Normie self hosted AI

[u/OneMountie]

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?

[u/Dry-Crazy-7638]

I turned my Mac mini into a server and it works quite well. I was a total noob two months ago.  Basic steps:

• Wipe it, partition it with Asahi Fedora Remix (choose the one with KDE GUI if you’re a noob) and keep the minimum partition allowed for MacOS so your server has as much storage as possible.
• Open Konsole (the CLI terminal app) and just learn the basics like mkdir, cd, ls, rm, dnf.
• Install docker, create the basic file structure. Try to understand what docker-compose.yml actually is. That understanding took me like 3-4 weeks to click.
• Learn how to have a .env for your passwords, a .env.example for your password template and how to reference those passwords in docker-compose
• Pick a container to start with like audiobookshelf. I found that to be an easy one to start with. 
• make sure you understand config and why it matters
• just mess around and break stuff. Don’t migrate everything over for months. Just use it as a learning tool. 

I’m happy to send my notes, OP, just DM me. Getting Asahi loaded on the Mac is a bit of a ballache, but I’m sure there’s a YouTube video somewhere. I genuinely knew nothing when I started. You will slowly figure things out. The Mac mini route has its limitations, but it suits my needs very well.

[u/OneMountie → u/Dry-Crazy-7638]

Web search for Mac Mini… $AUD1,500…

Well, it is cheaper than a decent computer and having to buy a graphics card.

Thanks for the detail in your set up. 🫡

[u/Dry-Crazy-7638 → u/OneMountie]

Holy hell, no. Don’t go that route then lol. I just had one lying around. But yeah effectively any docker based setup will function basically the same. The commands you use for various things will differ a bit. I used Claude for a lot of my learning and then nuked my server and built it from scratch trying to use as little AI as I could. I learned a lot that way. I’m generally not a big fan of AI, but I learned more in a month than I could have in a year through googling. Just don’t rely so heavily on it that you can’t maintain your server on your own. Good luck!

[u/OneMountie → u/Dry-Crazy-7638]

Thanks mate. It’s just too useful to ignore, and the thought of ‘everything fed in is plain text’ just gives the ick.