RedNotebook
Version: 1.8.0 Web: http://rednotebook.sourceforge.net
Not to be confused with Paul Auster’s similarly-titled collection of stories of coincidences, RedNotebook is a graphical diary, or journal, tracking daily notes and thoughts.
Packages of the latest release are available for the most popular distros. Written in Python, with a GTK+ interface, we were impressed by how speedy it was compared with both desktop and online alternatives. Part of this is the simple UI, which doesn’t get in the way of collecting your thoughts and recording them, although more powerful functionality is a couple of clicks away.
Enter text in a simple wiki format, and toggle from Edit to Preview mode to see the result. Journals are stored as text in ~/.rednotebook/data. There’s no need for a database and the ~/.rednotebook directory also holds config files, a log, and a folder for templates you can customise.
Links get recognised automagically, and pics and files can be added in. Saving also happens automatically – just like a real paper journal! Using single quotes – two for inline insertions and three, on a separate line, for a whole paragraph – you can insert code for font colours, or for LaTeX output for formulae, for example.
Good as paper
Its uses are whatever you need to note down: meeting notes, recipes, prescriptions, websites, observations, music, diary entries, poems – all instantly rediscoverable with the combination of user-defined tags, and
“Saving happens automatically – just like a real, paper journal!”
actual content findable through search. If you’ve struggled with rival note-taking or journaling apps, which often seem to get in the way, take RedNotebook for a test drive. Export of journals is available to PDF, HTML, LaTeX or plain text, or a back up to a ZIP archive.
If you do not need EverNote’s synchronisation across multiple devices (we’re sure LXF readers can mirror RedNotebook’s text files securely to all of their PCs, phones and tablets), find out why its free software rival is winning over devoted followers, though you’ll never pry Emacs’ org-mode away from this writer.