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Comment by caipira | Hacker News Reader

I've being developing my own micro-cloud for the last ten years - There I've wrote my own email client, password manager, finance book, OTP, movies, music, notes, calendar, backup... and a lot of other micro apps. It works fantastic for me, and I'd recommend you to try setting up an instance of NextCloud, which can achieve similar results. My problem with org-mode, Obsidian, etc is that they are attention black holes, you focus all of your time installing plugins and configuring your workspace that by the time you're done with that you don't really feel like doing the real work. If that's your case, you might consider removing apps that hinder you ability to control your life and just use a simple, plain, gigantic markdown file and grow organically from there, with the focus being simplicity and 0 config.

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> I've being developing my own micro-cloud for the last ten years - There I've wrote my own email client, password manager, finance book, OTP, movies, music, notes, calendar, backup... and a lot of other micro apps

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> My problem with org-mode, Obsidian, etc is that they are attention black holes, you focus all of your time installing plugins and configuring your workspace that by the time you're done with that you don't really feel like doing the real work

Seems so contradictory ha!

Not really, in the sense that the idea of a lot of these apps are "customization and plugins", and I wanted something that had it all, required 0 config and was totally opinionated. I can set up a new environment just by doing docker-compose up, that simplicity was always my goal 0.

Yes, it took time to develop it, but I would be working on another shiny thing anyway as I like to work on side projects, so I see that as a net gain.

I personally use Obsidian without any community plugins across two vaults, and it works absolutely fantastic. I do not plan to add any plugins to my installation(s) as long as they lack on some aspect pretty horribly.

I was able to consolidate 7 years of office notes divided in two applications in a week, 25 minutes day, into a new hierarchy, and did it with Obsidian as-is. I can't look from the perspective where one needs a month to optimize an application even before writing their first note in it.

Yeah... but did you write your own email client and calendar? lol

I write small utilities to automate my infrastructure, yes, but they're not numerous as this. Instead of writing my own utilities, I automate workflows and write tools which sends me e-mails or push notifications when things go wrong.

The aim is to never receive notifications, actually. :)

I'm trying to reduce unnecessary time in front of computers, not maximize it. :)

Sorry I should've added an /s or something. I was mostly just making a joke about what you said vs what you were responding to about the Obsidian plugin detail where the parent mentioned that being the problem with Obsidian right after mentioned rewriting all basic utilities themselves for some reason lol

Haha, no :) I understood what you did there, and by taking your question literally, used your reply to add some more context about how I think, and create a bit more force to help OP by showing that other ways are possible.

Yes, what OP does is not very conventional, but I felt that redirection of this ambition to more practical ways can return OP as another productivity boost.

IOW, I repurposed your comment. :)

Makes sense! This interaction made me smile. You seem like a pleasant person, have a great day!

Hey, thanks! I'm trying my best, this is all I know. :)

Now I feel better just because an internet stranger is having a better day, honestly! :)

Hope you have a great day, too.

I'm sorry, I think it's cool you've setup your own micro-cloud and written all of your own apps but following that up by saying that installing a few plugins in Obsidian is an attention black hole is goofy. I feel like rewriting a bunch of basic apps that are built into basically everything at this point is probably a bigger attention black hole than installing a few plugins.

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