CharTr - Mind Mapping Tool

CharTr is an artistic piece of software made for fun to give mind mappers good usability. For those unfamiliar with mind mapping, Wikipedia says the following:

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making and writing. Currently, its stated features are as follows:

Basic mind map with curved links.

Link folding.

Colors.

Outline box of several selected nodes.

Audio/text/images embedded as notes.

Automatic saving.

SVG, PNG, PDF and PS export.

Numerous keyboard shortcuts (with an eased keyboard navigation, vim-like).

Idea bookmarking.

Search for text in nodes.

Math equations.

Installation:
CharTr does have a few obscure requirements, so you should look through your repositories. You need Python, PyGTK, Cairo, GStreamer, Numpy and python-plastex for mathematical equations. Once you have these sorted out, head to the Web site where you have a choice of a source tarball or Debian package. If you grab the .deb package, install it by entering the following in a terminal from whichever directory contains the file:

$ sudo dpkg -i chartr_0.16_i386.deb

Now, run CharTr by entering:

$ chartr

If you get the source version, download and extract the tarball, and then open a terminal in the new CharTr directory. You need to invoke Python manually, by entering the following:

$ python chartr.py

Usage Once inside, click that big shiny New button, and a new window appears, called a Map. In the big expanse of white, left-clicking brings up a text cursor allowing you to type in some text. Press Enter, and the text is placed inside a box. The first of these is yellow, allowing for a central idea from
which others ideas can flow. If you click on the original box and add some text somewhere else on the map, it is placed in a blue box, and a black line
links to it. Right-clicking lets you move the map around, and if you look at the toolbar at the top, you can zoom in and out, as well as add images. If you check the drop-down box toward the right, you also can add bits of audio, notes or some already-provided icons—very handy! Once you’ve finished making a mind map, you can export it to a picture file.

Check the documentation page at code.google.com/p/chartr/wiki/CharTrDocumentationEn for more information on general usage. All in all, this is a nice and simple application with some great aesthetics that will find favor with students and teachers alike. It’s still buggy for the moment, but I hope to see it included in major distros, especially educational ones.

If you would like to install CharTr on Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), you can execute the following steps here from this site.