I'm a fiber optics engineer, not a software developer. A few months ago, I got tired of paying $20+/month for AI subscriptions and decided to build my own.
The result: an AI assistant that runs on a laptop with an external SSD, costs nothing after setup, and keeps every conversation private.
Then I wrote a free 5-lesson course so others could do the same.
The Stack
- Linux Mint on an external SSD (doesn't touch your current OS)
- Hermes Agent — open-source, local-first CLI for AI assistants
- DeepSeek API — ~$0.50 per million tokens (~30x cheaper than OpenAI)
What the Course Covers
| Lesson | Topic | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Why Local AI — cloud vs local, privacy, cost | 20 min |
| 2 | Hardware — what you need, budget options | 15 min |
| 3 | Linux Mint on SSD — full install guide | 40 min |
| 4 | Hermes Agent — your AI command center | 25 min |
| 5 | DeepSeek API — connect the brain, first conversation | 20 min |
What You Get
- 5 Markdown lesson files
- 5 PDF guides for offline reading
- Everything in a single ZIP (~1MB)
- Available in English & Romanian
Why Local AI?
- $0/month after setup (beyond the ~$0.50 API cost)
- Full privacy — conversations stay on your machine
- No lock-in — by Level 3, replace the API with a fully local model
- Beginner-friendly — every step tested on real hardware by a real beginner
Who This Is For
People who want their own AI assistant but:
- Don't want to pay monthly subscriptions forever
- Don't want their conversations on someone else's servers
- Aren't necessarily programmers
- Have a laptop and curiosity
The course is free. No email gate. No catch. Just a ZIP file.
Happy to answer questions in the comments.
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