Obsidian
- 2024–09–19 Paris Itinerary
- 2024–09–19 Flight OPO-PAR-OPO
After installing Obsidian on my Supernote I can clearly see that the battery it is draining faster. It’s not substantial, like going down in a few hours or days, but it’s definitely draining a little faster. It could also be because I’ve been trying and testing so many new things lately.
There are some settings that I can change on Syncthing to improve the situation, but before I go that route, I’ll give it a few weeks under normal use conditions to see how it performs.
Stay tuned. I will keep you updated.
I ended yesterday’s video telling you I had an idea that got me really excited. Actually, it’s a plan that combines two visions into one. First of all, I realized that instead of doing all the complicated maneuvers to synchronize only my Action Containers, I could create and synchronize a new vault just for my Action Containers and keep everything else, including the Timeline, in the current vault.
When it comes time to move a file to the Timeline, I can do so using the computer file system. This will have no impact on the way the Timeline System works, and I may be able to come up with an automation in the future to move completed actions to the Timeline on the other vault.
The second part of the plan is to put this new vault in the Supernote SD card. This not only keeps me from using all the Supernote internal storage space with my vault, but also opens up countless possibilities. I’ll show some of them in more detail in an upcoming video, but here’s an example.
Imagine that I sketched a project on Supernote and wanted to add that to a note on Obsidian. In the past, I would have to synchronize the image using Google Drive, for example, then, on my computer, drag it to Obsidian. I can now do it right there on the Supernote.
It’s just a matter of exporting it as a PNG and saving it to the folder where my Obsidian vault is. This will make it instantly available to use on Obsidian, which, in turn, will also synchronize with my computer and phone. Mind-blowing!
Installing Android apps on a Supernote using a Mac
If you are a Mac user, it is not exactly a simple process to install Android apps on your Supernote, but it is totally feasible.
Before we start, I have some disclaimers.
I am not a developer, and I have only a rough understanding of what is actually happening when following the steps below. I’m simply sharing what I learned researching online. It worked for me, but you should always do your research.
As for the Android apps, please be careful with what you are installing. Apps downloaded from the Internet, known as APKs, are not being checked by the Google Play Store.
So, if you decide to follow the steps below, know that you are doing it at your own risk. And make sure you have a backup of your Supernote before starting.
If you are curious to see how Obsidian performs on the Supernote, I invite you to watch the video below. And if at some point you decide to purchase a Supernote, please consider using my affiliate link (clicking here). Thank you!
Sometimes doing things on a Mac is much harder than it is on a PC/Win. Today, I was finally able to sideload Obsidian onto my Supernote. Meaning that we’ll soon have some fun installing and testing the Minimal theme on it as well.
The Obsidian Minimal theme looks great on the Penstar. But that’s not all I’m showing in today’s video. Did you know that each device you sync with the same vault can have different settings?
The Penstar eNote is extremely thin, the screen resolution is impressive, and it feels as if I’m writing on paper. I’d say it might even be too realistic. But there’s more. It blew my mind when I could install Android apps by just clicking on the APK.
I installed both Syncthing and Obsidian on the Penstar eNote and my notes are now synchronizing 🤯 (for now, only on my tests account). You’ll see it in the second part of today’s video. The first part is a quick demonstration of some of the device’s features.
I added the Gemini Flash API, but keep getting the “Missing Authentication header or invalid API key” message when I try to use the new Obsidian Interpreter. As a non-developer, I have no idea what an “Authentication header” is, so I’m switching to another project to refresh my mind.
At times, the smallest of things can bring us the greatest joy. The Obsidian Web Clipper is great, but the fact that we can set it to always show highlighted text when we return to a webpage is such a nice touch. I 💜 it!
There are a lot of configuration options in the new Obsidian Web Clipper. And I love it! For example, I set it to create the clipped note with the properties I always use. But there are many other options, such as choosing between creating a new note or adding to a specific position in an existing note. Anyway, it’s going to take me some time to test everything and then make a video about it.
The inspiration behind the Timeline System
A brief history of the pitfalls and struggles that ended up leading me to create the Timeline System. And how Evernote helped me twice.
Years ago, when I worked for big corporations, I quickly realized how much of a problem it was not to have a good system for organizing information and keeping up with activities.
After trying many existing options, it became clear to me that they often felt rigid and unnatural, forcing users to adapt to the system rather than the other way around.
The closest I got to something that would work in a more intentional way was Agile, which I studied for many years. I ended up adapting some of its core concepts to Kanban boards, which I still use to help companies. But it is far from ideal for managing life. Anyway, this learning experience led me to Kaizen, which also heavily influenced the way I see mindful work.
Back to my journey. I knew my system needed to output information based on how we move things around. In addition to that, it had to do more than one thing with a single action from us, the users.
Some examples of the system accomplishing that are the auto-updated number of notes in the Action Containers and the dynamically created list of tasks, as shown in the video below.
Another important “discovery”, was the realization that time passes. In other words, there’s nothing we can do about it.
Time. Will. Pass.
The good news, is that it will democratically happen in the same way for all of us. However, if there’s no way to slow it down, accelerate it, or go back or forward, we are nothing but slaves to time. In other words, the most accurate representation of our lives is a timeline.
The third element was the recognition that human memory is much worse than many of us believe it to be. There are several great books on this topic, but there’s one I enjoyed the most: Memory Illusion by Julia Shaw. And that’s why I strongly believe that a system will only be truly efficient if it starts with good note-taking.
If we put all the above together, we have the Action Containers representing all the work in progress and, at the same time, clearly showing us the number of activities going on. Then, there’s the Static Containers, which help us with all the information we constantly need and wish we were able to always remember. Think of them as a memory caches.
Finally, there’s the Timeline, to where everything goes. That’s your long-term memory. It’s a representation of everything that happened in your life. And because it is chronologically ordered and categorized with tags, you can go to a specific moment and that will trigger other memories. Going there is like recollecting facts when someone shows you a picture of something you don’t remember happening. It’s almost a flashback experience.
If you haven’t, please watch the video below. It will help you understand the Timeline System dynamics.
Ditching the Kanban Board
Although notes are a much better way to store information, a Kanban board is unbelievably better at representing the current state of activities in progress. One might think that it is possible to address the problem by making cards as rich in information as notes. That’s technically possible using, for example, an Obsidian plugin that I tried for a while. However, it ends up creating another issue. We would require a multitude of boards to manage all aspects of our lives, which, in turn, makes the system excessively complex.
Notes it is
If you look back to my first videos, you will notice how I was struggling with making it work with multiple Filtered Notes Widgets on Evernote Home. I could never find a seamless solution, and Evernote made my life even harder when they removed Home from the mobile client. Yes, I’m aware that it is still there, but it is so many clicks away that it feels like it is not there.
Anyway, that forced me to go back to using the Shortcuts area to replicate the mess I created on Evernote Home. Little did I know that its constraints would push me in the direction of figuring out the solution that I had been seeking for a considerable amount of time. Interestingly, many years ago, after fighting with how Evernote organizes our notes, I realized how powerful chronology is.
Evernote’s features probably make it the best place to run the Timeline System, but I didn’t want it to be exclusive to one app. So the next step was to make it as simple as possible to enable it to run in as many apps as I could.
That was not an easy task, but to be honest, the hardest part has been figuring out a way to explain how the system works and all its benefits in a way that it’s easy to understand. After so many years, it all happens naturally when I’m doing things or teaching my clients. But putting that in words has been a challenge.
Anyway, after the first video explaining how to set it up on Evernote, there’s now the one below explaining how I’m using the system on Obsidian.
First, explain what it is, then make it look nice
Picasso once said, Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. In other words, one must be doing it — putting itself into the zone — to finally find the solution.
This is evident in Picasso’s museum in Málaga, Claude Monet’s house and garden in Giverny, or Van Gogh’s museum in Amsterdam, where you can see these master’s art in a chronological order, starting from the beginning of their careers.
It’s been a while since I’ve published anything on my blog, but this doesn’t mean I’m not writing. On the contrary, I’ve been incessantly working on my book. But that, on the other hand, doesn’t imply that I’ve made a lot of progress. In reality, it was only today, after starting the third draft, that I was finally happy with the book format.
In addition to Picasso’s mantra, what helped me find my way was a strategy I use when I can’t figure out a solution. What frequently helps is to first explain what it is, then make it look nice. Ironically, that doesn’t seem like it applies to understanding art.
Anyway, when I restarted the book for the third time, I did it from the middle, explaining what the Containers of Information are. It was then that I gradually began noticing that parts of it connected to many things I had already written in the two previous drafts, which I started repurposing.
Another strategy I tried was to use Obsidian Canvas to create a simple diagram of how the book should be structured. That’s what you see at the beginning of this video, but that was also a first draft. I moved those boxes around a lot and created new ones until I finally found the structure I was looking for.
Some people might see it as working twice or three times, as it was in this case, but if that means a book structured in a way that’s easier to understand, I’m fine with it. Furthermore, the parts that have already been written are being put to good use in a different order in this new version, which leaves me with a mystery to solve: how could authors do it with typewriters or, before that, pen and paper?
Those were the real geniuses.
✍️ PS. If you are not familiar with the Containers of Information concept, you can learn more about it by watching the first part of the video below. Even if you are not an Obsidian user.
Tidying up my mess is inspiring me to create delightful memories on Obsidian
One important element of my [[vladcampos.com/Static/Timeline System|Timeline System]] is what I call the Containers of Information, which can be created using any grouping feature, even tags. However, I typically opt for folders, such as in the case of Obsidian and Supernote, or Notebooks, when utilizing the system on Evernote.
One of the Containers is the Timeline, which may initially appear to be an archive, but in reality it is a dynamic part of the system that also serves as a temporary storage space.
The others, known as Action Containers, are where I keep notes about activities in progress. When an activity is completed, the note is moved to the Timeline. But since information kept there, may need to be accessed or used again in the future, it has to be easy to find.
Since there is a book explaining the system coming soon, I am not going into further details about it in this post. I just wanted to give you a brief overview of how I use the Containers to convey a sense of doing or being done. My goal today is to tell you what the videos “Preparing Obsidian to Set Up My Timeline System” are about.
Preparing Obsidian for the Timeline System
When I start using a new device or app, I often don’t spend much time organizing things. My main focus is to learn how the information I’m saving there can benefit from some of the features I’m still figuring out how to use.
However, one thing I usually do is set up Containers, as they provide a dedicated space to intuitively save all the notes and files related to a specific ongoing topic. And that’s what I did when I started using Obsidian.
When the moment came to implement my Timeline System, I had to first figure out a categorization scheme that would allow me to find all information moved to the Timeline Container. I’m not 100% there yet, but it’s already good enough, and I started moving several notes, as shown in yesterday’s video. In other words, I’m currently tidying up the mess I left behind.
As I said in the video, I am now focusing on the Trips folder. But before I talk about that, here’s how I first organized my trips on Obsidian.
As you can see, I created a hierarchy of folders, which, by the way, is something I really don’t like. But it’s quick, and it gets the job done.
My goal now is to dismantle all that by moving PDFs and other files to the Files folder, explained in the first video of this series. Regarding the Itinerary note, which contains all the trip information and links to the files, it will be moved to the Timeline.
However, the first step is to date everything, including YYYY-MM-DD in each note’s title. I also explained the reason for this in that first video:
The Itinerary note also has the word “Itinerary” in the “type” property, and all the tags and geolocation coordinates to make it appear in the Map View plugin. By the way, I’m very excited about how cool that map will be when all of my relevant memories become a dot there.
With all that done, I can start removing all files from the Trips folder, leaving only my next trips there. In other words, it will be converted into an Action Container. Meaning that whatever is inside is in progress. The final touch was to create the search below and save it as a bookmark to easily filter all my old Itinerary notes.
[type:Itinerary]
To learn how to create a search like the one above and to better visualize all the explanations in this article, please watch the video below.
Before I go, there’s actually one more thing. Remember my Photos folder? I came up with the idea of using it to save some precious photos from each trip and drag them to the correct position in the Itinerary note. And the same works for blog posts. I’m also dragging the ones I wrote while on a trip, creating this captivating snapshot of the entire journey.
And it doesn’t stop there. Anything in the Timeline related to the trip is also being added to the Itinerary notes, creating a mini journal inside a larger journal: the Timeline. I’m so overjoyed with it that I’ll definitely produce a video to show you how it works and how to build something like this.
From just a few days ago, when I recorded yesterday’s video about the changes I’m making on Obsidian, to today, my setup remodeling has already evolved significantly. My Maker Dashboard, for example, has been greatly improved.
Remember that I said in the video that I am always trying to find ways to make things have multiple purposes? The logos inside each Canvas group in the image below are there to help me quickly navigate to a specific topic, but they are also resources I can use on my video thumbnails.
I have a “Logos” folder in my Obsidian, and that folder is also a shortcut on my Mac Finder. However, it is not the only one. Many other Obsidian folders are shortcuts that make files easily accessible from other apps.
Curious about my minimalist Obsidian setup? A detailed video is coming soon, with screen recordings from my real account, showcasing most of my workflows. For instance, why only five plugins? This will probably be one of the longest videos on the channel. Due to that and the necessary blurring, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to release it today. However, tomorrow seems feasible.
On how am I rediscovering my creative freedom with digital scribbling.
The Supernote is helping me to rediscover the joy of handwriting my scripts. It’s like using magical paper to seamlessly capture and reorganize ideas.
Years before Evernote, I would write many of my first podcast scripts on any piece of paper I could get my hands on. I’d usually have the ideas during of after jogging, and it still happens today for the YouTube videos. But even though writing them down was a great way to remember later, trust me, the final “document” was typically a big mess.
Let’s be honest, it’s tough to keep handwritten notes as organized as a bullet list. Ideas don’t always flow in a neat, linear way, so it can be a real challenge to make sense of them later. My drafts were often ugly and pretty challenging to understand because of all the small text inserts. On some occasions, I would use arrows and even a second piece of paper with numbers on both parts of a sentence to try to connect them. I suppose you can imagine that it was often difficult to decipher.
In hindsight, I’d say I’d moved to digital writing as soon as technology was portable enough, probably because of the impossibility of inserting new text in between lines on paper. When I finally started using a Palm, I wrote down so many notes on it that I became an expert at using the Graffiti alphabet.
Today, I frequently write on my computer; however, typing comes with its limitations. For example, sketching can be difficult to integrate with typed text. That’s great on paper, but again, there are all the problems mentioned above. Furthermore, I’m not good at drawing, so I frequently have to erase and fix things as I go.
For example, the thumbnail you see in the image below was created at a much larger size. It was the first thing I did on that page. When I was happy with it, I resized it to fit the corner of the screen (paper?). All the text you don’t see — more on that in a moment — was rearranged several times as I was writing, just like the pieces of a puzzle slowly falling into place.
It’s impossible to do that on paper, but the Supernote brought back the freedom and joy I remember having many years ago, and improved the process. It is like having the best of both worlds. And the most convenient part is that I can easily send the final version to Evernote or Obsidian.
As for the hidden text, there’s no secret there. I’m just trying to keep a mystery aura because I have already started to produce this video and don’t want to spoil the surprise. But if you cannot contain yourself, the untouched drawing is available for supporters on Patreon and YouTube.
Anyway, I think that you can probably tell by the thumbnail and the other drawing that the video has something to do with sending content to the Supernote via Evernote.
Obsidian Canvas as a resources space with images and PDFs—my new experiment
I have a new idea that I’d like to share with you. Yes, again. Changing things up, like I’ve been doing lately, makes me feel inspired.
I believe I’ve finally found a good way to use Obsidian Canvas. Instead of creating notes just to be able to filter them by tags, I’m trying Canvas groups for images or PDFs.
This approach may not work for everything, but the zoom in and out feature may make it easier to find the resources I use on my Maker and IT-related projects, especially when compared to sorting notes by tags. It’s a visual space, so I believe it will be easy to spot the item based on the color and format of the image or PDF. Time will tell, though.
For testing how efficient, or not this will be, I’ve created the “Maker Dashboard” Canvas that I’m using for everything related to my creativity process. For now, it has just a few notes (image above), and the following groups: macOS, Writer, Woodworking, and some loose content that I’m sure will end up being grouped with other future images or PDFs.
Side note: Keen eyes will notice that there’s also a “Palm OS” group, and, although it is not possible to clearly see, there are some images related to other vintage passions of mine next to that group.
And just like what I mentioned yesterday regarding the single folder for all my pictures, all these files can also be easily added to other Obsidian notes, or used from my computer file system.
Since I am currently on a reorganization spree, I decided to experiment with an idea. At the moment, I have multiple subfolders for images used on my blog posts, Journal, Office, and Home folders on Obsidian. Maybe even others. One thing I always wanted to try was to have some folders dedicated to certain types of files, such as images, PDFs, etc.
Here’s the plan. I’ll consolidate all the images into one folder, which will serve two purposes. First, it will work as an album. However, it will also serve as a centralized storage space from which I can drag pictures to use in any of my notes.
And because of the way Obsidian works, those pictures will also be easily accessible from the computer’s file system if I need them for other projects. Below, you can see how easy it is to interact with the images using the Mac file system (Finder). By the way, the kids in the picture are my sister and me, captured during my first move to Boston. I absolutely love that city.
Another benefit is how straight-forward it is to save pictures there. I can simply use the “save as” option on any image editor and choose the Photos folder on the file system, which in reality is located in Obsidian.
I’ve successfully moved 40 images and am pleased with the results. But there’s a catch. Because of the way I imported some of my content to Obsidian, the creation dates of many files are all messed up. So, I’m also adding the date (YYYY-MM-DD) to the beginning of each file name (thumbnails above). This will help me see the pictures in chronological order by ordering the files alphabetically. I hope that makes sense.
If this works, I may try the same with PDF files. Stay tuned.
I’m down to 5 plugins on Obsidian now, and I’m happy with that. However, there is still work to be done regarding the organization of information between Obsidian and Evernote. 🤔 Maybe there is an opportunity for a video on this.
I don’t have any clients today, but I’ve decided not to write scripts or edit videos. I am putting my energy into unraveling the mess I created after simultaneously using Evernote and Obsidian for a while now. Both have strengths and weaknesses, so my goal is to figure out what to use each one for.
There are things I can easily piece together. For example, I love how Evernote handles tasks, and I find the Obsidian Tasks plugin overwhelming. The same is true for the calendar. Evernote does a much better job of bundling it with our notes. At least, in my opinion.
But Obsidian is so well integrated into our computer file system, and I love to use that when creating my Unexpected Workflows.
Roughly speaking, the plan is to keep tasks and business-related content in Evernote. Especially meetings with clientes and companies I collaborate with. As for Obsidian, it will still house my Knowledge Base, as it deals much better with PDFs, blog posts, and files I’m currently using (or used) for my books, courses and video production.
I am also trying to keep the minimum number of plugins possible, having already removed many of them. That includes—don’t panic!—Davaview.
As for my personal documents, that’s still undecided.
And while testing all the ideas above, I’m experimenting with posting without using titles. After making so many posts today, I am looking at it as a far better formatting style for the blog, as well as a much cleaner way to cross-post to other social media platforms.