December 29, 2021
Path
2021 Review
Focus on Obsidian
This is an easy post to write. 2021 was the year of Obsidian for me.
Obsidian took over all my writing. The best feature of Obsidian is the plugin infrastructure.
The schemar/obsidian-tasks: Task management for the Obsidian knowledge base. and the mgmeyers/obsidian-kanban: Create markdown-backed Kanban boards in Obsidian. have extended Markdown and Obsidian in ways I hadn’t thought possible.
I am not using one of the major plugins in the ecosystem: obsidian-dataview. Haven’t had the time to understand how that works.
Not sold on the whole Knowledge Management bandwagon either. I use Obsidian to write everything. I am not creating a second brain or anything like that. I am writing in it. Everything. The goal is to write. Use it as the main text editor, and manage my schedule and tasks while I am in the program. It is my one-stop-shop for all my writing. The charm of the graph-view of my notes is lost on me. Not interested in that. As you can tell, my use-case is different from the usual Obsidian evangelist.
I love the community around the product. There are new plugins and themes appearing at an astonishing rate and they enhance the experience of using Obsidian.
It is an efficient Markdown based text editor for me.
Pain Points in Obsidian
- Non-native. Doesn’t support Services and other system features. It bugs me. Typora proves that an Electron app can support Services and other system features. Wish Obsidian caught up with that.
- Live Preview. I am sure I don’t need that. Hiding the Markdown syntax is not something I care for.
- Electron apps have a tendency to feel “heavy.” I don’t have a better way of describing the experience. Drafts or iA Writer have a much lighter feel to them. I miss that sometimes.
Everything Else
Looking Forward
I need a new machine. Waiting for the next generation iMacs. I will be in the market for a new machine when that is available.
Hoping and wishing you a better 2022.
Take care.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie.
Thanks to Photo by Tyler Lastovich from Pexels
macOS
December 25, 2021
QB 001: Grammarly Turns Off System Spell Checker
Grammarly for Mac turns off the system’s ability to spell check your documents. You can regain the use of the system spell checker by running the following command in the terminal:
defaults write -g NSAllowContinuousSpellChecking -bool true
Restart the applications where you need spell checking. I also deleted Grammarly from the machine. That is unacceptable behavior from an application. If you are turning off a system feature, you need to let the user know and provide explicit directions on how to get back to the original state.
Thanks to John Bennett of Information Architects for clueing me in to the solution.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie.
Note:
QB = Quick Bites
macOS
grammarly
spell-checker
October 6, 2021
nimblenote icon
nimblenote Is a Simple, Keyboard-Driven Notetaker
Product: nimblenote
Price: Free (donations encouraged)
nimblenote is another Notational Velocity clone. nimblenote is keyboard driven and Markdown compliant. It is a cross-platform application, with versions for macOS, Windows and Linux.
nimblenote window
It is a simple program for fast note-taking. To access the preferences, you have to go to your Library>Application Support>nimblenote folder to find a file called nimblenote.json. You can add the following line to the file to get nimblenote to deal with a different folder for your notes than the program default.
"notesStoragePath": "/Users/(username)/Documents/notes"
Replace the (username) with your username, and direct nimblenote to the folder of your notes. I threw about 1400 files at nimblenote and it chugged along with no problems.
If you type ? in the unibar, you will get access to help. It is not extensive. The program doesn’t do much. The Esc key switches focus between the unibar and the editor window.
This is not a program competing with the major players in the note-taking space. It is a simple note-taker. A quick in and out tool which lets you keep a folder of notes and lets you access, add, remove, and manage the notes in that folder.
Suggested Improvements
nimblenote could become better with the following additions:
- Let me use my own fonts.
- Give me control over line spacing.
- Additional themes would be welcome.
Recommendation
nimblenote is heartily recommended. It is a free, fast, and competent note-taking tool.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie.
notes
macOS
September 16, 2021
The Planck
Planck EZ Helps Me Write
Product: Planck EZ: A Powerful, Backlit, Open-Source, 40% Mechanical Keyboard | Planck EZ
Price: $(240-255)
The Planck EZ
It has 47 keys. It is tiny. When the keyboard lights are on, it is a little overwhelming. It feels well made and it is pretty. It is ortholinear. It is customizable.
Ortholinear? What does that mean? Look at the positions of Q, A, and Z. They are on a straight line. In the usual keyboards, they are staggered. Straight on an ortholinear setup. The logic behind the ortholinear setup is that fingers typing on it don’t have to travel as much. That is less stress on your fingers and the typing speed increases.
The Planck Without the Light Show
Without the light show, it is pretty. This is a wired keyboard. No Bluetooth. Works with USB Type C and USB Type A.
You have a choice of 8 Cherry MX Switch varieties and 5 Kailh Switch Varieties. The switches are hot-swappable, you can mix and match if that is your wish. I got the Cherry MX Browns. They are quieter than the Blues and I like the feel of them. I don’t know about the Kailh switches, I stuck to the familiar Cherry switches.
Making the Keyboard Your Own
With only 47 keys, you have to make space for the other keys. The Planck does that with layers. See the keys on the left and the right of the diminutive spacebar? Those are the keys you use to switch layers. The default setup comes with 4 layers:
- A lower layer is accessed by pressing and holding the left layer key.
- A raised layer is accessed by pressing and holding the right layer key.
- The base layer, and,
- The adjust layer is accessed by pressing and holding both the left and right layer keys.
You can add layers to the configuration. 28 more (for a total of 32). That is more layers than I can manage. I am still using the default layers and have not ventured away from that. Need to get used to the location of the keys I have set up before I make more layers.
The Oryx configurator is what you use to configure the keys. You can find my configuration here. You can add a spot color to individual keys to use as identifiers. The configuration is easy. You modify the layout, you download the configuration to your computer. You drop the configuration on Wally. And let Wally flash your keyboard.
The base layer
This is my base layer. Pretty standard. I added the Hyper key. I use that a lot. Also customized the Enter key. It is Enter if it is tapped and the Right Shift key when it is held down. Not sure that I need that anymore, having discovered the joys of Auto-Shift. More on that a little later.
I was already getting used to the VIM directional keys (h,j,k,l) so the arrow keys in a line don’t seem to bug me as much as I thought they would. I am still getting used to the placement of the Tab and the Esc key. Debating whether I should switch them around. Other than that, the base layer is perfect.
The lower layer
The lower layer. The cluster of brackets gets a lot of use. They are colored differently from the other keys. Might consider different colors for the # and * keys to be easier to locate. Those keys get used extensively when I am writing in Markdown (which is all the time). There are some media keys on the bottom right. They get a fair amount of usage. The Oryx key is on the bottom left. Not sure whether that is useful at all, I haven’t used it in the time I have had the keyboard.
The raised layer
The raised layer. The numbers are on the top. The End/Home/PgUp/PgDn cluster is useful. Some more media keys at the bottom right. The slash key is a toggle between the backward and the forward slash. The Planck simulates some mouse controls. Left and right-click with the mouse is on this layer.
The adjust layer
The adjust layer. You get this by holding down the raise and lower keys. I like the number pad, that is here. There are some hardware toggle keys to turn on/off backlighting and other adjustments to it.
The advanced settings
The advanced settings. Auto-Shift is a fantastic feature. A long press on a letter key and you get the capitalized version of the letter. Makes typing a lot more fun. I am in love with Auto-Shift. Makes it difficult to use another keyboard after getting used to this, it has made me type so much better. I have Auto-Shift turned on for everything and it is a feature I am using extensively.
I didn’t take any formal instructions on how to type. I learned by chatting on IRC and BBS’es when I was almost thirty years old. I have lots of bad habits. I am sure I use the wrong finger for particular keys and am not efficient at typing. When I first got the keyboard, it was a right mess. Couldn’t type on it without bunches of mistakes. It was a difficult two weeks. It got better the more I used the keyboard. It is still not perfect, but it is not a frustrating exercise anymore. I can instinctively keep on putting words on the screen without thinking about where the keys are. That is a noticeable improvement.
The Planck is habit-forming. Moving from it to the Air keyboard is an absolute nightmare. Mistakes galore. Auto-Shift compounds the problem.
Once you get used to it, The Planck is a joy to type in. I am slowly getting there. Why are all keyboards not like this? Auto-Shift, the ability to customize the keys, and the color-coded keys make the Planck a worthwhile investment for me. The ortholinear setup is something that took a little getting used to, but I have no pain in my hands now. I can type on this the whole day, and I do, every day, with no pain.
Conclusion
If you are not constrained by space or money, you might consider the ErgoDox EZ: An Incredible Mechanical Ergonomic Keyboard or the ZSA Moonlander: Next-gen Ergonomics | zsa.io | Store. But if you are looking for something smaller and cheaper, the Planck is a great alternative.
I am ecstatic with my use of the Planck. This is turning into a workhorse and I am enjoying putting words on the screen with it.
I have to thank Matt Gemmill for the inspiration. He wrote three articles on the Planck and they helped me:
- The Planck Keyboard - Matt Gemmell
- 40% Keyboard Layout for Writing - Matt Gemmell
- Compressing Your Keyboard - Matt Gemmell
Thank you Matt. And thank you ZSA Technology Labs, Inc. for making a good product.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie.
keyboard
Bicycle For Your Mind
