Is this specifically an Emacs thing, like for people who basically use Emacs as their operating system? It sounds interesting, but that’s all I’m seeing when I search for “org mode.” Frankly, Emacs intimidates me.
Absolutely, I understand that is a very normal and human response lol. I am not actually a programmer, I just use emacs for org mode.
Org mode originated in Emacs and is mostly still an Emacs thing but Org mode is at this point a bigger thing than just an Emacs utility. First and foremost Org mode is a document structure that can be totally viewed in plain text.
* Heading
-2024-01-22 Mon>
Contains an optional section followed by other subheadings.
The org file can be seen in a calendar view with all headings with an attached date/time showing up.
The above heading would show up on > Monday the 22nd.
Lemmy is messing up the date formatting, the date should just have mirror >'s instead of a -.
* Another Heading with no section and children headings
** TODO Sub-heading 1
... has a section, but not child subheadings.
Also the TODO keyword makes this heading a task that will show up in a task management view called "agenda"
* Yet Another Heading
That is what org mode looks like when you view it in plaintext, all headings are lines that begin with some number of asterisks. Because of the open, easy file format a whole constellation of software and apps can interface with org files beyond Emacs. None of them are that good at the moment though sigh.
However, I really like the Emacs distribution Spacemacs. It is a nice collection of tools that work well out of the box. In emacs and in spacemacs (in spacemacs you just hit spacebar twice) you can search for commands and since lisp naming convention tends to be very specific for functions (long, english language like names) you can usually find a command you can’t remember the keybinding for very easily. A lot of emacs people aggressively recommend starting from scratch with emacs and I think it makes it really intimidating but I think the advice is only good for a very specific kind of person. The rest of us? Try spacemacs or doom!
That’s very cool - I appreciate the in-depth reply. It’s definitely something I’ll have to try to look into further. I currently use Notion as a means of organizing my life and anything I need to remember, but I’ve been hoping to move over to something self-hosted and open source. I think the only big drawback of doing it in Emacs, however, would be the inability to sync that data to my phone, which is a pretty important feature for me.
Yeah there are org mobile apps but they aren’t that great yet. It is a big drawback but the advantage of not having the mental workflow keeping my life together be at the mercy of a company is just too big for me to seriously consider anything else. Also… emacs does run in termux on android but…
Emacs is a monstrosity yes, but also I know without a shadow of a doubt emacs will still be around in 20 years, I won’t have invested a bunch of my energy into a system that will one day evaporate out from under me (Evernote vibes). Emacs will be here after the end of the world, some person will be using it for programming the environmental controls and hydroponics grow rooms of their fallout bunker lol.
I joke, but this is seriously important to me, I am very ADHD and getting myself to routinely use an organizational system is like herding water and cats uphill at the same time. I really don’t want to have to migrate, I don’t think I would have the executive function spoons to migrate my organizational system if “org mode went out of business and shutdown”. I would just abandon it and not replace it with anything most likely, so that stability is vitally important in my particular case.
I currently use Notion as a means of organizing my life and anything I need to remember, but I’ve been hoping to move over to something self-hosted and open source. I think the only big drawback of doing it in Emacs, however, would be the inability to sync that data to my phone, which is a pretty important feature for me.
As a side note whatever solutions you find that work for you, it is worth checking out SyncThing for the file syncing aspect. It is a free and open source peer to peer file syncing service that is very easy to use and works on all operating systems including mobile (iOS has a paid app called möbiusync). Use a raspberry pi or your phone as an always on device to sync your other devices running SyncThing and you basically have your own little cloud file sharing setup. You dont need to set up a web server or anything that technical really.
Is this specifically an Emacs thing, like for people who basically use Emacs as their operating system? It sounds interesting, but that’s all I’m seeing when I search for “org mode.” Frankly, Emacs intimidates me.
Absolutely, I understand that is a very normal and human response lol. I am not actually a programmer, I just use emacs for org mode.
Org mode originated in Emacs and is mostly still an Emacs thing but Org mode is at this point a bigger thing than just an Emacs utility. First and foremost Org mode is a document structure that can be totally viewed in plain text.
* Heading -2024-01-22 Mon> Contains an optional section followed by other subheadings. The org file can be seen in a calendar view with all headings with an attached date/time showing up. The above heading would show up on > Monday the 22nd. Lemmy is messing up the date formatting, the date should just have mirror >'s instead of a -. * Another Heading with no section and children headings ** TODO Sub-heading 1 ... has a section, but not child subheadings. Also the TODO keyword makes this heading a task that will show up in a task management view called "agenda" * Yet Another HeadingThat is what org mode looks like when you view it in plaintext, all headings are lines that begin with some number of asterisks. Because of the open, easy file format a whole constellation of software and apps can interface with org files beyond Emacs. None of them are that good at the moment though sigh.
However, I really like the Emacs distribution Spacemacs. It is a nice collection of tools that work well out of the box. In emacs and in spacemacs (in spacemacs you just hit spacebar twice) you can search for commands and since lisp naming convention tends to be very specific for functions (long, english language like names) you can usually find a command you can’t remember the keybinding for very easily. A lot of emacs people aggressively recommend starting from scratch with emacs and I think it makes it really intimidating but I think the advice is only good for a very specific kind of person. The rest of us? Try spacemacs or doom!
https://orgmode.org/
https://www.spacemacs.org/
https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs
That’s very cool - I appreciate the in-depth reply. It’s definitely something I’ll have to try to look into further. I currently use Notion as a means of organizing my life and anything I need to remember, but I’ve been hoping to move over to something self-hosted and open source. I think the only big drawback of doing it in Emacs, however, would be the inability to sync that data to my phone, which is a pretty important feature for me.
Yeah there are org mobile apps but they aren’t that great yet. It is a big drawback but the advantage of not having the mental workflow keeping my life together be at the mercy of a company is just too big for me to seriously consider anything else. Also… emacs does run in termux on android but…
Emacs is a monstrosity yes, but also I know without a shadow of a doubt emacs will still be around in 20 years, I won’t have invested a bunch of my energy into a system that will one day evaporate out from under me (Evernote vibes). Emacs will be here after the end of the world, some person will be using it for programming the environmental controls and hydroponics grow rooms of their fallout bunker lol.
I joke, but this is seriously important to me, I am very ADHD and getting myself to routinely use an organizational system is like herding water and cats uphill at the same time. I really don’t want to have to migrate, I don’t think I would have the executive function spoons to migrate my organizational system if “org mode went out of business and shutdown”. I would just abandon it and not replace it with anything most likely, so that stability is vitally important in my particular case.
As a side note whatever solutions you find that work for you, it is worth checking out SyncThing for the file syncing aspect. It is a free and open source peer to peer file syncing service that is very easy to use and works on all operating systems including mobile (iOS has a paid app called möbiusync). Use a raspberry pi or your phone as an always on device to sync your other devices running SyncThing and you basically have your own little cloud file sharing setup. You dont need to set up a web server or anything that technical really.
https://syncthing.net/
Super relevant point!
Also, Syncthing was already on my list of things to look into, so thanks for the reminder!