It has often been said that information confers power, and that the most important currency in our culture today is information. Keeping track of bits and pieces of information is a minefield.
In part, this is because of passable short term memory, coupled with what can only be described as ‘brain fog’. To combat this, we arm myself with open source software that helps us efficiently capture a lot of information. We generally prefer to keep our information local and cloud-free, primarily for security reasons. And we primarily advance software which doesn’t tie itself to any specific company or service, whether it’s Evernote, Google, or Microsoft.
Note-taking apps are the online equivalent of notebooks, and because they’re digital, they can do more for you than paper can. Note-taking apps also include text search, so in a matter of seconds, you can find whatever notes you need.
There is a wide range of competent note taking software for Linux. This article focuses on apps that have a Text User Interface (TUI). A TUI program is a terminal-based application that provides an interactive, menu-driven interface using text and keyboard navigation rather than a graphical interface (GUI).
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.
Click the links below to learn more about each application.
| TUI Note Taking Apps | |
|---|---|
| Basalt | TUI program to manage Obsidian notes |
| org-mode | Emacs major mode for keeping notes, authoring documents, and more |
| Toney | Fast, lightweight, terminal-based note-taking app for the modern developer |
| Glues | Vim-inspired TUI note-taking app |
| TUI-Journal | Terminal-based journaling and note-taking application |
| Rucola | Terminal-based markdown note manager |
| Frogmouth | Markdown browser for the terminal |
| FuzPad | Minimalistic note management solution |
| clin | Terminal note management application inspired by Obsidian |
This article has been updated to reflect the changes outlined in our recent announcement.
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