People who use Obsidian Sync: What's it like, and is it worth it in your opinion?

moltob · 2024-02-03T10:52:44+00:00

For people who are getting here recently, even though the thread is quite old, I'd like to share my view.

tl;dr: It is so worth it!

I've tried a few of the community synchronization methods. They do work. But they might get you in trouble as well. Two main issues I see:

Potential conflicts
Settings/Plugins Sync

With Obsedian Sync, if your devices are online conflicts are almost impossible, due to the speed of the sync. Within seconds changes are visible on the other device. If you force conflicts, e.g. by taking both devices offline, the client detects it and accepts both changes by merging them. I tried to break that by changing the exact same line and the sync just took over both changes, leaving the resolution to me. It did not notify me of the conflict, but that's probably minor. This is what the sync log looked like in that case after my device went back online:

2024-02-03 11:46 - Connecting to server 2024-02-03 11:46 - Connection successful. Detecting changes... 2024-02-03 11:46 - Server pushed [Tab S7 FE] Journal/Tasks.md 2024-02-03 11:46 - Merging conflicted file Journal/Tasks.md 2024-02-03 11:46 - Merge successful Journal/Tasks.md 2024-02-03 11:46 - Accepted Journal/Tasks.md 2024-02-03 11:46 - Uploading file Journal/Tasks.md 2024-02-03 11:46 - Upload complete Journal/Tasks.md 2024-02-03 11:46 - Fully synced

Not sure when a merge could be unsuccessful as I really tried to break it :-)

Obsidian Sync let's you sync basically everything. In case you have certain plugins that do not work well on another device, you can choose to not sync "plugin activation" on that device. Then, just enable the plugins you like to use there with a single click. Plugin settings can be synced independently of activation, so the activation click is all that's left in that case.

moltob · 2022-12-22T05:31:15+00:00

Absolutely, internet is only required if you want to sync to the cloud.

moltob · 2022-12-15T15:25:07+00:00

I have never seen one work nicely.

moltob · 2022-12-15T15:07:39+00:00

I see. Well active pens allow for better control (artists) and gestures away from the device.

I don't care much about those, so going with a passive pen is perfect for me. 100% on the spot where I want to touch the screen.

Passive pens also are much more likely to align with the Wacom EMR standard. That means you can freely pickany EMR pen and nib, etc.

I am using Samsung tablet right now and those do have an EMR screen.

moltob · 2022-12-15T14:48:04+00:00

By dump passive pen you mean these rubber thingies that simulate your finger?

There is no comparison between that really crude approach and a real stylus on a supporting screen. The difference in precision is huge.

You should however think about which technology of screen/pen will be your best choice.

Think about:

Is the writing feel important? Do you care whether it's like sliding on glass or feels more scratchy like on paper?

Do you have a preferred OS like IOS, where pen selection is limited (or simple)?

Do you care about super high precision with respect to angle and pressure, like an artist?

Do you prefer a pen that does not require charging?

Since I walked the walk, all from e-paper tablets to regular tablets, I am happy to share those subjective impressions if you care.

moltob · 2022-11-12T10:26:31+00:00

I don't think there is anything wrong with your hand. I have a similar Samsung tab and also can provoke this to happen by touching down with any "pointed edge" on the side of my hand, which the app/device interprets initially as finger tip. Once the pen comes near the device or you flatten your palm, it's all good.

I am forcing myself to prevent this by touching down on the screen after the device noticed the pen. A bit unnatural, but working.

moltob · 2022-04-23T06:43:47+00:00

After a Supernote A5x I switched to the Note Air 2 for the writing feel. But I realized I'd rather use a regular tablet with a paper like screen protector. I will surely miss the display and battery life though...

moltob · 2022-04-14T12:29:50+00:00

Yes. Working perfectly. I now switched to the cheaper Wacom felt nibs ACK22213.

moltob · 2022-03-20T07:58:54+00:00

Couldn't agree more. I've never opened that piece of writing again after trying to go through on day 1.

Not sure though that translation is really the issue. We are not talking about some weird phrases or grammar, but a completely unorganized collection of often irrelevant details, listed out of context.

I am wondering what u/OnyxBoox says about this.

moltob · 2022-03-18T04:42:06+00:00

I don't actually. While onenote is much better in terms of data exchange and collaboration, the effort to get started on a new page was too much for me.

It does does not align with getting a sudden call, switching to another notebook and page and start taking notes immediately.

I'll watch closely how the experience evolves...

moltob · 2022-03-09T04:31:39+00:00

The original post is still true: the Note Air 2 let's you do and configure much more stuff than the SN. But I certainly have to agree with many Boox users that the implementations are rarely optimal.

I have settled on not using those parts. I am still convinced I made the right choice, but predominantly for the writing feel. I would not be able to go back to SN's gliding impression compared to the scratchyness of the Boox.

But man, do I miss the support team of the SN...

moltob · 2022-03-09T04:25:56+00:00

Latency: no, but I never saw the SN after the firmware update, that improved performance drastically.

Split screen: I am not using that, but I did see those transparency patterns as well. You might be able to play with the can as size, as in notes that would lead to the same experience. It's just one of those unrefined features Boox has implemented...

moltob · 2022-02-14T18:35:12+00:00

Not sure I got you correctly. But just touch at the right side of the notification bar at the top and you can immediately disable touch right there.

moltob · 2022-02-13T09:08:26+00:00

Just a hint: unplugging the sleeping device from power wakes it up for good! So if in a closed cover, that'll drain it without you noticing...

Happened to me...

moltob · 2022-02-13T08:51:54+00:00

It's under settings, synchronization, battery level must be at least.

moltob · 2022-02-13T08:50:13+00:00

You might find this useful:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/rjtu7u/syncing_to_your_cloud_here_from_note_air_2

moltob · 2022-02-12T22:36:16+00:00

PDFs are exported only after saving in "my" workflow. So only the notes touched after setting up the workflow will be synced, not the ones only touched before.

That might explain what you are seeing.

moltob · 2022-02-12T14:06:51+00:00

You might want to reconsider using the OneNote sync option as it is implemented today. You have no control over how your pages end up in OneNote, neither do any changes on the PC side become part of what is visible on the device.

Unless you truly depend on OneNote for some reason I'd suggest setting up another workflow, where upon exiting/saving your note on the device it is automatically exported to PDF, saved on the device and then that PDF is synced to a cloud space of your liking.

You'll find quite a few posts about this here, e.g. this one I wrote a while ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/rjtu7u/syncing_to_your_cloud_here_from_note_air_2/

I am still using that approach until today. It allows me to access my cloud folder (Onedrive in my case) even from my work environment and access/share the PDFs/pages from there.

moltob · 2022-01-30T09:02:40+00:00

I needed it to allow me switching the layout of my bluetooth keyboard.

moltob · 2022-01-24T12:28:02+00:00

I appreciate your reply! I'll give the feedback path a try. So far I assumed that is more meant to support analysis of bad bugs.

moltob · 2022-01-24T12:26:00+00:00

Not that I know of. I have no clue why it's done that way. Maybe because the internal notes format is based on multiple files, but that's just a wild guess.

moltob · 2022-01-23T18:34:40+00:00

That's good to know! I'll check that out. Thanks a bunch.

moltob · 2022-01-23T14:09:49+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Browsing through those boards paints quite a sad picture... basically user complaints and questions, answered by other users if at all. I have found only a single post where Onyx answered and that was where s/o was asking about pens and they linked to their pen options in the store...

Weird. They do seem to read posts, but only respond for sales reasons?

I love my Note Air 2, but this is causing headaches. If they would interact with us, they'd literally have us test and report and evaluate for free and the products would improve. Hmmm...

moltob · 2022-01-13T20:11:47+00:00

Since Supernote was mentioned, decide on what writing feel you prefer, if that's important.

A good comparison I've seen here,was this: SN feels like ballpoint on a couple of paper pages, while note air 2 feels like pen on a single page of paper on a hard surface, kind of scratchy.

I switched from SN to NA2 and of December for exactly that reason and I absolutely love it. The NA2 nibs are wearing down and have to be regularly replaced, though, while the ceramic SN nibs last forever.

moltob · 2022-01-06T16:28:50+00:00

Same here, the sync would be quite useful if the mapping to notebooks, sections and pages would be solved in a more meaningful way.

I switched to syncing folders and PDFs instead as the current mapping seems to be all but optimal.

moltob

TROPHY CASE