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I still use my bullet journal (moleskine paper + graphgear pencil), and also use Obsidian (switched from Roam abt a year ago), and have a reMarkable 2 eink tabl

I still use my bullet journal (moleskine paper + graphgear pencil), and also use Obsidian (switched from Roam abt a year ago), and have a reMarkable 2 eink tablet -- which I _might_ try using as a digital replacement for the bullet journal. I'm sometimes bothered by the inefficiency / partial redundancy in my system's current iteration... OTOH the resiliency is great. My flavor of bullet journal makes it reasonably easy to find stuff thanks to numbered pages, a structure that includes dedicated pages separate from daily notes, and a comprehensive index.

throwanem 5y ago
> a reMarkable 2 eink tablet -- which I _might_ try using as a digital replacement for the bullet journal Be aware that the software on those is so limited as to make indexing of any kind entirely impossible.
- mbreese 5y ago
  My view is that less software is better, when it comes to note taking. My frustration with the RM2 is that I really don’t see much of a benefit to taking “digital notes”, aside from the fact that I can have multiple “notebooks” with me at all times. All of the electronic features (OCR, searching, indexing), aren’t helpful enough to make the switch. But I do like the RM2, so long as you aren’t looking for much software help. I’m personally still a bit on the fence for my RM2, but leaning that direction. Having multiple logical notebooks to keep meeting separate is pretty handy.
  - throwanem 5y ago
    > My view is that less software is better, when it comes to note taking. Perhaps, but there is an inflection point. Without any support for indexing, the device is less functional for me than a paper notebook, despite the admittedly excellent writing experience it provides - not as good as paper, but I think as close as e-ink and a stylus can come. Are there searching and indexing features on the device? When I tried it out a few months ago, there were not, but perhaps I missed a firmware update.
  - chrisweekly 5y ago
    YMMV but I love digital-only RM2 features like undo/redo; selection lasso for copy/paste, resize, and move; and zoom, pan and scroll. Rearranging the elements when sketching or diagramming is a game-changer for me.
- crowbahr 5y ago
  Based on my research the onyx boox note air 2 is a better integrated solution for synchronized note taking
  - throwanem 5y ago
    I'll be honest, the reMarkable put me far enough off the idea not to bother looking again for a while, if ever. I can as easily put a notebook in my satchel, and for the sake of sheer enjoyment I'd rather write with my Decimo than with any stylus I've ever tried. (One might argue also that a paper notebook never needs charging, and that is true, but a pen does need to be charged with ink. I made a couple of small carry tubes sized to fit Namiki cartridges, each with a soft spring in the base to raise the cartridge for easy retrieval when the tube is uncapped.)
    - crowbahr 5y ago
      From what I've read the Remarkable was plagued with fragility, overly restrictive ecosystem and poor performance. The Boox is Android and therefore easily customized and overall really easy to use and sync with.
    - chrisweekly 5y ago
      I prefer Pentel GraphGear 1000 mechanical pencils. They're metal, carry a bunch of refill leads, fine-grained tip length control (2 clicks is perfect), and even have erasers you can extend when they start to wear down.
      - throwanem 5y ago
        That looks like a very good design! When I use a pencil, I like a Twist-Erase III for most of the same reasons. But I've also found a good fountain pen to be faster and more comfortable to use than any pencil, and over the past few years pens have much improved my hand besides. I started with a Pilot Metropolitan, and will happily recommend it to anyone as an easy, inexpensive starter pen that works well, looks good, and requires an absolute minimum of fuss. (You also don't need to replace cartridges in a pen all that often - at least not in a Pilot pen, whose cartridges hold a milliliter. I just like to have a spare so I don't find myself having to grab the loaner rollerball from my satchel, and a spare for the spare in case I use the first spare and forget to replace it. I grant I may slightly overthink this, but I've been being me for long enough now to have a pretty good grasp of most failure modes, too...)
- chrisweekly 5y ago
  Ok, thanks I guess - but for my purposes that's moot. It's easy to import the rm2 "pages" into my Obsidian vault. And Obsidian's search and metadata features are extraordinarily powerful.
  - throwanem 5y ago
    That's great, but also means I can't make full use of the device without going through some probably ssh-based sync process with a laptop and a tool I don't currently use. That's the kind of limitation I find very frustrating by comparison with paper notebooks, which I just have to look at to find things in.
    - chrisweekly 5y ago
      That's legit. But when you've got more than 5 years of monthly journals to look through, the tradeoffs look a little different.
      - throwanem 5y ago
        I suppose so. Do you have a writeup of your methods anywhere? The reMarkable let me down too badly for me to remain very interested in giving it another chance as a wholesale replacement, but I'd be a fool to assume that means there's nothing worth learning from someone who's found success with it. If nothing else, maybe there's some way it could be useful to me after all!
        chrisweekly 5y ago
        Hi Aaron, No writeup to share, but it's really simple: launching the reMarkable desktop app automatically syncs the rm2's contents to my destination of choice. My Obsidian vault includes a directory containing my rm2 folders and "notebooks", which use a date-based naming convention. FWIW, I agree w your assessment of the on-device search and navigation, but since I use it almost exclusively for input, that's never really bothered me.

throwanem 5y ago

> a reMarkable 2 eink tablet -- which I _might_ try using as a digital replacement for the bullet journal Be aware that the software on those is so limited as to make indexing of any kind entirely impossible.

mbreese 5y ago
My view is that less software is better, when it comes to note taking. My frustration with the RM2 is that I really don’t see much of a benefit to taking “digital notes”, aside from the fact that I can have multiple “notebooks” with me at all times. All of the electronic features (OCR, searching, indexing), aren’t helpful enough to make the switch. But I do like the RM2, so long as you aren’t looking for much software help. I’m personally still a bit on the fence for my RM2, but leaning that direction. Having multiple logical notebooks to keep meeting separate is pretty handy.
- throwanem 5y ago
  > My view is that less software is better, when it comes to note taking. Perhaps, but there is an inflection point. Without any support for indexing, the device is less functional for me than a paper notebook, despite the admittedly excellent writing experience it provides - not as good as paper, but I think as close as e-ink and a stylus can come. Are there searching and indexing features on the device? When I tried it out a few months ago, there were not, but perhaps I missed a firmware update.
- chrisweekly 5y ago
  YMMV but I love digital-only RM2 features like undo/redo; selection lasso for copy/paste, resize, and move; and zoom, pan and scroll. Rearranging the elements when sketching or diagramming is a game-changer for me.
crowbahr 5y ago
Based on my research the onyx boox note air 2 is a better integrated solution for synchronized note taking
- throwanem 5y ago
  I'll be honest, the reMarkable put me far enough off the idea not to bother looking again for a while, if ever. I can as easily put a notebook in my satchel, and for the sake of sheer enjoyment I'd rather write with my Decimo than with any stylus I've ever tried. (One might argue also that a paper notebook never needs charging, and that is true, but a pen does need to be charged with ink. I made a couple of small carry tubes sized to fit Namiki cartridges, each with a soft spring in the base to raise the cartridge for easy retrieval when the tube is uncapped.)
  - crowbahr 5y ago
    From what I've read the Remarkable was plagued with fragility, overly restrictive ecosystem and poor performance. The Boox is Android and therefore easily customized and overall really easy to use and sync with.
  - chrisweekly 5y ago
    I prefer Pentel GraphGear 1000 mechanical pencils. They're metal, carry a bunch of refill leads, fine-grained tip length control (2 clicks is perfect), and even have erasers you can extend when they start to wear down.
    - throwanem 5y ago
      That looks like a very good design! When I use a pencil, I like a Twist-Erase III for most of the same reasons. But I've also found a good fountain pen to be faster and more comfortable to use than any pencil, and over the past few years pens have much improved my hand besides. I started with a Pilot Metropolitan, and will happily recommend it to anyone as an easy, inexpensive starter pen that works well, looks good, and requires an absolute minimum of fuss. (You also don't need to replace cartridges in a pen all that often - at least not in a Pilot pen, whose cartridges hold a milliliter. I just like to have a spare so I don't find myself having to grab the loaner rollerball from my satchel, and a spare for the spare in case I use the first spare and forget to replace it. I grant I may slightly overthink this, but I've been being me for long enough now to have a pretty good grasp of most failure modes, too...)
chrisweekly 5y ago
Ok, thanks I guess - but for my purposes that's moot. It's easy to import the rm2 "pages" into my Obsidian vault. And Obsidian's search and metadata features are extraordinarily powerful.
- throwanem 5y ago
  That's great, but also means I can't make full use of the device without going through some probably ssh-based sync process with a laptop and a tool I don't currently use. That's the kind of limitation I find very frustrating by comparison with paper notebooks, which I just have to look at to find things in.
  - chrisweekly 5y ago
    That's legit. But when you've got more than 5 years of monthly journals to look through, the tradeoffs look a little different.
    - throwanem 5y ago
      I suppose so. Do you have a writeup of your methods anywhere? The reMarkable let me down too badly for me to remain very interested in giving it another chance as a wholesale replacement, but I'd be a fool to assume that means there's nothing worth learning from someone who's found success with it. If nothing else, maybe there's some way it could be useful to me after all!
      - chrisweekly 5y ago
        Hi Aaron, No writeup to share, but it's really simple: launching the reMarkable desktop app automatically syncs the rm2's contents to my destination of choice. My Obsidian vault includes a directory containing my rm2 folders and "notebooks", which use a date-based naming convention. FWIW, I agree w your assessment of the on-device search and navigation, but since I use it almost exclusively for input, that's never really bothered me.