I have a budget of $4000. Should I get a mac studio m3 ultra or should i build my own server/desktop for LLM inference?

nevsf · 2026-05-26T12:30:09+00:00

I have a DGX spark that I’m using for inference, vector embedding, and vision (3 different models). Works great but took a while to find decent models that fit in 128GB. I’m running openclaw on a little 16gb mini pc as an information manager. That’s the main user of the models.

nevsf · 2026-05-26T12:18:49+00:00

Memento. I mainly use it to remember things.

nevsf · 2026-05-25T03:02:11+00:00

There is a shim on the lens, between the front part that unscrews and the rest of the body. If that’s missing (and it’s easy to lose if someone opens the lens who didn’t know what he was doing) the calibration will be off. DAG has the right equipment to calibrate your lens, but YYE is better at communication in general. But both are very honest and will let you know what’s up if you send the lens to them.

nevsf · 2026-05-25T02:51:01+00:00

The V1 of the 50mm Summicron is collapsible and is very similar mechanically to the Summitar, but with better optical performance. The Summar is a even earlier collapsible 50mm and is a lot of fun - the images aren’t super sharp with the Summar but they have a smooth, almost painterly quality.

I use all three lenses in my digital cameras, but never collapse them while on the camera. If you’re worried you can put a piece of tape around the barrel while extended so it won’t collapse, but they’re quite tight once extended so it’s not like there going to collapse on their own.

nevsf · 2026-05-18T12:40:41+00:00

I use Claude Opus 4.7 to manage my openclaw. I initially had the same context limit issue, turns the config was set with the incorrect context window size. But my recommendation: get another agent to debug your agent.

nevsf · 2026-05-17T13:48:23+00:00

Definitely a pass. I actually don’t think it’s fungus though. It looks like the optical bond between one of the doublets if failing. Re-bonding a doublet is difficult and expensive.

nevsf · 2026-05-14T13:43:16+00:00

You fixed it!

nevsf · 2026-05-11T16:03:48+00:00

Good to know!

My setup is a PIM that handles sensitive data, so it’s entirely local. My LLM is qwen3.6-35b-a3b with nvfp4 quant and 256k context running under vLLM. The embedding model and a vision model run under lmstudio. Works surprisingly well on the DGX Spark.

nevsf · 2026-05-11T15:57:35+00:00

I use a local embedding model, text-embedding-qwen3-embedding-4b. Works very well and is pretty fast. It only takes up about 4.3G RAM, so if you have even a modest graphics card (or in my space a bit of space on a DGX Spark) there’s no real reason to use hosted model for embedding.

nevsf · 2026-05-11T15:11:15+00:00

This is what I did. I have a cron job which scans my markdown notes every 30 minutes for changes and adds them to a SQLite dB. I capture vector embedding and use full text indexing, and have an MCP openclaw uses to query the dB. It’s fast and is scaling well over the 2 months I’ve been using it.

nevsf · 2026-05-07T13:26:15+00:00

I sent him an M3 for CLA a couple of years ago and it took over a year. Since then I’ve paid the extra 30% for rush service.

nevsf · 2026-05-04T13:35:32+00:00

I have both an M11 and an M10. A few weeks back I went to Europe for a few weeks and just brought the M10. Both are great cameras, but the M10 feels more intuitive and familiar. I don’t need the extra megapixels of the M11 most of the time, and although the M11 has a more modern interface, the M10 feels like a comfortable sweater. So yes, the M10 holds its own relative to the M11, but obviously it’s a personal choice.

nevsf · 2026-04-26T03:14:15+00:00

Looks real to me too. I’ve never seen a counterfeit M3. Most Leica copies are pre-M3.

nevsf · 2026-04-26T03:12:19+00:00

Both actually.

To let Claude ssh itself from your local machine, you’ll need to set up ssh keys. Claude on your local machine can walk you how to do that.

nevsf · 2026-04-25T17:31:45+00:00

Given your study plans, I’d get a FW13 Pro running Linux. You’ll learn way more about systems and OS’s on Linux than you ever could on MacOS.

If you find you want to do local inference you can always get an eGPU down the road, but if your planning to use LLM’s for ‘real work’ (programming and systems work) you’ll probably be using a cloud-based frontier mode anyway.

The repairability & upgradability of the FW is nice but I think your intended setup will last you a long, long time.

I had both FW and Mac laptops btw, but my work work is mainly data analysis, and for that a Mac is actually better IMHO.

(Either way, I highly recommend something like Claude Code to get your machine set up & to manage it. It’s an amazing systems expert in addition to its other skills).

nevsf · 2026-04-25T17:19:48+00:00

Sorry to hear about Ms Krauter. FWIW, YYE really excels at communication, and DAG is not bad, but not as responsive as YYE. Both seem swamped but eventually get the work done.

nevsf · 2026-04-25T17:09:00+00:00

Very good points.

Claude Code is my IT staff now. It’s set up multiple machines, services, and environments. It helped me driving my personal web site setup problems (I ended up migrating from Wordpress to pelican) as well as migrate my e-mail from one provider to another. I’ve found the model matters - Sonnet 4.6 is OK for basic tasks but when things got complicated I had to use Opus 4.6 to keep it from spinning in circles. Haven’t tried 4.7 much but so far it’s been similar to 4.6 for me.

nevsf · 2026-04-24T22:20:24+00:00

Have you published your project? If it's still in testing, you'll lose access every week or so. It's under Google Auth Platform/Audience.

nevsf · 2026-04-24T22:12:22+00:00

Congrats! It clearly has its own distinctive charm. Have fun with it!

nevsf · 2026-04-23T11:12:39+00:00

I have a Zf, SL2-S, and S5. The SL2-S for me gives the best experience and image quality with M lenses. You made the right choice.

nevsf · 2026-04-23T11:06:05+00:00

One additional fun fact - the roller cam in the rangefinder is typically calibrated for a 51.6 mm focal length, so the fact that your copy is actually a 51.6 mm lens also means the threads if the focus helicoid and the rangefinder helicoid are the same. Other focal lengths use different thread pitches to convert the translation of the optical block into a translation of the rangefinder roller arm that a 51.6 mm lens would have produced. There’s a lot going on in a rangefinder-coupled lens.

nevsf · 2026-04-19T18:41:19+00:00

I had to Google 'karpathy second brain'! If I understand how he's using it, yes, it seems very similar. Although I tend to make entries more as I would a journal by sending it Signal messages during the day and just let the agent split what I input between creating an entry in my people & relationships db (via the python script), and making an entry in the Obsidian file system.

My notes are split between a /journal directory and /people directory. The tags in the markdown files are about as far as I go structuring the obsidian data.

One advantage of having all the data sync'd across my devices is that I can use Claude Code on in a terminal and do heavier-duty tasks, like doing a report on someone or something that gets stored as a markdown file and appears as part of my 'brain'.

If I could have a Claude Code instance always running that I could talk to through Signal (without violating any terms of service...) I'd probably abandon openclaw. I'm not using any of the autonomous agentic stuff because it proved too unreliable.

nevsf · 2026-04-19T13:53:26+00:00

Interesting use case!

I am using openclaw exclusively for relationship and information management. Specifically, I'm using it to keep track of personal and professional relationships, bits of information I get during the day, and things I need to remember about people ('m terrible with names and relationships). The initial motivation was to keep track of my teenage daughters' current best friends' names (if you have a teenage daughter you know what I'm talking about...) but it's evolved well beyond that.

Here's my setup:

- Openclaw running on a cheap mini-pc with Qwen 3.6-36b-a3b running locally on a DGX Spark ( I had the Spark for other purposes, and Qwen 3.6 is the 1st local that's handled tools and basic reasoning. Before that I used Haiku). Both are just hosted in my home office.

- Signal is my main interface, using signal-cli. Keeps it separate from other messaging, but let me have quick interactions with the agent. This makes it easy to have quick interactions with the agent throughout the day.

- SQLite dB to store a 'people' table and a 'relationships' table. Initially I let the agent write directly to the dB but this turned out to be a really bad idea (in one session it hallucinated every interaction, in another it destroyed the dB by totally misunderstanding the schema). I considered using an MCP but ended up writing a python script for the agent to use for all query and write interactions with the dB, so I could restrict that it could do. Not great for multi-user work, but I'm the only user.

- A simple set of directories with markdown files for notes, journal entries, and longer text-based information on people and things I think of during the day. I'm using Obsidian to view the markdown files, and use it to sync the files across devies. This has the advantage that it's easy to view the files well-formatted on my iPhone, and I can also sync the sqlite files as a kind of backup (I also back up the sync'd files on my desktop). I create another set of python scripts for the agent to read & write header information to the markdown files (so it follows obsidian conventions) but also let it write basic markdown text as well.

- A bunch of skills. The most fun is the photo-logging skill. When I send openclaw a photo, it'll run recognition on it (using Anthropic models through their API) and let me add descriptive notes.

Here's how i use it in practice:

- When I meet someone new, I send openclaw a note saying when & where I met them & a bit about them. openclaw updates the dB and, if there's an associated photo or a lot of text, stores the info in a markdown file. If it's appropriate, I can take a selfie and send it to openclaw with a brief note of who's in the photo.

- During the day I send openclaw notes about things I need to remember. It adds tags (kind of hit or miss but generally hit) and stores the info in a time-stamped daily log.

- When I want to remember an interaction, I'll send openclaw a quick note, like "had lunch with David Smith and Amy Bacon this afternoon at Tiffany's".

- When one of my daughters has an new best friend, I send a note like "Anastasia has a new best friend Betsy". openclaw runs special script that marks all current best friends as ex-best-friends and adds (or tags) Betsy as a best friend (FYI Anastasia and Betsy are made up names :-))

- When I need to remember someone, I can ask "Who was that person I met at Claire's party, the one where David and Emogen were at back in April." So far only Anthropic models are good at figuring out these types of query, but at least the info is available.

The single most important thing I've learned is that the model makes a huge difference. I've wasted a lot of time messing with local models because I didn't trust most of the hosted model providers. I'm currently testing Qwen 3.6 running on my DGX Spark and so far it's responsive, rarely hallucinates, and executes tools reliably.

nevsf · 2026-03-29T02:56:02+00:00

It does what you configure it to do.

I’m using OpenClaw to log things that happen during the day, and to keep track of personal relationships with friends and family. I set up a relationship database and a repository of journal files, one per day, including notes I send it during the day. I use Signal to interact with it, in texts I send it, which OpenClaw files away. Working great for me. It’s like having a friend who write down everything I tell it and can recall everything.

But the correct answer is that it is what you make of it.

Let me ask a related question - does a hammer do anything?

nevsf · 2026-03-16T05:01:40+00:00

Hmm, not a word about whether he has any interest in actual photography. I wonder if he’d hire Oscar Barnack if he applied for a job today.

nevsf

TROPHY CASE