on this. Thanks.