wrath-sedan

Yeah seconded that it’s not FOSS but still a great app. Logseq is a good FOSS alternative for a knowledge base, and I really like Zettlr for long form md writing and note taking too.

I use a lot of note apps partially for school partially for fun but man Logseq PDF annotation is incredible. That plus native Zotero integration is a game changer for anything academic.

Good list I make use of a lot of these too. Keep both LibreOffice and OnlyOffice around depending on how I feel that day but been leaning towards LO quite a bit recently.

I will say I had Caprine for a while but my god it uses so much memory, it has an absolutely massive footprint on my laptop. I find a nice compromise is using messenger.com as that way I can still send and read messages without delving into the horrors of FB, plus can keep it in a container.

I got the trilogy as a used box set recently and I really wanted to love them but just didn’t click for me. Don’t read a lot of YA now anyway so maybe missed my chance, definitely see the appeal though and think it’s a good fit for OP’s request!

Yes I think Babel is a little lighter on gorey excess than the Poppy Wars (which I haven’t read but my partner has described in detail to me). Which is to be expected for books designed to depict the horrors of colonialism.

But mainly mentioning it with a content warning since it’s often tossed around as an HP replacement. I think the first half of Babel captures a similar “wonders of magic school” vibe, although with a lot more caveats about how inequitable the entire system is. It does get extremely harrowing by the end so maybe should include a clearer warning in my post.

For pleasantness and YA high fantasy vibe Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle is great.

For wizard school with a much more mature tone R.F. Kuang's Babel is a great read. Warning though it is much darker and heavier, so prepare yourself emotionally haha.

EDIT: was recommended that I give a heavier content warning to Babel which is fair. While it is thrown around as an HP alternative it is emotionally harrowing, has some extremely violent and disturbing sections, and is generally focused on depicting the horrors of colonialism. A good read, but prepare yourself going in and don’t expect it to be quaint or pleasant.

Many locals haven’t either! They really are a hidden gem.

Hope you find something that works! I do enjoy that Joplin is not paywalled in anyway, and is still super robust, private, and local first. I personally hop around between several note taking apps based on my needs so finding apps that are local md first is high priority for me so that if I move to another app all of my notes can move with me.

Joplin stores notes in a database rather than directly as Markdown, but they can easily be exported as Markdown which I guess is the next best thing.

I have a fairly old iPhone and I never have much of an issue with speed, so maybe?

My main issues with Logseq on mobile is that a) there’s no plug-in support which makes my workflow much more difficult and b) I find the UI as just a copy of the desktop UI without many mobile-specific features usable but not super intuitive. If I need to jot down a quick note or TODO on the go I don’t think it’s best. I keep the app mainly to reference longer notes on the go.

I kind of love note taking apps so I can rundown a few:

• Logseq (FOSS, can technically run in a browser but it’s very limited and literally called “demo”)
• Obsidian (not FOSS but local md first, very mature and a huge community)
• Joplin (FOSS and probably general go-to for cross-platform open source notes in general but is a bit of a memory hog)
• StandardNotes (you already described this one)
• notesnook (very new offering probably most similar to SN but I don’t know)
• AnyType (also very new and striving for more of a Notion-like experience but I think still needs time to mature)

I use Logseq most often, although I prefer Joplin on mobile. Obsidian and Logseq are more “personal knowledge management” and may be overkill for simple note-taking, plus I feel they are a little bloated on mobile. Honestly not sure which ones work in a browser, but I agree that’s a feature I’d like more of. All of these though I believe are cross-platform so should be usable on mobile or desktop.

They make it to farmers markets occasionally, and the trees are very easy to identify and surprisingly common. If you know what to look for, most wooded areas in their range will have some pawpaw trees. They generally only fruit for a few weeks in late September/early October but the good news is you’re right on time!

Just doing my part to spread the good word.