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Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

(limandoc.com)
41 points limandoc | 1 comments | 18 Oct 24 12:35 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

Hey all! I always wanted to arrange my text/markdown/pdf files on a 2D canvas and visualize them without opening all the windows. An extra feature I added is also visualizing folders within - so kind of a 3D visualization? It was also important to be an offline desktop app, rather than online tool like Miro or Mural, because once I edit files in Sublime or AdobePDF then I want changes to sync in the canvas right away.

Some technical points and lessons learned: being Android developer helped a lot with this project since I used Kotlin Multiplatform with Compose Desktop renderer (actually skiko). It runs on JVM under the hood, which was exciting at first since I can use the app on all of my Mac/Windows/Linux machines. Right? Wrong. One lesson I learned wasn’t “write once - run everywhere”, it was “write once - test everywhere; repeat”. On the other hand, using Kotlin Multiplatform will allow me easily to port to Android and port the logic to iOS.

Anyways, I released LimanDoc v1.0.3, still in Proof-Of-Concept, so I hope to get some feedback and features you think would be helpful.

I was thinking these features would be great for future releases: - adding a local LLM support to search/summarize your docs, books, videos, etc; - sync on local network (including future mobile apps) - Templates, groups, and better diagram integration like in Drawio.

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oulipo ◴[18 Oct 24 13:10 UTC] No.41879117[source]▶
Really cool! This would be a nice integration with Obsidian if you had an open / textual format (and possibly open-source it!)
replies(1): >>41879196 #
limandoc ◴[18 Oct 24 13:20 UTC] No.41879196[source]▶
Thanks! The text is not stored in a database, rather I just render the markdown files you have on the canvas. Technically, it is also possible to put your whole Obsidian vault into LimanDoc's vault, and all the files from Obsidian will appear in the canvas :)
replies(1): >>41879857 #
oulipo ◴[18 Oct 24 14:37 UTC] No.41879857[source]▶
I was thinking more of the reverse, for instance you can include an Excalidraw render inside obsidian, which is nice for mockups, etc

Perhaps you could do the same with your app?

replies(1): >>41881445 #
1. limandoc ◴[18 Oct 24 17:15 UTC] No.41881445[source]▶
Ah I see now, I will check it out! In near future I will also add a support to render whole web-pages instead, e.g. adding youtube video, blog post, etc. Perhaps adding an excalidraw link there and drawing right within LimanDoc would work... Will keep an eye!