<![CDATA[Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there!]]>Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! I use loads of it.

Them: What do you use to write documents?

Me: I use vim. I write in Markdown, then convert it. (typst + pandoc)

Them: What about presentations?

Me: I use vim. I write in Markdown, then convert it. (revealjs)

Them: Your website? Blog?

Me: I use vim. I write in Markdown, then convert it. (mkdocs / bssg)

Them: So what about keeping notes?

Me: Oddly enough, I use vim. I write in Markdown... (vimwiki)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/4203b9a2-3059-4eb3-8a86-89b3bb436511/neil-there-s-a-wealth-of-amazing-free-software-out-thereRSS for NodeMon, 25 May 2026 03:31:49 GMTSat, 16 May 2026 05:26:32 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Mon, 18 May 2026 13:14:10 GMT]]>@neil

me: hey MkDocs looks neatโ€ฆ

*searching for intel and looking at themesโ€ฆ*

Link Preview Image
The Slow Collapse of MkDocs

How personality clashes, an absent founder, and a controversial redesign fractured one of Python's most popular projects.

favicon

(fpgmaas.com)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/paulywill/statuses/116595756237645797https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/paulywill/statuses/116595756237645797Mon, 18 May 2026 13:14:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sun, 17 May 2026 11:01:00 GMT]]>@neil There's always Emacs....
Iโ€™ll get my coat.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.org.uk/users/wyliecoyoteuk/statuses/116589570308365475https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.org.uk/users/wyliecoyoteuk/statuses/116589570308365475Sun, 17 May 2026 11:01:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sun, 17 May 2026 05:10:21 GMT]]>@FibroJedi @tribactam @freshstart

That's okay - we live and learn!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116588191499567331https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116588191499567331Sun, 17 May 2026 05:10:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 16:32:33 GMT]]>@Taffer @alice

FWIW, I am still using static site generators, because that works for me.

But yes, a simpler conversion tool may well suit your needs.

I moved from hugo to bssg a couple of months back (https://neilzone.co.uk/2026/03/moving-my-static-site-blog-generator-from-hugo-to-bssg/).

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116585211730162360https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116585211730162360Sat, 16 May 2026 16:32:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 16:30:40 GMT]]>@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk True enough!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116585204341116729https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116585204341116729Sat, 16 May 2026 16:30:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 13:26:38 GMT]]>@neil

See? Even experts can't quit vim. ๐Ÿ˜œ

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.space/users/CppGuy/statuses/116584480642366809https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.space/users/CppGuy/statuses/116584480642366809Sat, 16 May 2026 13:26:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 13:21:20 GMT]]>@diraquel @ColinTheMathmo

So it is readable as-is, or one can use one of many tools to convert it into a format of your choice (e.g. HTML).

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584459844310524https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584459844310524Sat, 16 May 2026 13:21:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 13:20:17 GMT]]>@diraquel @ColinTheMathmo

Markdown? Yes.

# This is a title.

## This is a heading.

Here is a paragraph [and this is a link](http://example.com).

> A quote!

This is **bold**, and this is *italicised*, and so on.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584455684946634https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584455684946634Sat, 16 May 2026 13:20:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 13:18:16 GMT]]>@ColinTheMathmo thanks for the summary! So, is this similar to using LaTeX? Can we use it on any OS? @neil

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.pt/users/diraquel/statuses/116584447755966251https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.pt/users/diraquel/statuses/116584447755966251Sat, 16 May 2026 13:18:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 13:03:48 GMT]]>@licho @freshstart

There are numerous meanings of "gimp", and one is slur for a person with a disability.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584390877507215https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584390877507215Sat, 16 May 2026 13:03:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 12:51:21 GMT]]>@neil
Tnx, I am working same way.
vim - pandoc - pdf
and vimwiki as Zettelkasten

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://digitalcourage.social/users/k4x/statuses/116584341936745369https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://digitalcourage.social/users/k4x/statuses/116584341936745369Sat, 16 May 2026 12:51:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 12:42:21 GMT]]>@diraquel

> Where can I learn more? Where to begin?

Wikipedia, probably. But the gist is that vim is a text editor, and I then use the output of that into various other tools, to get it into the format(s) that I want.

Happy tinkering!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584306561973568https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584306561973568Sat, 16 May 2026 12:42:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 12:39:10 GMT]]>@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk That sounds like a curse ๐Ÿ™‚

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584294025814351https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584294025814351Sat, 16 May 2026 12:39:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 12:38:59 GMT]]>@TimFinnerty

> this seems a lot like how people worked before WYSIWYG applications came on the market

Absolutely! And it still works *incredibly* well for me.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584293309388259https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116584293309388259Sat, 16 May 2026 12:38:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 12:29:22 GMT]]>@diraquel Not the original poster, but to get you started:

"vim" is a powerful editor. It can be used in a very simple way, and then you can learn its commands over time. You use it to create and edit files that are "plain text".

"Markdown" : This is a lightweight markup language, a way of indicating in a plain text file that you would like certain formatting to happen.

Link Preview Image
Markdown - Wikipedia

favicon

(en.wikipedia.org)

"typst" : A system for writing and formatting scientific texts and mathematical formulas, designed to be an alternative to LaTeX.

Link Preview Image
Typst - Wikipedia

favicon

(en.wikipedia.org)

"pandoc" : A system for converting between a gazillion different document formats.

"revealjs" : An open-source HTML presentation framework that allows users to create presentations using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

"mkdocs" and "bssg" : these are tools for taking files in markdown and converting them into a website.

CC: @neil

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/ColinTheMathmo/statuses/116584255499650923https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/ColinTheMathmo/statuses/116584255499650923Sat, 16 May 2026 12:29:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 11:59:52 GMT]]>@neil @freshstart I do.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/ap/users/116256575994654827/statuses/116584139465995004https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/ap/users/116256575994654827/statuses/116584139465995004Sat, 16 May 2026 11:59:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 10:52:56 GMT]]>@neil

Same here, except I use Quarto for almost everything (notes, presentations, articles). I write in Markdown (with BibTeX). Then convert it.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fedihum.org/users/christof/statuses/116583876273060095https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fedihum.org/users/christof/statuses/116583876273060095Sat, 16 May 2026 10:52:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 10:52:19 GMT]]>@neil I don't know, to me it sounds like you use 2 typesetting systems, one presentation tool, 2 blogging tools and one wiki for keeping notes; and also a text editor and a file format.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://en.osm.town/users/mdione/statuses/116583873878624289https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://en.osm.town/users/mdione/statuses/116583873878624289Sat, 16 May 2026 10:52:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 10:51:35 GMT]]>@liebach @neil As has been said before, emacs is a wonderful OS. Could use a decent editor though...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/grumpydad/statuses/116583871012811690https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/grumpydad/statuses/116583871012811690Sat, 16 May 2026 10:51:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 10:46:03 GMT]]>@neil boring technology that gets the job done. As it should be. ๐Ÿ‘

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/WindOfChange/statuses/116583849203607730https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/WindOfChange/statuses/116583849203607730Sat, 16 May 2026 10:46:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 10:27:40 GMT]]>@neil While I fully support the use of Freeware and Open Source tools, this seems a lot like how people worked before WYSIWYG applications came on the market; e.g Word Perfect vs. Word

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://toot.io/users/TimFinnerty/statuses/116583776968942276https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://toot.io/users/TimFinnerty/statuses/116583776968942276Sat, 16 May 2026 10:27:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 10:19:53 GMT]]>@neil so what you're saying is I should learn vim

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/SomeVeganCheeseIsOk/statuses/116583746336794117https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/SomeVeganCheeseIsOk/statuses/116583746336794117Sat, 16 May 2026 10:19:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 09:44:53 GMT]]>@neil half of what you wrote reads like Chinese to me. Where can I learn more? Where to begin? Thanks!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.pt/users/diraquel/statuses/116583608703681989https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.pt/users/diraquel/statuses/116583608703681989Sat, 16 May 2026 09:44:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Neil: There's a wealth of amazing Free software out there! on Sat, 16 May 2026 09:42:54 GMT]]>@freshstart @neil I do!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.pt/users/diraquel/statuses/116583600912605947https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.pt/users/diraquel/statuses/116583600912605947Sat, 16 May 2026 09:42:54 GMT