253 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
253 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: 'Catchy title about Supernote being "the new paper"'
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author: ["Amolith"]
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cover: ./cover.png
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lastmod: 2023-01-27T13:00:37-05:00
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tags: ["Supernote", "Writing", "Productivity", "Organisation"]
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categories: ["Technology"]
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draft: true
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toc: true
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---
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I like writing things down. I like the feel of the pen (preferably a fountain
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pen) gliding smoothly over the paper, that nice solid feeling of the tip against
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the table, seeing the ink dry as it flows from the nib, accidentally swiping my
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hand through it before it's finished and smearing a bit of ink across the page,
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then cursing under my breath as I dab it up with a handkerchief or a napkin or
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something else nearby. I also love that writing things by hand [has an impact on
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memory and improves
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retention.](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797614524581)
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## The problem {#the-problem}
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Unfortunately, I don't love keeping up with that paper. Across many different
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classes, even with dedicated folders for each one, something important
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inevitably gets lost. Notebooks are also bulky and can take up a lot of space. I
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tried [bullet journalling](https://bulletjournal.com/) for about a month earlier
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this year and, while the process was enjoyable, the maintenance was not. My
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brain moves faster than my pen (even though I have terrible handwriting) and I
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inevitably forget letters or even whole words. This is a problem while writing
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in pen because white-out looks ugly and I dislike wasting whole pages because of
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a couple mistakes.
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The obvious solution here is to get an iPad with an Apple Pen, right? Right??
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Wrong because Apple bad.[^fn:1]
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## The solution {#the-solution}
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Enter the world of ... what are they even called? E-ink notebooks? Paper
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tablets? E-R/W?[^fn:2] Do they even have a "device category" yet? I don't know,
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but they solve my problem in a wonderful way.
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As the names suggest, these are devices that can _usually_ open and read e-books
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(EPUBs, PDFs, etc.), annotate them, and create standalone pages of notes as if
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they were full notebooks. The most well-known of these devices is likely the
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[reMarkable.](https://remarkable.com/) They had a [hugely successful
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crowdfunding
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campaign](https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/08/remarkable-raises-15-million-to-bring-its-e-paper-tablets-to-more-scribblers/)
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and produced the reMarkable 1, followed by [the reMarkable 2 in 2020.](https://blog.remarkable.com/remarkable-2-the-next-generation-paper-tablet-91b47d0080cb)
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There are a few devices like these by now but we'll look at the reMarkable
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first.
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## The reMarkable {#the-remarkable}
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This device boasts all of the features I was looking for. It renders digital
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content, from books and manuals to comics and manga, allows you to mark those
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documents up as you would if they were physical media, create full notebooks of
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hand written text, organise them, search, and, if your handwriting is legible
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enough (mine certainly is not), perform OCR on your notes and email a
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transcription to yourself. It even runs Linux and the developers have opened SSH
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up so you can remote in and tinker with it as much as you like. Because of this,
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there's a pretty awesome [community of people creating third-party tools and
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integrations](https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable) that add even
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further functionality. My favourite is probably
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[rMview,](https://github.com/bordaigorl/rmview) a really fast VNC client for the
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reMarkable that allows you to view your device's screen on any computer.
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After watching all of [MyDeepGuide's](https://www.youtube.com/c/MyDeepGuide)
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[extensive playlist on the
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reMarkable,](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5Vb-nB41UTnrXd)
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however, I decided to go with a different product.
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## Enter the Supernote A5X {#enter-the-supernote-a5x}
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The [Supernote A5X](https://www.supernote.com/#/product?type=SN-A5-X) has all of
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the basic features the reMarkable has: reading documents, writing notes, and
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organising your content. Its implementation, on the other hand, seems to be much
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more polished. It also lacks some features from the reMarkable while adding
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others.
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## Operating System {#operating-system}
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While the reMarkable runs Codex,[^fn:3] a _"custom Linux-based OS optimised for
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low-latency e-paper"_, the Supernote just runs Android. There are both benefits
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and detriments to this; on one hand, they're running all of Android, bloated
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that it is, on a very lightweight tablet. On the other, they don't have to
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develop and maintain a custom operating system. This allows them to focus on
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other aspects that are arguably more important so I don't actually mind that it
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runs Android.
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The only place that Android stands out is in system operations; file transfer
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uses MTP and, when you swipe down from the top of the device, a small bar
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appears similar to what was in early Android. This lets you change WiFi
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networks, sync with the Supernote Cloud, take a screenshot, search, and access
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the system settings. Nothing else about the device really screams Android to me.
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## Community {#community}
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I don't usually browse Reddit but [the Supernote
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community](https://old.reddit.com/r/Supernote/) there is fascinating. I haven't
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looked around enough to know exactly what his relationship is with the company,
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but one of the members, [u/hex2asc,](https://old.reddit.com/user/hex2asc) seems
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to represent Supernote in something of an official capacity. He's incredibly
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active and usually responds to posts and questions within a day or two.
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Before I purchased a Supernote, [I wrote a
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post](https://old.reddit.com/r/Supernote/comments/lhffyd/sync_targets_open_document_formats_and_crossnote/)
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asking about a couple of things that concerned me: sync targets, open document
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formats, and cross-note links. I don't really plan to write full documents on
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the device but having the option to do so would still be nice. The other
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features are absolutely killer for me as I would like to maintain a Zettelkasten
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(I wrote about [using Vim to do so](/vim-as-a-markdown-editor/) last year but
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didn't end up sticking with it) and manage document synchronisation with my own
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Nextcloud server. The community was quick to respond and confirm that
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Zettelkasten functionality would be implemented soon™. u/hex2asc responded _the
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day after_ and said that WebDAV would be supported but not earlier than May
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(September update: it's still not supported), ODF would likely not be supported,
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and cross-note links were definitely a possibility. Another community member has
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been avidly following the subreddit and even put together an [unofficial
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roadmap.](https://app-rm.roadmunk.com/publish/03e6dca3d769e2b7015f7f48a649cb3f75f44d9e)
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## Interfaces {#interfaces}
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### Home & Organisation {#home-and-organisation}
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#### <span class="org-todo todo TODO">TODO</span> Record very short video about home/organisation {#record-very-short-video-about-home-organisation}
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### Settings {#settings}
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#### <span class="org-todo todo TODO">TODO</span> Record very short video about settings {#record-very-short-video-about-settings}
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### Writing & Annotating {#writing-and-annotating}
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The following images are screenshots of the full page above with the possible UI
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variations while reading a book. This first one is default, with the editing bar
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at the top. It is exactly the same as what's displayed on the blank pages for
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hand writing full notes. From left to right is the Table of Contents toggle, the
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pen tools (fineliner, "fountain" pen,[^fn:4] and highlighter), the erasers,
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lasso select tool, undo/redo, context menu, palm rejection toggle, previous
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page, goto page, next page, and exit.
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{{< figure
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src="~/repos/sites/secluded/static/assets/pngs/supernote-reader-default.png" >}}
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You can hold your finger on that bar and drag it down to detach it from the top.
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The default width exposes all the tools without whitespace. You can move it
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around the screen by dragging the circle with a straight line through the middle
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on the far left.
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{{< figure
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src="~/repos/sites/secluded/static/assets/pngs/supernote-reader-medium.png" >}}
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If you tap that circle, the width shrinks and everything except the pens,
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erasers, and undo/redo buttons are hidden. It can be dragged the same was as in
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the previous image and tapping that circle will expand the bar again.
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{{< figure
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src="~/repos/sites/secluded/static/assets/pngs/supernote-reader-small.png" >}}
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The last mode is with the bar completely hidden. You achieve this just by
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dragging it to the right edge of the screen. Once hidden, you can swipe right to
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left from the edge and it will be revealed flush with the right edge.
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{{< figure
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src="~/repos/sites/secluded/static/assets/pngs/supernote-reader-minimal.png" >}}
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## Experience {#experience}
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### Reading content {#reading-content}
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I love e-ink. I think it looks beautiful and would love to have an e-ink
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monitor.[^fn:5] That said, the Supernote has an especially nice display with 226
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PPI (pixels per inch). The image below was taken with my phone's camera so it's
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not very good. However, if you zoom in a bit, you can see that the curved edges
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of some letters are _slightly_ pixellated. Viewing with my naked eye at a
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comfortable distance, it does look better _to me_ than some of my print books,
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however.
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{{< figure
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src="~/repos/sites/secluded/static/assets/pngs/supernote-resolution.png" >}}
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_At the moment,_ I am pretty disappointed with Table of Contents detection for
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ePUBs. A great many of my books seem to use a legacy ToC format that the
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Supernote sees and tries/fails to read before attempting to read the more
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up-to-date one. This is easily remedied by editing the ePUB in
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[Calibre,](https://calibre-ebook.com/) going to Tools → Upgrade Book Internals →
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Remove the legacy Table of Contents in NCX format. You might need to make a
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small change to one of the HTML files and revert it before the save button is
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enabled. After that, just copy it back over to the Supernote and everything
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should work properly.
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### Writing notes {#writing-notes}
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I write notes as often if not _more_ often than I read and annotate books. It's
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the main reason I purchased the device and I love the experience. The Supernote
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doesn't _really_ feel like paper despite what their marketing materials claim,
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though it doesn't feel _bad_ either. It's hard to describe but I would say it's
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something like writing with a rollerball pen on high-quality paper with a marble
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counter underneath: incredibly smooth with but a little bit of texture so it
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doesn't feel like writing on a glass display.
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While writing latency[^fn:6] is noticeable, I really don't have a huge issue
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with it. I write very quickly but find that the slight latency actually makes
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writing _more_ enjoyable. It sounds weird and I'm not sure why, but I _really_
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like writing on the Supernote; it's wonderfully smooth, pressure-sensitive, the
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latency makes things interesting, and [the Heart of Metal
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pen](https://supernote.com/#/part?id=SP-04) feels good in my hand.
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### Surfacing Content {#surfacing-content}
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While organisation is done using a regular filesystem hierarchy, the Supernote
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does have other ways to search for and surface your notes. As you're writing,
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you can use the lasso select tool and encircle a word. A little dialogue pops up
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and gives you a few buttons for things you can do with that selection: copy,
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move to another page, cut, add it to the Table of Contents, or mark it as a key
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word. If you select the key word icon, the Supernote does some incredible
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OCR[^fn:7] on it and displays a dialogue where you can add it to the note file
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as a tag. This dialogue allows you to edit the word before adding it just in
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case the OCR was wonky. Even with my terrible handwriting, I've found that it
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works very well and I rarely have to make edits.
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## <span class="org-todo todo TODO">TODO</span> Ping Isi and Volpeon when finished {#ping-isi-and-volpeon-when-finished}
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[^fn:1]:
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I dislike Apple's operating system, their hardware, business model, privacy
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practises, and much of what they stand for as a company. Don't @ me.
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[^fn:2]:
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E-R/W is a play on media commonly being labelled as R/W when you can read
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from it and write to it.
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[^fn:3]:
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Taken from their [support page about the reMarkable
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2;](https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006699537-About-reMarkable-2-)
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search the page for _operating system_ and it should show up.
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[^fn:4]:
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It's not really a fountain pen even though that's what they call it; it's
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just pressure-sensitive.
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[^fn:5]:
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There does seem to be a group of people interested in just such a thing:
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_[Challenges Building an Open-Source E Ink
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Laptop](https://alexsoto.dev/challenges-building-an-open-source-eink-laptop.html)_
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[^fn:6]:
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In this situation, latency refers to how long it takes for "ink" to show up
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on the "page" after writing something.
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[^fn:7]:
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_Optical Character Recognition_: the program looks at your handwriting and
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tries to turn it into text.
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