Local models, AI rigs and the tools that run them · page 3
Yes, you can run a real language model on a Raspberry Pi 5. It won't be fast, but for a tiny, private, always-on AI it's genuinely fun and useful. Here's how, and what to expect.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
A vector database stores the searchable version of your documents. For local RAG, the right one is simpler than the enterprise options everyone benchmarks. Here's what to actually use.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Embeddings are what let a local AI search your documents. Pick the wrong one and retrieval is bad; pick the right one and RAG just works. Here's the best local embedding model, by need.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Running your local AI stack in Docker keeps it isolated, portable, and easy to reset. It's the tidy way to run Ollama and a web UI together. Here's the simple setup.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Those sliders in your local AI app aren't decoration. Temperature and top-p control how creative or focused the model is — and getting them right transforms your results. Explained simply.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Local models can be run 'uncensored' — without the refusals and lectures of cloud chatbots. Here's how it works, the legitimate reasons to want it, and how to do it responsibly.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Point your editor at a model on your own machine and get autocomplete, chat, and even an agent that edits files — free, unlimited, and with your code never leaving your PC. Here's the setup.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
A local vision model reads images, describes photos, and pulls text out of screenshots — all offline. Some open ones now beat GPT-4o at OCR. Here's how to run one, in one command.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
For fiction, worldbuilding, and character roleplay, the best models are community fine-tunes that write like a collaborator, not a chatbot — and they run privately on your own machine.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
An AI agent that uses tools and completes multi-step tasks, running offline with zero API fees. The stack is simpler than you'd think: Ollama plus a framework like CrewAI. Here's how.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Llama is the open model that kicked off the whole local-AI movement, and running it yourself is genuinely one command. Here's how, and which size fits your GPU.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
AI doesn't read words — it reads tokens. They're why API pricing, context limits, and speed are all measured the way they are. Here's what a token actually is, in plain English.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
The context window is how much text an AI can consider at once — your prompt, the conversation, and any documents. It's why chats 'forget', and why long context eats VRAM. Explained simply.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Local TTS has gotten shockingly good. You can generate natural narration for free on any PC, or clone a voice from a 6-second clip — all offline. Here's what to use.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
OpenAI released open-weight models you can run yourself. The 20B fits a 16GB card thanks to clever quantization; the 120B needs a serious rig. Here's how to run gpt-oss locally.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Mistral's models are famously efficient — they punch above their size, so you get a lot on modest hardware. Here's how to run Mistral locally in one command, by size.
Lena Fischer · 5d ago · 10 min
Kimi K3 is free to download, runs about 70% cheaper than Claude per token, and it just proved open-weight AI doesn't mean second-rate anymore.
Lena Fischer · 6d ago · 7 min
Point your apps, scripts, and coding tools at a model on your own machine instead of a paid cloud API. It's an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, it's free, and it's one command to start.
Lena Fischer · 6d ago · 10 min