a personal Wiki

July 4, 2004 9:44 PM

A simple Wiki? After reading about Lion Kimbro and his efforts to document his every thought, I've become interested in the idea of a personal Wiki. But as the Wiki tends to reside in the realm of those a bit more geeky than I, I've had trouble finding something I'm able to install without getting lost in Unix commands. I'm confident enough when it comes to the command line (installed Movable Type without too much trouble) but can't seem to manage a Wiki. Any suggestions?
posted by aladfar to computers & internet (8 comments total)

I found pmwiki really easy to set up use, but it's very basic (flat files, no sql), and doesn't come with too many bells and whistles. I have almost no experience with this "Internet" and I got something workable with pmwiki up in about a day. But it may be too simplistic for you. Someone else here suggested it in another askme thread that would probably be worth taking a look at. I think the thread was concerning setting up a wiki at work.
posted by loquax at 9:59 PM on July 4, 2004

I don't know shit about wikis. I do, however, have a fascination with keeping my thoughts, good and bad. I find it very beneficial to not pass judgement on the thought until much later, so I just keep them all.

I have two of these, one that I keep on my person (and at my bed side) and the other stays in the bathroom. Each recorder allows up to 335 folders or something like that and I have one folder for each (writing) project I'm working on and then a bunch of misc ones called things like Strays, Quotes, Snippets, Fragments, Premises, etc.

In addition, I use and love Notational Velocity (OS X only). Within it, I have a similar "folder" system. I put an abbreviation in front of any entry (q: for quotes, sy: for strays, etc.) so that should I wish to see all premesis I just type "p:" and there they are all listed.

If you're not on OS X, you may find software like Shadow Plan useful for keeping track of stuff if the wiki is too complicated.

Also, Inspiration kicks serious ass and is available for Windows and OS X.
posted by dobbs at 10:30 PM on July 4, 2004

PmWiki is VERY easy to set up, if you have a decent Unix web host already. It took me about 10 minutes, 10 minutes ago.
posted by smackfu at 10:54 PM on July 4, 2004

I like Qwikiwiki - in fact it's the only wiki I could figure out how to install on my (slightly strange) web host. Very easy to use and set up.
posted by Jimbob at 10:56 PM on July 4, 2004

Provided you have the prerequisites, Instiki is pretty much dead simple.
posted by AmaAyeRrsOonN at 11:25 PM on July 4, 2004

I just installed Qwikiwiki and have no complaints. Easy, fast and does all the simple things I want it to do.
posted by Tholian at 2:59 AM on July 5, 2004

If you have a mac, get VoodooPad, it's a great wiki note-taking app with web export and server functionality (if you need it.)
posted by neustile at 5:23 AM on July 5, 2004

If you are on Windows and using a Palm handheld, Note Studio is very cool. It is basically a wiki that is installed via an executable file and it syncs with your palm.
posted by ajr at 8:20 AM on July 5, 2004