Joplin alternative needed

Hi guys! I think I’m over Joplin. Don’t get me wrong, it’s simple, it works, but… why is it Postgres db…. I have the server on a small box with like 250 GB of space and backing it up with kopia to Backblaze with free 10 GB, so I’m a bit storage cautious.

With each snapshot, it seems like a good chunk of the database changes, even when I don’t use Joplin that day. That results in kopia backing up those changed files, and backups keep growing. Right now the Joplin database is like 200Mb, BUT when I export the notes from the app… all of them weigh 2Mb… including images. Yes there is versioning of notes, but they shouldn’t be that big after one-two months lol.

I know I know, I’m being a bit weird about it, but I’m getting daily notifications about backups and I see how they grow each day.

Anyway, do you have any alternatives that have an app on iOS and on Linux? Or should I just use Apple Notes in the browser? Thanks

EDIT: The answer was easier than I thought. Just don’t back it up, it’s synced which means each device has a copy of it anyway so there is not really need for it, thanks @vvv !

fahad,

Logseq

Free and open-source.

entropicshart,

I self host Outline with storage connected to a Minio instance that I use as S3 storage for several applications.

I loved the ability of writing in markdown form, but a simple and intuitive design, with the ability to share a whole collection, a subset of pages, or a single page publicly without dealing with a bunch of overhead.

Gutless2615,

Yeah the lack of actual .md files is what killed Joplin for me. Obviously not FOSS but there are self hosted options for Obsidian.

kristoff,

What is your ‘deleted files’ policy? How long do you keep them? I had a similar issue but then found out that the nextcloud cron-process wasn’t running so files in the ‘deleted files’ folder where never really deleted.

code,

Joplin server also will use a file based storage instead of the db. And db then is only used for users

I use joplin as i share notes and collaborate with my wife. Obsidian etc dont do that. Id love to be on obsidian as i really like it but sharing notebooks is mandatory

Squizzy,

This is why I’m moving to Joplin too

letsgo,

Oops I thought you were going to be ragging on an early jazz genre.

gazby,

If you’re after some help with the WebDAV part I set it up for myself recently and would be happy to help adapt my stuff to your stack (mine is Apache + compose, but would be about just as easy with anything else). Reply here or DM any time 💯

And good on you for being turned around on your original premise and being so gracious about it in the comments mate 👍

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

Awesome, thanks! For now I’ll stay on the db without backups. Joplin saves copies to other devices so if something fails, I still have the other devices :)

DichotoDeezNutz,
@DichotoDeezNutz@lemmy.world avatar

I’m going to start developing my own alternative, is there any features that you really need/want?

I was planning on making this self hosted via docker with the option to save to Google drive.

github.com/ssebs/PadPal-Server

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

Please don’t follow joplins folder/notes view. It’s so stupid that folders and notes are in different panels on the left. Just make it a normal list.

I like joplin for its simplicity. No bells and whistles like obsidian.

Docker container would be awesome, but I don’t care for Google drive personally :) If you make the notes folder a volume I can bind to that would be great, as long as they’re normal files haha

chrisg,

@DichotoDeezNutz @jaykay Saving to a network drive OTHER_THAN proprietary US mega corporations would be essential for me (eg SFTP, WEBDAV)

A mobile client is vital. I use mobile devices 95%

Voroxpete,

Here’s what I would be looking for;

  • Decent mobile app (more than happy to pay for this if it’s a one time fee)
  • Bonus for a OneNote / Evernote style Android widget. Being able to scroll through and quickly select from my most recent notes in the OneNote widget is really helpful.
  • WYSIWYG editor on mobile and desktop (why in God’s name does every Foss notes app insist I use a markdown language?) with bullet points, numbered lists, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and headings.
  • Checklists (as in, ability to add checkboxes to notes)
  • Ability to create an arbitrarily deep folder structure
  • Tags would be nice
  • Import from popular apps like OneNote, Evernote, or Joplin is basically essential at this point. A lot of us have way too fucking many notes to move by hand.
DichotoDeezNutz,
@DichotoDeezNutz@lemmy.world avatar

Most of those are on the to-do list! I definitely like the Google keep style widget but want better UX when typing out bullet lists.

Thanks for the suggestions

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

why is it Postgres db…

Why on earth are you using that? Just use WebDAV, you’ll only be required to have some WebDAV server such as Nginx and it will sync GB of notes without issues. joplinapp.org/help/apps/sync/webdav/ medium.com/…/build-a-webdav-server-with-nginx-866…

I would’ve NEVER ever moved to Joplin if it wasn’t able to sync with WebDAV. I’m not into having a special daemon running on a server for that task, makes zero sense.

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

I need to look into webDAV then :D

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Yes you do ahaha

chrisg,

@jaykay @TCB13 Hetzner has low cost storage servers with SMB, SFTP & WebDAV access. Not quite self hosted but a hell of a lot better than [insert proprietary privacy invasive mega corp]

azron,

This is the way.

colebrodine,
@colebrodine@midwest.social avatar

It works great with my self-hosted NextCloud!

2xsaiko,
@2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Seconding what others have already said. You should ABSOLUTELY NOT directly back up /var/lib/postgresql if that’s what you’re doing right now. Instead, use pg_dump: www.postgresql.org/docs/current/backup-dump.html

This should also give you smaller and probably more compressible backup sizes.

Cyber,

Logseq. That is all. (Oh, and syncthing…)

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

I find their paradigm… different and not entirely sure if I like it yet, need to look into it more :)

fossphi,

Do you mind expanding a bit on how you use joplin? I’m curious about the difference you found compared to logseq

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

I use it just as a simple as possible, instructions on how I setup backups, important thing about container’s config, etc etc. I find it easier to just have a folder “Server” and put each container in a separate note or folder. It’s too much thinking about tags, links, pages and all in logseq, notes seem all over the place.

Cyber,

Yep, now, I initially found the daily journal approach a bit strange, but I use this for work as much as personal stuff, so it actually helps…

My suggestion to your usecase would be to keep a page per “thing” ie server / container / etc and then when you make a change you can just say (on that day’s journal page):

‘’ Setup a backup for [[Server X]] and it’s going to [[NAS2]] (for example) ‘’

Then, on either of those 2 pages you’ll automatically see the link back to the journal page, so you’ll know when you did it…

I think you can disable the journal approach if it’s not useful…

But, the important part is, the files underlying the notes you’re making are in plain text with the page name as the filename, whereas with Joplin you could never find the file…

Also, if you modify the file (live) outside of Logseq, it copes with that and refreshes the content onscreen.

And the links are all dynamic… renamed the NAS? Fine, Logseq will reindex all the pages for you…

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

I would be willing to try it, but the workarounds to get sync on iOS are what makes me not do it

nobloat,

Is Logseq FOSS ?

Cyber,

Yep:.

github.com/logseq/logseq

Bitrot, (edited )

Simplenote, Notesnook, Obsidian.

Obsidian sync isn’t free, and it’s easy to violate their license if you mix work and personal notes.

I think Joplin tends to be better than most. If Obsidian was licensed and charged differently I might change my mind.

Unlearned9545,

Connect it to a DAV server and you dont have to learn a new software.

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

Gotta learn about that DAV thing everyone is talking about ig haha

aniki,

Why are you not using the built-in backup system?

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

If you mean the ‘export’ function, it’s not really the same as I’d have to do it manually every time

atzanteol,

I think you need to learn more about how databases work. They don’t typically reclaim deleted space automatically for performance reasons. Databases like to write to a single large file they can then index into. Re-writing those files is expensive so left to the DBA (you) to determine when it should be done.

And how are you backing up the database? Just backing up /var/lib/postgres? Or are you doing a pg_dump? If the former then it’s possible your backups won’t be coherent if you haven’t stopped your database and it will contain that full history of deleted stuff. pg_dump would give you just the current data in a way that will apply properly to a new database should you need to restore

You can also consider your backup retention policy. How many backups do you need for how long?

jaykay,
@jaykay@lemmy.zip avatar

You are right, I should. They are a bit more complicated than I anticipated, and apparently I’m doing everything wrong, haha. I have backups set up to go 2 years back, but I’m checking backblaze occasionally to check, so it shouldn’t be an issue. I have two months so far lol Thanks for the write-up :)

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