After 2+ years, MindRaider 8.0 was released a few days ago:

http://mindraider.sourceforge.net/

The main new feature is integration with the online outliner MindForger:

http://www.mindforger.com/

Explanation:

http://mindraider.sourceforge.net/mindforger.html

Looks interesting, as there are very few outliners that sync between online and desktop, plus MindRaider always seemed like an intriguing product. Not sure what to make of the new personal development spin, and the online outliner doesn't seem intuitive, but seems worth a look.

This is more of a general point, but looking at MindRaider its interface reminds me of many other PIM (such as UltraRecall), which have a number of rectangular panes that divide the screen. While I understand the benefits of such layouts, what could be its drawbacks? Surely one reason this layout has become so standard is because monitors themselves have become perfect rectangles. But did it have to be so? My field of vision is not rectangular. Its more of an oval shape, in fact like old TV monitors used to be, such as this one: http://images1.dailykos.com/i/user/3/old_TV.jpg

What would outliners look like if computer monitors were round? Would we be working with points in concentric circles, or dragging ovals around, rather than lists in rectangular panes? It would be nice to see some alternatives to lists and squares. I know that there are a couple of goal planning software that utilise the circle metaphor but it seems that the rectangular form factor is somehow stifling creativity and the imagination...

As a defrocked, pure mathematician, why not go further and write words and sentences in circles or ovals? Such as (I hope this works!),

It
fox. was
brown a
quick

-cassius

========================================================
Dr Andus wrote:

This is more of a general point, but looking at MindRaider its interface reminds me of
many other PIM (such as UltraRecall), which have a number of rectangular panes that
divide the screen. While I understand the benefits of such layouts, what could be its
drawbacks? Surely one reason this layout has become so standard is because monitors
themselves have become perfect rectangles. But did it have to be so? My field of vision
is not rectangular. Its more of an oval shape, in fact like old TV monitors used to be,
such as this one: http://images1.dailykos.com/i/user/3/old_TV.jpg

What would
outliners look like if computer monitors were round? Would we be working with points
in concentric circles, or dragging ovals around, rather than lists in rectangular
panes? It would be nice to see some alternatives to lists and squares. I know that there
are a couple of goal planning software that utilise the circle metaphor but it seems
that the rectangular form factor is somehow stifling creativity and the
imagination...

It didn't work, so here's another try:

........................................................It
.................................................fox.......was
............................................brown...............a
......................................................quick

Cassius wrote:

As a defrocked, pure mathematician, why not go further and write words and sentences in circles or ovals? Such as (I hope this works!),

Actually there are outliners that use ovals: mind-mapping and concept-mapping software (some of which can convert the maps to outlines at a click of a button). So I suppose there would be more of those, if screens were oval too...

Dr Andus wrote:

there are outliners that use ovals: mind-mapping and concept-mapping software
(some of which can convert the maps to outlines at a click of a button). So I suppose
there would be more of those, if screens were oval too...

I believe the same would happen if they were much bigger: the issue is how much they limit the field of vision. If a monitor is wider than our field, then the shape of its edges is irrelevant.

I.e. I doubt that the rectangle shape of (big) classroom blackboards limited the use of oval Venn diagrams and the like.

Seven and half years later, MindForger looks to have come a long way:

www.mindforger.com

It is now billed as a "Thinking Notebook & Markdown IDE".

It runs on Mac and Linux. (I don't have access to my Mac right now, so I haven't tried MindForger yet.)

MindForger is now at version 1.5.2.

https://github.com/dvorka/mindforger

The program works on Linux, Mac and Windows.

Some interesting new features:

- AutoLinking: If you have a note with a word / sentence it is linked to a note with the same name. You have to enable this feature in the configuration file.
- Link Completion
- Live preview of the markdown files

One big advantage against most other solutions: The program writes pure markdown files, which can be edited / view by any other markdown editor. And you can copy your files / your MindForger repository to an android device and you have fully functional markdown pages which you can view / edit on the device with Markor (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.gsantner.markor/

Thanks for the info. I installed MindForger a few weeks ago but haven't been able to try it out yet. Now that you mentioned how to get the information to Android I'm going start sooner.

A Notebook in MindForger is a whole markdown document. The Notes in MindForger are part of a notebook and they are presented as "Heading 2" in the markdown document.
On Android you can define a path where the markdown documents are stored. So you have to copy (all / selected) markdown documents from the MindForger repository on your Android Device and set the path of Markor Markdown editor to the folder, where you have copied the documents.

MindForger looks interesting. I made the mistake of creating a new file of my own, and now I cannot get back to the out-of-the-box experience of the introductory files that were installed when MindForger first launched.

What's the difference between Mindraider and Mindforger?

Just create a new repository (Mind | New: MindForger Repository) and include the documentation.

Mindraider was the predecessor and it was only for linux.

Franz Grieser wrote:

What's the difference between Mindraider and Mindforger?

mseliger wrote:

Mindraider was the predecessor and it was only for linux.

Thanks

This happened to me, too, and I gave up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Paul Korm wrote:

MindForger looks interesting. I made the mistake of creating a new
file of my own, and now I cannot get back to the out-of-the-box
experience of the introductory files that were installed when MindForger
first launched.

n.b. I am a fickle CRIMPer.

I found a way out of the maze. Look at the path in the MindForger tab in macOS of the document you created and cannot close. Quit MindForger. Navigate to that document in Finder and delete it. Empty the trash. MindForger will now open the initial documents.

It's an interesting but very messy application -- I assume it is someone's intense hobby.

Beck wrote:

This happened to me, too, and I gave up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Paul Korm wrote:
MindForger looks interesting. I made the mistake of creating a new
>file of my own, and now I cannot get back to the out-of-the-box
>experience of the introductory files that were installed when
MindForger
>first launched.

I found several ways back to the original repository, from looking up the file in the Mac file system (where it lurks in a spontaneously created MindForger repository) to using the associations that appear in the bottom pane of each left-hand navigation window.

But it’s not desperately intuitive. Very powerful, but you’d have to really commit to the model to make it work.