nickbeardedMay 2

Just built a custom AI assistant trained on Charles Bukowski’s rawest works. It doesn’t offer comfort, just cold truths and a glass of cheap wine.

Currently testing it from a noisy suburban bar surrounded by the usual bar flies. If it starts cursing at the patrons, I’ll know it’s working.

#Bukowski #Mastodon #Linux #Debian #AI #NoFilter #BarFly

Show threadgaryMay 2
@nickbearded compared to implementing kernel hooks and spinlocks or working at the post office it should be an easy sell #hank logic #for any occasion
Show threadnickbeardedMay 4
@gary_alderson Hey Gary, I’ve got a working prototype ready: a custom firmware appliance built from scratch with Buildroot, running on a Raspberry Pi. It acts as a home gateway for IoT and devices, filtering network traffic. In my tests it blocks ~77% of unwanted connections, visibly reduces ads and less visibly tracking. Plug-and-play concept, no setup required. Keen to hear your thoughts.
Show threadgaryMay 4
@nickbearded my thoughts are right on, i would say think of other versions - one reason i want the nvme boot device product is the persistence - it can save a ton of time and setup....the other thing i would add is add wifi and also offensive capabilities, use kali everything iso or debian, think of using opnsense on a sbc? thei is a need out there for good network appliances, you need to look at licensing and advertising
Show threadnickbeardedMay 4
@gary_alderson Great feedback! I agree on the importance of persistence and appliance-level stability.
For now I want to keep my gateway focused and minimal: a plug-and-play home gateway with built-in Wi-Fi, NAT/DHCP, designed for predictable behavior on consumer hardware.
NVMe persistence is a strong direction for the next iteration. Security/offensive features, if ever, would be a separate mode or product line.
Core focus stays simplicity and reliability.
Show threadgaryMay 4
@nickbearded the persistence partition is really nice, don't forget the built in encryption - this is a great sales point since people lose usb and nvme, you want the real data safe
Show threadnickbeardedMay 4
@gary_alderson yes, I agree, encrypted persistent storage is definitely a high-priority evolution for the roadmap.
Show threadgaryMay 4
@nickbearded kali has a very good guide for this - it is about 6 steps #encrypted persistence #luks
Show threadnickbeardedMay 5
@gary_alderson thanks a lot, Gary 🙌🏻
Show threadgaryMay 7

@nickbearded

check out bootable usb on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7SHHQZXnyg&t=80s

this is more or less what i am going for with nvme enc persistence - the best of both worlds plus

focused and simple portable gateways but also other tools and options, there are many iso out there which offer unique and interesting tools

here are some of the ideas i am thinking about (the nvme excuses due to price are real but hey i am flexible i will just drop down to 500gb)

hardened debian

pen tester framework version (ptf) or my own version of it

opnsense iso - easy to config a live system and verify all your nics show up etc

sell debian which already has stuff like lamp all set up - include full wiki mirror (mediawiki) and also a populated search engine (yacy)

malcolm is another one which has live iso option and could lead to consulting or builds for people

pihole and kali consulting are other ones

people will want bootable open source ai models

try various iso and see if they can get the proper drivers installed for compute - many fall flat so something as simple as proper tooling is basically a devops win

there are many options and directions to go in - i think it is about execution and actually shipping product plus some sales and mkt too

I am going to go ahead and get more gear and get working

Show threadnickbeardedMay 8
@gary_alderson Hey Gary, I think I get the direction now: portable, focused systems that already solve a problem out of the box. I’ve been experimenting with local AI too using AnythingLLM + Ollama + Qwen for personal offline use, so I somewhat know the space. The idea of bootable AI environments with encrypted persistence makes a lot of sense, especially since many people struggle just getting drivers/tooling working.
Show threadgaryMay 8
@nickbearded yeah i like this mode of thinking - targeted problem solving for an under served community. there is a lot of work involved but you nailed it with understanding how the persistent partition solves issues - it democratizes the process of installing all the extras (forensics_full/ the drivers, the correct drivers...etc etc)
Show threadnickbeardedMay 9
@gary_alderson I just realised AnythingLLM sucks really for technical stuff, but should be ok, and easy to use for normal, everyday tasks. I am about to dive into LlamaIndex, still with Qwen. It's a bit tricky, but should be smarter in understanding RAG. What do you think?
Show threadgaryMay 9
@nickbearded i would say try to build rag pipelines for stuff like creating content for a portal, all this is super positive, it is not all a positive feedback loop but some of the best ai tools right now are open source...consulting and tech support are wanted and needed skills out in the mkt
Show threadnickbearded21h ago
@gary_alderson Hey Gary, tonight I’m trying building a Debian live system with AnythingLLM baked in. Saw a “Windows 11 AI PC” ad earlier… feels like the usual marketing smoke, just Copilot glued to the cloud... Let’s see if I can turn a USB stick into a proper AI machine 👊
Show threadgary21h ago

@nickbearded I support this effort, i am still kind of bogged down with big work project, shifting some insurance and other stuff, i have a vacation in a few weeks where i could get more done. i am going to talk to local isp about fiber build out dates. i am still getting organized - have to talk to cpa about tax strategy and llc, etc i am making progress albeit slowly.

keep me posted on debian live - keep your bash history and you can easily migrate it to persistent partition setup - the road warriors need the encryption

Show threadnickbearded17h ago
@gary_alderson For now I think I’ll keep it simple: a lightweight, easy-to-use live distro for non-technical users. No complexity, just boot and go.
Show threadgary
@nickbearded have it with a set up lamp stack server - that is leverage over and above your standard install and then consulting hours for people that want fancy setups - you could have a shell script to install lamp stack/ansible/forensics-full etc #compiler options
May 31 at 10:13pmWeb
Show threadgary17h ago
@nickbearded this idea will grow and take on a life of its own its so good even though it is not totally original, nvme is a good media if prices moderate #triad #ptes #./ptf #automatix #sshfs #file repo #known working #deps #tech live iso #ventoy #multiboot image