
Show HN: New mind mapping tool for learners - havlenao
http://brainio.com
======
jnurmine
Interesting!

May I ask what, if any, features do you plan to add that supercede those of
Freeplane?

As background: whenever I need to grok a larger concept or chomp through a
large collection of material, I fire up Freeplane. (It's a fork of Freemind, a
desktop application written in Java, it's under GPL and runs fully locally,
see freeplane.org)

You already mentioned a Markdown to map input path. That is a good idea, since
often things (at least for me) begin with a small list.

Collaboration was another thing you mentioned. Does that mandate uploading the
maps to your cloud backend or can it be self-hosted? I ask because for some
people it is not an option to use "other people's computers", as the domain
being mapped can be of sensitive nature (under NDAs, or other things).

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havlenao
We are working on following features right now that are gonna be included in
all plans: 1) Split view 2) Public ling sharing, embedded code 3) Kindle
highlights sync (syncing the highlighted parts of yout books directly to the
app) 4) AI for recommending online content (courses, books etc.) Free plan is
just limited by number of documents and storage because we need to cover the
server costs for cloud solution.

Right now the solution is cloud based (but with SAML SSO and access
provisioning for enterprises). It could be self-hosted it there is a demand
for that.

~~~
soulofmischief
As another daily Freeplane user, anything not self-hosted and behind a
firewall is a no-go for me. Sensitive or not, having someone over your
shoulder kills the creative juices. None of the things you mentioned except
for split view sounds like an improvement over Freeplane which is an open-
source serverless app and great for the power-user.

Perhaps a useful feature for someone like me would be the an online app where
I could import a mind map from another program and then choose from a variety
of presentation options, and be provided code for an interactive embedded mind
map in a blog or website. That would be enticing to people who aren't ready to
dump all the features they are used to, and that crowd is much more likely to
jump on to something like this than the average person.

~~~
havlenao
We believe that online collaboration is very important when building our
knowledge. When dealing with complex topics you need inputs from other people.
That’s the reason behind cloud solution that is not offered by freeplane.

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rajesh-s
@OP pretty interesting work. Does it support markdown -> mindmap? i.e. Convert
indented text to horizontal tree something like
[this]([https://github.com/dundalek/markmap](https://github.com/dundalek/markmap))

~~~
havlenao
Yes. Based on mark down we visualise the mind map. So if you use headers,
bullet points etc. then it's converted and structured into mind map hierarchy.

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havlenao
Here is 20 promo codes for 2-years Pro plan for free: W6F2C5 LFUUEK PD1R93
KQOH43 VH0C7G A3TLB3 5PD6UB QZ3FPH 02MT53 AFEZSZ Y9R2PA 2412RQ 39FEIO G39GWH
CZEMCX VRHNJN 8VNGLT CDJHT0 TGLB1P 7NGB9K

~~~
romseb
All gone unfortunately, but thanks for sharing.

~~~
havlenao
If anyone wants promo code, please contact us at info@brainio.com. We will be
glad to share it with you as the app is still in beta and we need feedback
from early adopters.

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brainioapp
Download our desktop app or check out the cloud version. Desktop:
[https://brainio.com/#/download](https://brainio.com/#/download) Cloud:
[https://app.brainio.com](https://app.brainio.com) Mobile app (iOS, Android)
is coming later. At first I need to verify, that the solution is working for
users.

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menacestudio
I like the simplicity but it's too buggy for me at the moment (at least the
web version using mobile). It also keeps giving an invalid state which
requires a hard refresh. It then jumbles the words and characters after a
refresh which is super annoying.

~~~
havlenao
Yeah, we recommend to use desktop app. The mobile version is still buggy right
now as it's in beta and we focused mainly on desktop version as the main
device. Nevertheless we will fix that soon.

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mvind
Nice idea! If you dont mind sharing what technology stack have you used to
develop this?

~~~
havlenao
The core is: electron, nestjs, sharedb, mongodb, angular, codemirror, aws and
docker.

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drumandbass
I can't believe it! I wanted this for me and my software development team for
so long! These are the mind maps Tony Buzan talked about in theory but this is
a really practical way to apply them. Thanks.

~~~
havlenao
We would love to hear your feedback ;)

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notelonmusk
Good stuff. An in-browser demo would be neat and may drive more adoption.

~~~
havlenao
Thanks

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kfk
Since we are on this topic, any good libraries to create diagrams? I have lots
of python functions which one day would love to make available into an visual
programming tool diagram type.

~~~
noobiemcfoob
Graphviz and pygraphviz

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havlenao
FYI - the Free plan is limited to 10 notes/mind maps. However you can increase
that quota by inviting new users - 3 documents per invitation.

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to-too-two
Why use this over Trello or a Google doc? Feel like I'd be paying for some
pretty markdown text.

~~~
havlenao
Because we help you to organize and store your knowledge. The brain works
better visually then verbally and that’s the reason we are combining the world
of notes and mind maps together.

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rickdeveloper
The lack of an iPhone app is killing it for me.

~~~
havlenao
We are aware of that. Nevertheless we need to make sure that the solution is
working for users. Mobile app is in our road map for sure. So far you can use
the cloud version (app.brainio.com) even on your mobile (Chrome, Safari,
Firefox).

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tomerbd
Are you going to have a desktop downloaded app with one time payment no
subscription with unlimited features?

~~~
havlenao
It’s not in our road map right now but if there is a demand for that we can
add that. We are mainly focused on subscription based model as we provide
cloud solution (so there are server and computing costs we need to cover).
However if you do not need the app for some time you can cancel the
subscription (we will return your money for the rest of the mont/year) and you
can still access your files. Only thing is that you can edit just the number
of documents that you have in free plan (10 by default but you can increase
the quota by inviting people - 3 documents per invitation), other documents
are read only and you can’t edit them until you start the subscription or
increase your free quota of documents.

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coolvision
Concept is nice. Name is too tacky, just can't take it seriously.

~~~
ondrejv1
Thanks for the feedback

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carrozo
I think it’s catchy/sticky and relevant to the value prop. Surprised it hasn’t
been used already either tbh. Tool looks great too!

~~~
havlenao
Thanks

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havlenao
FYI - at support.brainio.com you can request new features :)

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zyconator
Looks promising.

~~~
havlenao
Thanks.

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gildainova
Great idea. Definitely will try that.

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havlenao
Thanks.

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havlenao
Any feedback?

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stevesimmons
The examples on the homescreen simply aren't compelling.

Mindmaps get little traction imo because this first experience is usually
dreadful: Simple examples (like you show) are just as well represented by a
bulleted list. And complex examples need a really slick and intuitive UI,
otherwise they are too painful to create.

My take on it is Markdown in a private Github repo provides 90% of the
benefits and a lot of other features, with none of the worry about being
locked in to a new company whose product is immature and doesn't have an
established track record.

Finally, your posting those 20 free keys to the pro plan just reinforces in my
mind the notion that the price-features balance isn't attractive.

~~~
ondrejv1
Thanks for the feedback. The idea here is to let user take notes in mark down,
then with one click convert it to mind map to make a structure to the text.
After that collaborate with others (colleagues, friends, family...) in real
time in note or mind map mode.

~~~
Hoasi
> The idea here is to let user take notes in mark down, then with one click
> convert it to mind map to make a structure to the text.

An interesting idea, although a bit counter-intuitive: in principle, a mind
map helps you to visualize ideas better, in a way that lets you restructure
them, etc. This visual outlining process is a tool, not the end goal. You'd
expect to start with a rough diagram of idea nodes, not with a list. That
said, starting with text could be useful in some cases.

~~~
havlenao
Yeah, I agree. And the app works both way. You can start to create note or
mind-map and then switch between both modes.

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sidcool
What's your tech stack?

~~~
havlenao
For collaboration we use a modified version of sharedb
([https://github.com/share/sharedb](https://github.com/share/sharedb)). Its
using the operational transformation algorithm
([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_transformation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_transformation)).
We will be publishing an article about tech stack at out blog within few days
:)

~~~
havlenao
The core is: electron, nestjs, sharedb, mongodb, angular, codemirror, aws and
docker.

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ykevinator
Cool idea. Looks slick.

~~~
ondrejv1
Thanks

