
Laverna: Self-hosted Evernote alternative - yid
http://laverna.cc
======
Inufu
I'm not that excited by Lavema, but it lead me tagspaces
([http://www.tagspaces.org/](http://www.tagspaces.org/)), which seems much
more awesome.

It just saves to your local filesystem, so you can sync with drive or dropbox
if you want, layer some encryption in between with fuse. There's a mobile
client, but you'll have to keep the note directory synced manually with a 3rd-
party app.

~~~
dm2
I found [http://owncloud.org](http://owncloud.org) after looking through the
[http://tagspaces.org](http://tagspaces.org) site.

I really can't wait to install them and see if they are the personal content
management systems that I've been looking for for years.

They both can also be installed on Window/Linux/Mac/Android/iOS/Web (on
private server, nice interfaces, PHP based I think).

Anyone know of similar web-based (but self-hosted) software like this that
might be life-changing?

~~~
unhammer
The one I use most in addition to ownCloud is
[http://subsonic.org/](http://subsonic.org/) – after I ripped my full music
collection I no longer felt the need for a Spotify subscription. Subsonic has
a really nice Android app, but the only iPhone app I found was quite
confusing, so if you're using an iPhone you should probably … make a new app
:)

BTW, ownCloud used to have a remoteStorage provider plugin that would've been
useful for Laverna, but it was removed due to various issues :-/
[https://github.com/owncloud/core/wiki/Project%20ideas#ownclo...](https://github.com/owncloud/core/wiki/Project%20ideas#owncloud-
as-backend-for-web-apps) may lead to a new one

~~~
graystevens
[https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/audiophone/id704052103?mt=8&...](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/audiophone/id704052103?mt=8&uo=4&at=11lHAw)

Audiophone looks nice from the screenshots? iOS7 unlike the rest of them.

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kcovia
Evernote's slow push toward the social ecosystem has been worrying me. It's
fundamentally a mind-dump / journal to me, and I have absolutely zero desire
to share notes straight from the program itself. The fact that I could send
out personal journal entries to Facebook worries me, even though it's not
likely...I just don't like the functionality being there to begin with.

I'll definitely be looking into this.

~~~
orthecreedence
Check out [https://turtl.it](https://turtl.it) too! (Disclosure, I built it).

It's a private, cloud-based Evernote alternative. It doesn't have nearly all
the features Evernote does yet, but it's getting there. Turtl puts privacy
before all else (uses client-side crypto to protect everything).

~~~
emsy
Looks great, I'll definitely have a look at it!

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emsy
I tried it myself and liked it pretty well from its look and feel but there
are some caveats:

-No cache manifest, so internet connection is mandatory

-It defaults to local storage for your notes, so the notes are basically saved in your browser

-Syncing works via Dropbox (not an option for me) or SyncStorage, which I never heard of before and which requires yet another server if you want everything self-hosted

-You have to download all the dependencies and build the app locally for what could be a simple tarball -As far as I can see there is no API to build upon if you want automated notes or a custom app (though you may be able to do this via SyncStorage)

Another important fact is that it's not nearly as feature rich as Evernote, so
the headline is actually misleading.

I'll stick with my current BTSync/Markdown files workflow and check back in a
few months.

~~~
lazerwalker
I'm curious to hear why Dropbox isn't an option for you, given that this
supports client-side encryption. Ideological aversion to Condoleezza?
Enterprise bureaucracy? Other?

~~~
al2o3cr
Syncing via Dropbox sorta shoots the whole "no 3rd-party server dependencies"
idea...

~~~
Inufu
Not necessarily - the main reason why I don't want to store my notes with
Evernote is because I want to be able to use them in 50 years, not because I'm
opposed to sync them with a 3rd party server.

~~~
dunham
I won't touch Microsoft OneNote for this reason, but for me Evernote handles
the "use them in 50 years" issue (at least on OSX).

All of the notes are stored on disk as html files and images, viewable with
any web browser, one directory per note. On osx, they are found in:

    
    
        ~/Library/Application Support/Evernote/accounts/Evernote/USERNAME/content
    

for the web version of Evernote or

    
    
        ~/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote/Data/Library/Application Support/Evernote/accounts/Evernote/USERNAME/content
    

for the AppStore version. (AppStore apps get their own mini-filesystem.)

You should be able to back this up and use it at any time in the future
without Evernote. You do have to make sure you regularly sync and backup
though.

Edit: I would like to add that I like the idea of using markdown, however.
Evernote docs often contain undesired baggage from the original clipped html.

------
amckinlay
This is especially relevant now that Springpad is shutting down
([https://springpad.com/blog/2014/05/springpad-says-
goodbye/](https://springpad.com/blog/2014/05/springpad-says-goodbye/)).

------
benrapscallion
Evernote's biggest distinguishing feature is OCR, which seems to be missing
here.

~~~
kenrick95
Wait, Microsoft's OneNote also have OCR.

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dscrd
Somebody oughta make an OrgMode (or a reasonable simplification of it) for the
cloud.

~~~
BugBrother
Something like that was my hobby project to learn JavaScript well. (Using the
Org::Parser from CPAN.) Far from complete.

I got stuck on that I am unable to create a good UX. :-) You want to give all
users a grounding in Emacs and you want to make it usable for others, at the
same time.

Now the plan is to get a MVP off the ground and make the View system simple
enough so designers can rewrite it and rework the look and command structure.

(This is not just to make a commercial web app based on Emacs, with all income
assigned to FSF for fun. Promise. :-) The plan really is GPL.)

------
unhammer
Me and my gf went through a range of note-taking apps to find one that she
could use for organising her business TODO's and notes. She did try Evernote,
but the feeling was always "what do I do with all this". She ended up using
the much more barebones [http://zim-wiki.org/](http://zim-wiki.org/)

It's quite simple to use if all you want is to make hierarchical TODO lists
that you can check off, but also lets you link between pages, do some minor
formatting etc.

Also, points for storing files as plain text and having very friendly git
integration (just click File→Save a version, you never see any scary merge
stuff since what you can do from the UI is so restricted).

------
mynegation
I'll give it a try. I wish there would be more open-source applications
supporting encryption that I could put on my own web server, preferably with
well-defined APIs so that mobile app developers could create apps on top of
them. I would love to have my own RSS reader, my own pinboard.in, my own
Dropbox. Owncloud and Synology apps (not open-source but close in spirit) are
the examples of things I am looking for.

------
jimktrains2
"None of us can get access to your personal data because we are using
IndexedDB and localStorage. In fact all your information will be stored only
on client side."

Does this mean it's useless for multiple devices or sharing between people? I
find these to be the most useful features of evernote. I make notes on my
phone to look at later on my computer or share shopping lists with my wife.

~~~
sbarre
I suspect this is where cloud integration comes in, you probably link it to
your Dropbox where it will upload your encrypted data, so you can use it from
more than one machine?

I'm not actually sure though because I don't actually see any of the
synchronization features anywhere in the settings screens.

~~~
hamburglar
Yes, the main settings screen has a "Cloud Storage" popup that doesn't exactly
jump out at you (I looked at that screen several times before figuring out
that's where the RemoteStorage option is). You choose either Dropbox or
RemoteStorage. I just tried setting up a remoteStorage server and editing
files from two different browsers on the same account, and I have to say, it's
pretty buggy. Lots of waiting for the little "syncing" spinner to stop,
reloading pages, wondering how I know whether my files have been sent to the
server, etc. I did eventually get notes I wrote on one browser to show up in
the other, but only after quite a bit of determined reloading and clicking
sync repeatedly on both.

This really does look like an ideal application to me (and if nothing else, it
introduced me to RemoteStorage, which I have a perfect use for), but I don't
think it's ready to trust anything important to yet.

------
binaryanomaly
I like it. Still a bit unpolished but I'm already since longtime looking for a
FOSS Evernote alternative. This one has potential.

------
Cub3
I've been using tiddlywiki ([http://tiddlywiki.com/](http://tiddlywiki.com/))
for years, same concept except stores in a single file and as a plus uses the
"Stanford JavaScript Crypto Library" for password protection, I sync this
between machines (incl. mobile there are a few clients) with btsync

------
nppc
This looks more like Notational Velocity and definitely not anything like
Evernote

------
lsiebert
I currently use SpringPad (which can tell when I clip an amazon page I wanted
the book, not the amazon page)... which is going away. I'd love to be able to
transition to something other than Evernote.

~~~
donniezazen
Being a Linux user and Evernote's strong desire to not even support Evernote
for Chrome on Linux has been one of the main points against use Evernote.

I have wanted a true Evernote competitor for so long. SpringPad going down was
a bad news.

I am glad there are open source solutions that can be used at least for basic
functionalities.

------
atmosx
Hm, the markdown support & the self-hosted option convinced me :-)

great job guys!

------
mcmillhj
I realize this is a beta release, but a grammar check should probably have
been done on the homepage. This could be a strong deterrent for some people.

~~~
greenyoda
Also, the sample screen shot full of "lorem ipsum" doesn't seem very
convincing. They might want to display some sample items that would look like
something a real person would be doing at work.

------
darka
Can this be used on Android phones in any way?

~~~
Touche
Yes, it's responsive.

------
nobotty
Why do these things never have syntax highlighting? It's like nobody cares
about collaboration among hackers

