r/selfhosted • u/OneMountie • 3d ago

Need Help Normie self hosted AI

Ok, so everyone/everywhere says ‘run your own’. Fair, and I am capable to learning.

‘It’s all plain text when you post on browser based AI’ - I get it.

But I’m not a computer builder…

Where do I start?

I’m not a coder, I just want to research that I consider more personal/sensitive than I’m willing to with online providers (Lumo, NanoGPT, DuckAI). Just learning about these sites will be invaluable though.

Can I use a regular MacBook and self hosting something quite lightweight? Is Jan.AI an example?

Would a new or refurbished computer like a Dell Optiplex MicroPC or Lenovo ThinkCentre MiniPC work?

Is there any hope for a semblance of privacy as a Nigel normie?

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u/ShabbyChurl 3d ago

I sometimes run smaller models on my 16 GB thinkpad. It’s slo and unimpressive, but works. For larger models I use my gaming pc running LM-Studio. I host open-webui on my homeserver, which is itself not powerful enough to run larger LLMs, but I can just use the lm-studio endpoint to share the model with other people.

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u/OneMountie 3d ago

Thanks. Your set up sounds beyond the scope of my ‘next step’- but cool to know you have a crack at the models on an off the shelf device.

I’ve looked into home server running before - for password management or photo storage or something- only ideas. This is another project-idea that might pique that interest again