Announcing Gthnk 0.7

I’m happy to announce that Gthnk 0.7 is now available.

A lot of work has happened during the past several years. Here are some of the highlights:

  • dark mode UI
  • Docker workflow
  • live view of current buffer
  • improvements to mobile UI: swipe left/right, small screen
  • add notes via web UI
  • simple support for tags
  • simple agenda renderer
  • NB: removed attachments features (temporary)
  • major refactoring to support future development
  • fix tons of bugs

Upgrade Notes

If you are upgrading from 0.5 or 0.6, there is a small change to the database regarding logins. You will need to run a database migration and then add a new user:

gthnk db migrate
gthnk user_add --username "gthnk" --password "gthnk"

Attachments UI is Temporarily Disabled

The UI has been simplified to remove the attachments manager (for now). There aren’t many gthnk users right now - but in case any of you use the attachments UI regularly in your workflow, you might want to hold off on upgrading.

The data schema has not changed and attachments are still intact. If you do upgrade, none of your attachments will be lost.

The attachments interface will be back in the near future. I apologize for the disruption in case this affects you. I’m sorry.
I need to get this right before adding it back.

What happened to 0.6?

It was a pretty big version for internal stuff (like Python 3 compatibility). However, I was working on my dissertation and I didn’t have it in me to do a full release. Anyway, just use 0.7 because it’s vastly better.

Announcing Gthnk 0.5

Announcing the release of Gthnk 0.5. Gthnk is a personal journal that supports long-term archival.

This is a really big release that brings Windows compatibility to the project. As we said in an earlier blog post, the 0.5 release is all about focusing on quality.

We’ve improved many online community resources because communication is one of the most important aspects of an open source project. Here are some highlights:

  1. The Install Guide provides a step-by-step introduction to Gthnk on Windows and OS X.
  2. This website, itself!
  3. There is now a blog for providing updates about the project.
  4. A 12-minute Overview Video explains what Gthnk is and how it works.

If you are curious to try Gthnk, see the Install Guide at http://install.gthnk.com to get started.

Overview Video

The Overview Presentation is complete and now a video has been recorded. The video explains Gthnk in about 12 minutes.

Audience

Who are the audience for Gthnk? What kinds of users want Gthnk in their lives? We don’t know but we have a few guesses.

Those who already have journaling habits

Academics, Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians are likely to already have professional habits for keeping journals and logbooks. The journal itself is fungible; this audience just needs a replacement for their existing solution.

Those who want to do more

“Life hackers” have a vision of a more-productive version of themselves. This audience needs to work fast and flexibly; Gthnk gives them search and mobile entry.

Those who think about the future

With the benefit of a little historical hindsight, we can see how badly technology ages. Gthnk uses a simple text format that can be printed on paper for ultra-long backups - as long as the paper lasts.

Those who have technical skills

Another audience for Gthnk are the people who just like the source code. Gthnk strives to be a healthy open source project with many opportunities for participation.

Presenting an Overview of Gthnk

The new Gthnk Overview Presentation is a slide deck that explains how to get started using Gthnk.

The goal for this presentation is to introduce Gthnk to new audiences. In the span of about 15 minutes, somebody should learn what Gthnk is, the kinds of problems it can solve, and how to install it on their own computer. To put it another way, the presentation should give anybody who sees it all the information they need to get started using Gthnk.

This presentation is going to be used at local events to introduce Gthnk to new communities. A screencast is also going to be created from this presentation. If you have feedback on the presentation, please create an issue about it here.