Iotas: A Markdown-Based Note-Taking Linux App That Syncs With Nextcloud Notes
A good minimalist note-taking app is a treasure beyond pearls, and one which seamlessly integrates with your very own private cloud is even more valuable.
Iotas is a good-looking Markdown editor for Linux which meshes with Nextcloud Notes and lets you get on with writing.
Markdown Is a Great Way to Take Notes
Markdown is one of the easiest ways to take and make formatted notes. It’s quick and easy to use, and once you get to grips with the basic conventions, you can create documents that will render beautifully in a Markdown reader.
You can also easily convert Markdown files to HTML, or render them as PDF. You can evencreate a completely static websiteby running your collection of Markdown documents through a static site generator such as Jekyll or Hugo.
With Markdown, you can’t specify a font for different parts of the text, or even change font size halfway through your essay. And while you can use Markdown to add different heading types, bold and italic text, tables, images, and more, these won’t appear in the document you’re working on—only in the finished piece.
You can create formatted Markdown files in any text editor, making it the ideal choice for taking quick notes or for writing entire articles, such as this one.
There are no flashy ribbons or menus, and you’re not going to get bogged down with such trivia as margin width, line spacing, or any of the other options available in fully-fledged word processors.
But while you can produce great-looking documents by writing Markdown in nano, there’s an argument that text editors are too spartan and unfriendly for a genuinely enjoyable writing experience.
Dedicated Markdown editors such as Nextcloud Notes offer a good middle ground. They’re minimalist but come with niceties such as being able to click a button to transform text and being able to see a heading appear on the page, instead of the “##” which indicates an H2.
Nextcloud Notes has the added advantage of being part of the Nextcloud app suite—a cloud-based storage and productivity solution you can run on your hardware. It’s accessible everywhere from every device.
But what if you want the accessibility of an offline Markdown note-taking app, along with the convenience and security of backups synced to your Nextcloud?
What Is Iotas?
Iotas is a consciously bare-bones Markdown-based note-taking app, which integrates with Nextcloud Notes. This means you can write with Iotas on your desktop, tablet, or phone, and your scribblings are backed up to your Nextcloud account.
You can then open your Markdown documents in a browser on any other machine with a browser and an internet connection.
Despite its stark interface, Iotas offers quite a few features which aren’t always available in standard text editors or Notes. These include spell-checking, category editing and filtering, and you can choose between viewing Markdown syntax highlighting or rendered view as you write.
How to Install Iotas on Linux
Iotas is currently only available as a Flatpak package, so before you begin,make sure you have the Flatpak utility installedon your system. If you’re running a recent version of Ubuntu or any of its flavors, it’s almost guaranteedthat Flatpak won’t be present.
Install it by opening a terminal by either choosing “Terminal” from the system menu or pressingCtrl + Alt + T. Now enter:
Connect to the Flathub repository with:
Now restart your machine. you could now install the Iotas Flatpak in one of several ways.
Install Iotas Through the Linux Terminal
Flatpak works in the terminal like a normal package manager. To install Iotas, open a terminal and enter:
Flatpak will look for matches, then ask if you want to install the package. Type “y” then pressEnter.
The next question will ask if you want to install the required Iotas runtime. Type “y” then pressEnteragain.
Finally, Flatpak will show you a summary of what is to be installed. Review the output, and once again, type “y” and then pressEnter.
When the progress bar reaches 100, Iotas has finished installing, and you can close the terminal window.
Install Iotas Through Software Center
Most Linux distros come with a GUI-driven software center. Find yours using the system menu, and click on the “software center” on the “Software” entry to open it.
Enter “Iotas” into the search bar and hitEnterto search for the app. If you can’t find the search bar, try clicking on the magnifying glass icon that should be present on the main page.
Click on the Iotas entry, then click “Install”.
Use Iotas to Create Markdown Notes and Sync With Nextcloud
However you installed Iotas, there should now be a system menu entry for your new app. Alternatively, if you want to launch Iotas from the terminal, you will need to enter:
As this is quite a bit to remember, you can create an alias with:
Reload the file with:
You can now launch Iotas with:
Iotas appears as a small notepad when it launches, and displays the message, “Note List Empty”. you could change this by clicking the “+” symbol in the top right of the app.
Write your content using standard Markdown notation. Youshould be familiar with Markdownto get the most out of Iotas.
You can see how your Markdown will render in a Markdown viewer, by clicking theEyeicon in the top bar. The hamburger menu gives you some very basic options including changing the font size for the entire document, choosing a category, renaming the file, and switching between your system theme or the built-in light and dark themes.
That’s it! The Iotas writing interface is as basic and functional as it was meant to be.
To sync Iotas with Nextcloud Notes, head back to the main menu, click the hamburger menu icon, then select “Sync with Nextcloud Notes”.
Press “Continue”, then enter the URL of your Nextcloud instance. Your browser will open, and you’ll need to log into your Nextcloud account, then grant access to Iotas.
After you’ve connected the account, close this window and return to the app.
Click “Finish”, and Iotas will sync with all the Markdown documents in your Nextcloud, and upload any locally created files to the cloud. You can edit all of your Markdown files in either Iotas or Nextcloud Notes!
Creating and Syncing Markdown Notes Is Easy With Iotas!
Iotas is a great way to create, edit and sync Markdown notes, but everyone knows that the coolest place to do anything is in the Linux terminal.
If you quickly want to read your formatted Markdown files without leaving the terminal environment, use Glow to render Markdown right there in the terminal!
Glow is a terminal-based Markdown reader for Linux that comes with all the bells and whistles. Here’s how to install and use it on Linux.
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