Geeking out on a New M3 Mac after Being Strapped to an Aging Dell for the Last Year and Half
After using an i3 5th gen. Dell AIO for the past year and a half at work, my new M3, 24-inch iMac with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive was delivered today. As with most new installs that are highly customized, there were some ups and downs and decisions to make.
- I don’t know if I’ll stick with the magic mouse, opt for my familiar Logitech MX Anywhere 3 or dig out my Magic Trackpad. I also think I’m going to go for a larger keyboard with a number pad.
- Migration assistant worked well importing my settings and apps from the Time Machine drive of my personal MacBook. All of the Windows stuff I’m going to have to use on a VM will be what work dictates, but the Mac side is mine to customize. I didn’t have any problem changing my Setapp subscription to include a second machine.
- The weirdest bug was a mysterious photo import that kept trying to add duplicate photos to my library and wouldn’t allow me to kill the Photos app. Just as soon as I’d force quit it, it would open right back again. It persisted through reboots and various ways of ending the process. I was finally able to use a keyboard combo to repair the library and after a while the mystery import subsided.
- Getting a VM installed is an ongoing process. I couldn’t use my personal Parallels subscription and my personal license for VMWare Fusion wouldn’t work either. My commercial license is currently help up in procurement. I’m trying to get a Windows VHDX (virtual hard drive) file to work with UTM. I built one VM but it wouldn’t let me join our on-prem AD so I’m now on take two.
- Performance wise, the iMac isn’t noticeably snappier than my M2 MacBook Air. Of course I have two big-ass displays to use now, so that is an improvement.
It felt so good today to be able to use Raycast and all my comfortable keyboard shortcuts. I look forward to being able to craft Keyboard Maestro macros and Hazel workflows to simplify and streamline some of my work processes. I’ll be able to better integrate Things 3 task management and I’ll be able to quit using my iPhone as my iCloud conduit. All in all, I’m really happy to have this new tool. My boss did me a solid by letting me order an iMac and I’m grateful he believed my assertion that I could be more productive on a Mac.
A little patience, some sugar water and a backyard deck equal a photo like this #photography #birds
On the Appalachian Trail, there are Trail Angels who provide what’s called trail magic to hikers in the form of shelter, showers, rides to town and most importantly FOOD! When I thru hiked in 2013 I came across these organic apples and generic root beers in the Pennsylvania woods. #mbapr
I look back at the kind of father I was and wish I’d been a better one. I wasn’t a natural at it. But it turns out that I do have skills as a grandfather and I’m making up for lost time. And, those grown kids of mine? They love me anyways
How come no one ever told me about The FreePrints App which works with Google Photos and Apple’s Photos and gives you up to 85 4x6 prints a month for $1.99 shipping and handling? I read about it today in Jeremy Caplan’s Wondertools newsletter.
Shōgun 1x08 "The Abyss of Life"
Toranaga's defeated clan moves to Edo and awaits their fate. Blackthorne must decide who he fights for - the lord who has turned his back on him, or the ambition that brought him to Japan in the first place.
Using #Obsidian on an iPhone - Troubleshooting Advice from All Over
The Beginning
When I started using Obsidian in December of 2023, I had an iPhone 11 Pro and I was using iCloud to sync. Whenever I launched the app, it would take thirty seconds to a minute to load, making it really impractical to use for quick capture. Looking for a better experience, I opted to switch to the paid Obsidian sync ($4 month). Unfortunately as I imported more notes into my vault from my previous app of choice, Evernote, it got to the point where Obsidian would not even load. It just looped into a never-ending series of crashes. The only solution I could find was to delete my files from local storage and re-download them from the cloud.
Troubleshooting
I turned to ChatGPT for help and got this:
- Limit your file sizes: While Obsidian is capable of handling large text files, having too many or very large files can slow down the app. Try to limit your notes to a reasonable size, and split up longer notes into smaller ones if possible.
- Reduce the number of plugins: While plugins can add a lot of functionality to Obsidian, they can also slow it down if you have too many running at once. Try disabling any non-essential plugins to see if that improves performance.
- Clear Cache: Sometimes the application cache gets clogged up and causes performance issues. Go into your iPhone settings > General > iPhone Storage > Obsidian and then tap on ‘Offload App’. This will delete the app but keep all its documents and data. Then reinstall Obsidian from App Store.
- Avoid complex queries: If you’re using Dataview or similar plugins, try to avoid overly complex queries that might be putting a strain on the app.
- Close background apps: Other apps running in the background could be affecting Obsidian’s performance. Close any unnecessary apps before launching Obsidian.
- Update iOS & App: Make sure both your operating system and your app are updated to their latest versions as performance improvements are often part of updates.
- Contact Support: If none of these tips help, it may be worth reaching out to Obsidian’s support team directly for assistance with this issue.
Remember that syncing large amounts of data can take time and resources, so try not to overload it by adding too many new files at once or making lots of edits in a short space of time.
I was kind of dubious, especially of number 5, since on iOS there really isn’t anything like a background app. It doesn’t work that way. I also didn’t have any really large notes. I turned off all the plugins I didn’t absolutely need. I wasn’t sure what constituted a complex Dataview query. Most of mine seem simple enough, looking only for a single criteria, usually a tag. I was running the latest version of iOS and of the public release of Obsidian. My results weren’t that different after trying these steps so I decided to contact Obsidian support, seeing how it’s a benefit for those who pay for sync.
The Official Take
The response from support was quick and honest. The person who wrote me acknowledged the issues and said they were being addressed in an upcoming release. She also said “However, it is worth noting that depending on the size of your vault, and what plugins you are using, you may be running to out of cache memory issues on this older device (remember I was rocking a four-year old phone). Obsidian is not the most lightweight of applications. D:
Known amplifiers of this case:
- Using heavier memory plugins like Dataview and Metabind
- Enabling the backlinks core plugin on mobile
- Enabling the graph view core plugin on mobile
- Having the vault also be in iCloud on mobile
Known alleviations of this case separate from above:
- Backing up your vault, and reinstalling Obsidian on mobile if your current install of the application was pre 17.0.”
The Solution
I did everything tech support suggested and guess what? The problem didn’t get any better. For me and the way I use Obsidian, an iPhone 11 wasn’t going to cut it. I ordered an upgrade, to the 15 Pro Max and since then I haven’t had to resort to deleting and redownloading my files. I still have to wait awhile when I launch the app while things load and sync, but it becomes useable much more quickly. I tend to use Draftsfor quick capture since it’s so easy to move notes from there into my vault. I still have backlinks and graph view turned off and I don’t sync certain folder that have lots of attachments. I don’t really need my recipe collection on my phone anyway.
Atlantic sunrise at Carolina Beach, near Wilmington, NC #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 11: Sky #photography
The XCOMP 10MB hard disk, which cost $3,398 in the early 1980s, would be about $11,900 in today’s dollars. The first computer I owned was an IBM 486/33sx with a 140MB, hard drive. I bought it at Circuit City in 1993. What was yours?
What Mastodon client do you use and why? I’m partial to Ivory by Tapbots. I use it on my Mac, iPad and Phone. The only feature I wish it had is the ability to follow multiple hashtags in a single thread.
For creative people, there are few things more important than the formative experiences that shaped them. For me, a lot of that shaping took place in front of a record player in my bedroom - My Musical Memories
CSX locomotive in the snow #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 10: Train #photography
“DEI is just diversity, equity, and inclusion, by the way. That’s all it is. It’s become the new word that racists say when they want to say a slur but they realize they’re in mixed company. It’s a handy watchword for people who have decided that every problem is the result of the proximal existence of Black people and other marginalized people groups, because what they actually intend is to end the existence of such people, as soon as they can, with as much violence as possible.”
–A.R. Moxon The Reframe
Clipboard Fusion - Clipboard sharing between Windows and iOS - a solution - There are plenty of Mac/iOS clipboard sharing solutions but not so much for Windows. I found an app I love and it runs on my PC, my phone and has an encrypted web version.
One of the things I love about #IndieWeb life is the global community. I live in a small city in the southern US where we have plenty of problems, but also a few bright spots. One of my goals is to be up front about all of that with the people I meet online. So I wrote about The Southern Problem
A crispy fall morning on the Cape Fear River Trail #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 9: Crispy
The dilemma I had with street photography was whether my enjoyment of the finished product was worth the chance of getting yelled at by folks who didn’t want their picture taken. I eventually found a solution #photography
Wonder Woman is in San Antonio, Texas for a conference and coincidentally, the eclipse, but she reports the skies are cloudy and she doubts she will see much. Well, there’s always the RiverWalk.
AppRaven is what the Apple App Store would be if it were interactive. Features include app-specific message bords, price drop notifications, advanced filters to find what you want, wish lists and more. It’s ad free and doesn’t accept sponsors of any type. It’s a must have for app aficionados.
Maybe I should start a blog featuring the worst of the day from Product Hunt
