Gnote is a graphical software written in C++/GTK+ and designed as a note taking application based on the well known Tomboy software that was distributed with the GNOME desktop environment some time ago.
A port of Tomboy notes app
Gnote is actually a C++ port of Tomboy. It is a very small application and it’s supposed to support most of the add-ons that were initially designed for the Tomboy utility. Furthermore, the program lets users to easily import their Tomboy notes, and features an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI), very similar to the Tomboy one, only that is follows the new GNOME Human Interface Guidelines (HIG).
The notes are not shared with Tomboy
It is essential to note here that Gnote does not share the storage with Tomboy. When opening the application for the first time, it will automatically copy (read: import) existing data from the Tomboy and StickyNote applications. In case something goes wrong and your Tomboy notes can’t be imported by Gnote, simply copy the contents of the hidden ~/.tomboy folder over to the newly created ~/.gnote directory.
Installing Gnote
Installing Gnote in your favorite Linux distribution is easier than you might think. For example, the Fedora Project includes this handy note-taking app in its operating system. However, it can be quickly installed on any Fedora-based OS using the yum install gnote command, or apt-get install gnote for Debian-based distributions, including Ubuntu Linux.
WebDAV is supported at the moment
By default, the program comes with four Notes Categories called ‘Notebooks’, Active, All, Important and Unfiled, as well as two notes which will instruct users on how to use the application and about using links inside notes. The app’s settings can be found in the App Menu when using it under the GNOME desktop environment, and will provide users with the ability to set a service for syncronization (WebDAV is supported at the moment), change various general settings, and enable or disable plugins.
Bottom line
No matter if GNOME is your default desktop environment or not, Gnote is a very good and lightweight note taking application that does exactly what is says on the tin.
