20 replies to this topic

[josephmanis]

I would like to know how many other people would love for evernote to have support for Linux. This is by far the best OneNote alternative out there. But, for those of with linux, it isn't any help. Sure, wine will run it, but where is my drag and drop functionality with pictures, and what about the crappy icon rendering? I doubt that I'm the only one out there who thinks this way. And, I think that people need to start letting the staff know about it.

[engberg]

We don't currently have the resources to write and maintain a Linux client ourselves, but we're encouraging any third party developer to integrate Evernote into their open-source applications via our public service API:
http://www.evernote..../developer/api/

[hallm409]

I too would love to see a Linux version of the Evernote desktop client. I know this topic has been tossed about on the forums here several times previously, so I expected the above reply that the Evernote team won't be writing a Linux version, but the API is open for anyone to build a client around it. I have a couple of questions, though:

1) Is anyone aware of any active project right now to build a Linux desktop client using the Evernote APIs? I assume no, since this was suggested a long time ago and have seen no follow up from anyone about any progress. (I hope I'm wrong....)
2) Has anyone gotten the Evernote 3.5 betas to work via Wine? I think the big stumbling block there is the dependency on .NET 3.5 SP1. If anyone has worked around that, could you please post how it was done?

Thanks!

[kayzaz]

I must say that it's a bit hard to imagine that you can't find the resources to support a linux clinet. Do you really think that there are more Palm Pre users than Linux users? Besides, you are developing a client for Android - which is Linux based.

If you had said this about a Symbian client (something I would dearly like to see), I would understand. But, this is a different story - It strikes me that the problem is lack of interest rather than lack or resources.

[engberg]

We've had a few dozen people contact us and request API keys to do something on Linux. A few of these mentioned integrating with existing open-source note-taking solutions on Linux, but others just asked for a key for a "Linux client" without supplying more information.

Writing our thin client for the Palm Pre took approximately 10% of the work that would be required to write a synchronizing Linux client with a local database, local searching, etc. Since we were available immediately at Pre launch, virtually every one of the 1 million+ Pre phone buyers saw us in the small application catalog of 30-40 applications, so we had many tens of thousands of new users within the first month.

While I'd love to see a Linux client (I was running a home Slackware system back when that fit on four 3.5" floppies), the effort to build and maintain a full client is too large for us to pursue right now, and there's no comparable channel for Linux applications to bring in new users.

Android applications are written entirely in Java using Google's mobile-specific Android SDKs. The fact that existing Android phones may have a Linux kernel is completely hidden from the applications, so there wouldn't be any code re-use for building a full desktop application on Linux.

[soulgook]

Doesn't the fact of Evernote 3.5 using .Net Framework 3.5 mean that a Mono port would be much easier to maintain? Otherwise, Linux users are really being left in the lurch here, since Wine doesn't have support for .Net past 2.0 or something like that.

I'm using Evernote 3.1 in Wine on Ubuntu right now, and I've found some neat ways to make it play nicely (just got it to open native Linux pdf and doc viewers!), but I'd be pretty sad if I had to switch back to Windows in a year's time simply because Evernote didn't have a usable Linux client. I'd even settle with Evernote Web if the rich-text editor was more robust...

P.S. Re: Getting file attachments to open in native Linux apps: http://www.jrnguyen.com/2009/11/18/wind ... ne-update/

[myotisone]

Oh dear, does this mean that my excitement at just discovering that Evernote works under Wine/Crossover office after years of enviously looking at Evernote as a perfect solution for me, is going to be short lived. I use a Mac and Windows as well, but over the last year, in spite of the Mac and Windows machines being newer and more powerful, I have found myself increasingly using Linux.

Woul it possible for the Evernote developers, not to make a commitment to producing a native Linux version, but to include Wine compatibility as a development goal.

Graham

[olingerc]

Ok, So lets just deal with the fact that there is no client app being written by evernote. I can understand it (to a certain degree). But, the nice guys provided their open API, so let's just build our own app. To start this, I would like to ask all of you linux guys three things:

1) Has anybody started it already??? Please step up, there are many people who would like to help. I'm sure of that.

2) If there is no answer to 1), I personally am going to do 2 things:
Currently a very nice notetaking app is BasKet from the KDE environment. During the move to KDE4 (Qt4) Basket sort of missed the jump. On the net, I found that there is currently somebody doing a Qt4 port and that the first release should be still this year. I am going to try contacting the developer (Kelvie Wong) and will ask to have an integration with evernote developed. (I am unfortunately just starting to learn to work with the QT SDK, but I will for sure use this as my playground and learning experience)

I urge everybody interested in a linux client to start checking out basket and help out there. Please no GTK or QT flamewars here.

The basket code is at http://gitorious.org/basket

Compiling it is very easy:

(from the basket README:)

1) get the code:

git clone git://github.com/kelvie/basket.git

2) Make sure you have the necessary development files installed:
Qt
kdelibs
qimageblitz
kdepimlibs
(development files, not the applications themselves)

3) build
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
make install (or sudo make install it in k/ubuntu)

4)run it:
basket





3) If basket should not be a good starting point, I'll try to develop from scratch using qt.

This will be where i am going to start. Anybody else is welcome to get active and find solutions and lets stop complaining.

Cheers,

Christophe

[myotisone]

All a bit beyond me, I'm afraid.

Graham

[Rae Leggett]

A linux client would be nice, but evernote web is certainly usable under linux. I haven't tried using to run it yet.

[Vignesh]

Yes, I'd love a Linux port of Evernote. I would love to help, but I know next to nothing about any programming languages :-( so I can't exactly help with that.

[link1305]

A linux client would be nice, but evernote web is certainly usable under linux. I haven't tried using to run it yet.

The web client would be perfectly acceptable for me if it had KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS. That's all I need. I HATE taking my hands off the keyboard to move the mouse up to the little bold or "indent" icons, then typing, then moving them back up a few seconds later to disable it. This is real time waster. Evernote is already a mostly cloud-based platform (with everything being stored online), and I'm honestly surprised how basic the web-client is. Due to getting my Droid (running Android) a few months ago I've been using a lot of Googles' cloud-based programs like Gmail, tasks, reader, calendar, and I honestly feel web apps are the future. Later this year when people run Chrome-OS, the web-client will be the only option.

[bpedman]

Doesn't the fact of Evernote 3.5 using .Net Framework 3.5 mean that a Mono port would be much easier to maintain? Otherwise, Linux users are really being left in the lurch here, since Wine doesn't have support for .Net past 2.0 or something like that.

I'm using Evernote 3.1 in Wine on Ubuntu right now...

I am using 3.1 as well and it works fine...now that 3.5 is out, no more evernote in linux

If you guys were able to switch and use Mono...that would be just amazing. You would even be able to support Windows, Linux, AND Mac with one client...you are already using .NET anyway so why not just make a few adjustments and compile with Mono?

please?

[TheGurkha]

Looking at the Mono roadmap, they don't have .NET 3.5 compatibility quite yet: Mono Roadmap.

[soulgook]

http://www.mono-proj...m/Compatibility

[bpedman]

So does evernote use WPF or WF or WCF?

The easiest way to describe what Mono currently supports is:
Everything in .NET 3.5 except WPF and WF, limited WCF.

[engberg]

We use WPF, but have a lot of native C++ code, including the entire rendering/editing engine of Google Chrome for note editing.
I.e. I don't think it would ever run under "Mono", although maybe under some sort of full Windows emulation environment like Wine in the future.

[hartl-vienna]

Hi!

I´m a new user of Evernote and I really like it. Unfortunately I just recognised that there is no Linux Client available. It's ok for me so far. Once you support linux I will immediatly subscribe a Premium Account.

Cheers

[TheGurkha]

You can use it with Linux through Firefox, of course.

[omega7]

I will upgrade as soon as a Linux client is available.