Tech

Prelude

I’ve been sitting on this post for awhile (read: months) as I wanted to write something longer, robust and full of detail how I worked through re-thinking how I engage with my portable compute devices like my Samsung Z Fold 4 and Boox Palma. Annoyingly the re-think of my Android devices triggered a much deeper re-think of how I approach ‘focused time’ and some other things. The bigger re-think is a super set of the information I hoped to put forth here and, frankly, I’d rather use my few spoons and energies to just write the ’total re-think of compute’ blog post.

This post is about 2 different writing tablets. The Wacom One and XP Pen G430S. Both are very small drawing tablets.

I bought both of these recently to help me with note taking on my computer. For my $dayJob I do a lot of implementation work and I regularly receive PDF specifications that I need to annotate. I’m also a remote worker (work from home) so I can’t just print the files and use a pen to annotate. I also can’t ‘break the glass’ in terms of moving data between my $dayJob environment and personal environment so I need some kind of drawing tablet so I can annotate PDFs as part of my job duties. I also need competent note taking software with a focus on handwritten notes as well as a tablet that has enough precision to allow me to write in cursive or printing within my chosen note taking application.

A workflow dedicated to reading web content

Over the last 15-20 years I’ve kept up a reading habit that is driven by only content I find online. I read an average of 10-20 “articles” per day and they range from single panel comics to forum threads to blog posts to mainstream news. If it looks interesting, I’m likely going to read it at some point.

If that seems like an absurd amount of reading day to day: it is! But! I do not consume much television, movie or other video content. It’s incredibly rare for me to sit and watch video of my own volition. I’ll go as far as skipping video content when I come across it. Yes, I’m “different” and “weird” about video and I genuinely don’t give a shit ; video isn’t for me.

TLDR

The Mi Band 7 should be a top consideration for anyone considering a smart watch or a fitness tracker. The only potential ‘problem’ is the software can be fiddly to setup but works incredibly well despite setup hassles.

For full details and thoughts, continue reading.

The Hardware

The device itself is setup to look more like a bracelet than watch when worn. It has a similar look to the bracelet styled fitness trackers. The screen takes up the whole device face and is very ‘smart watch’ in style for the UI. It’s also got a few built in apps and tiles that make using the device feel more like a basic smart watch than simple fitness or health tracker. It’s a wonderful midpoint between a simple bracelet fitness tracker and full smart watch.

Prelude

Awhile ago I spent some time reviewing how I read books, news and random internet articles day to day. My goal was to bring a Kobo Clara HD back into regular use as I greatly prefer e-ink displays for reading. As with most things in my life, a “straight forward tech rework” was just the beginning of something far bigger.

I read a lot: an average of one hour plus per day with some days being over four hours of reading. I also cannot listen to audio books due to some speech processing and memory issues. Nor do I watch much video as it can cause me to turn into “a lump” that’s borderline catatonic. Video also does not relax me or help me unwind, recenter, or similar. It’s a pure time killer that has zero benefit for my physical or mental well being on the whole.

The Chargie

The Chargie is a small piece of hardware that’ll allow you to tune the way electronic devices are charged. It’s designed to let you only charge a device to a specific percentage as well as block data during charging. It’s basically a hardware ‘battery life saver’ for your phone, tablet and other devices that can run their app (Android and iOS, click the above thumbnail for what the app looks like).

For the last 18 months or so I’ve been using a OnePlus 8T and Microsoft Surface Duo. As of this writing, I’m now using a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 as my only device. Why?

Because Samsung got it right when it comes to an adaptable device.

This quote, unquote phone is a phone, tablet and laptop for me. It is a converged form of every mobile device I’ve used to date, including a laptop.

Preface

I’ve written in the past about my Digital Bullet Journal setup (link) and how I’ve come to use it as my primary organizational system. Unfortunately, until very recently, I always had a disconnect between my phone and org-mode.

Historically I’ve kept a ‘churning’ area of my to do list on my phone that sync’s to my desktop. It was a daily list of stuff I wanted to get done as well as things I thought of over the course of a day. Kind of like a slip box that was disconnected from all of my org-mode data, including my daily habit tracking. The setup was great for the daily churn but really hard to tie into org in a low friction way for me.

Changelog

2023-12-31

• Added GameSir x2 Pro
• Added Hori Split Pad JoyCons
• Added BinBok DOYOKY Classic JoyCons
• Added MayFlash Magic-S Pro 2
• Added JoyCon config
• Added Warframe config

2023-03-12

• Controller: Add Scuff Instinct pro
• Controller: Add Kishi v2
• Elite Series 2: Flip primary/shifted right stick main Elite Series 2 control config for smoother default motion with option to ’look fast’ if needed
• No Man’s Sky: Add in-game config
• Destiny 2 config: Re-jigger class and grenades such that there is less shoulder tapping/holds. This requires 4 paddles and is a direct reaction to the Strand Destiny element class
• Destiny 2 general: The 4 paddle requirement for Destiny is optional and the original config has been retained as it does work but is less efficient than the 4 paddle update below
• Destiny 2 in-game config: Update KemoNine configs to reflect changes once Strand launched in Destiny
• General: Cleanup config sections so they now collapse down for easier scanning and reading

What Is Below

I initially intended this post be a guide and review on getting controller gaming to be more accessible. Rather than drone on with too many thousands of words, I felt this post should be condensed into something of a reference and highlights reel and it still ended up being a longer read than I expected.

I’ve never hid the fact I try to make my ‘stuff’ accessible for folks. It’s A Thing for me and I’ve spent considerable time working on this blog to maximize it’s utility and accessibility.

I should be in generally good shape overall and I wanted to share a few links for how I pulled this off.

I ran ARC Toolkit (link) as my first pass with WAVE (link) as a second pass. I also looked at axe (link) but have not run it locally yet. These tools seem to give good results on the whole and will cover the core needs from what I can figure out so far.