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What do you use as an Engineer's Notebook? Time for IdeaBook.com?

4ringfan

I'm trying to come up with the best memory archival tool.  Kind of a digital notebook of sorts.  I'd like something that I can store images, scraps of knowledge, notes, calculations, etc. and have it completely searchable. Right now, it is pen and paper, saved internet links in my browser, dropbox, and images on my phone.  My thoughts are probably scattered and saved somewhere, but they are never where I need them of course.  I can't seem to find anything when I need it.  Maybe I'll just have to blog everything on E-14 and have it searchable that way. Hehe, everyone get ready for my grocery list!  Putting the guys that use pen and paper aside (Sorry, but it just doesn't work for me), does anyone use any notebook apps that they are especially fond of?


The tools I commonly use:  Macbook, iPad, iPhone, and Desktop PC.


Ideally this application would be web based and useable anywhere by any device, it would be scalable and able to store vast chunks of data, and indexed for fast searches.  Suggestions?


Might be time to launch a new internet startup company called IdeaBook or something like that.  Just a white graph paper screen on which one can scribble notes, images, calculations, etc and have them stored like a journal and searchable like a database on the WWW.


Has anyone seen anything like that, or what do you guys use to record your stuff?

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  • 0

    Hello Mike,

     

    I'm using a build-it-myself system, inspired on the work of a colleague. He's keeping memos in Word, and updates those regularly. He "interlinks" documents that have relations with other memos, and stores all content related to that memo in a folder with the same memo number. I found this out when I asked him some info on friction compensation algorithms, and got 3 very nice documents with his insights.

     

    I don't like Word and don't like vendor lock-in, so I organized differently:

     

    - I wanted something to type text fast, without clutter, but be able to make it look pretty. Markdown appeared to be a great tool! I can type text as if I'm writing email; no clutter like HTML, or weird errors / commands like in LaTeX.

    - Each Memo gets its own number (<year>-<month>-<incrementing number>)

    - Files (pictures, datasheets, etcetera) that belong to  a memo are kept in a folder with the (<year>-<month>-<incrementing number>) folder name.

    - To have an beautiful rendering of my markdown I use mkdocs. This way I can start a webserver in the directory of my notes, and look at my memos in a browser. That way I can see the pictures, and click on urls of sites I linked, and quickly scuffle through internal memo links.

    - Using pandoc , I can render any memo in a beautiful Word document, or to a MediaWiki document, or... whatever!

    - I used a mathjax extension to mkdocs to include LaTeX math statements; these render very nicely, and give every document the looks of a very,very thoroughfully thought out memo. Even though I sometimes make mistakes in my math image

    - I'm storing all files on my NAS, and I share it with my computers and  my phone through a cloud service (or more precise: BitTorrent Sync). Because Markdown is just  plain text, I can easily read memos on my phone (I only synchronize the files I need) !

     

    This way I have access to my notes everywhere, can edit them with any text editor, and still they look nice and I can transfer them to a Word document with one command! Also, I won't have issues with an app that might be discontinued, or a service that will ask "premium" membership when creating too many notes. To me, this means I don't have to worry about whether I can still access my notes in a few years' time.

     

    It might be a bit nerdy to do it this way with all open source and complementary tools, but I feel it gives me the greatest reliability, freedom, and ease of typing. I need that to be able to keep writing....

  • 0 in reply to vsluiter

    For the ultimate memo storage clearly we need the... Bifocal Display ; )

     

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