Jarnal Note Taker

While Microsoft One Note and Windows Journel may be familiar to Tablet PC owners, Jarnal is a free alternative written in Java so it will work on any operating system with Java installed.

It can either start with a blank page or be used to annotate PDFs, which are loaded as backgrounds. The best results are with a pen-based input, whether it is a tablet PC or a graphics tablet connected to a computer.

There are four writing tools: a pen, transparent and translucent highlighters and a bottom highlighter. Each can be used in different widths and colours.

There is some handwriting recognition built in as well so handwritten notes can be converted and saved to text or HTML. Letters must be separate, so cursive script isn't possible.

Complete documents can be exported as PDF or TIFF image files.

We found that it warned of low memory allocated to the Java virtual machine. This may need adjustment for heavy users. This is a known problem and the FAQs warn that Jarnal will crash without saving work.