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Adventures in Prototyping ClimbHigh.AI Platform (CH.AIP0)
I joined Practicing Musician S.P.C. January 2024. This lead to building new infrastructure, which lead to expanding the possibilities of the EdTech platform, which then lead to the CEO and others realizing the potential of what would be ClimbHigh.AI...
Innovation Cycles: From Stone Age to Silicon Age - A Critical Historical Analysis (Updated 2024)
The complete timeline of human innovation, from 10,000 BCE to 2023 CE, reveals patterns more intricate than simple correlations with societal freedom. Recent archaeological findings combined with modern patent analyses demonstrate complex interplays between social structures, technological access, and innovation rates.
Light Mode vs. Dark Mode: Energy & Creativity vs Focus & Productivity? (And oh yes, eye strain)
As with most things, context, use case, etc. makes for different pros and cons for different goals and circumstances. Not surprisingly, the same is true for "Light Mode" versus "Dark Mode".
Getting Jan.AI to Work Fully with Q4OS Debian 12 Bookwork TDE on Alienware m16 r1 i7 with Nvidia 4070
Notes on getting everything working with Jan.AI.
Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition (NWN:EE) on Debian 11
Some notes on getting NWNEE working on Debian 11 bullseye on an Asus ROG Stryx laptop.
Generational Cycles in Technology
Once again I caught myself mumbling "what once was old is new again" during yet another webinar on cloud computing, software development approaches, the degradation of the opensource communities, etc. Here are some thoughts and facts on these topics.
RPEPTFS - An Unexpected Intersection
RPEPTFS (Role-playing Enhanced Pitch Training Feedback Simulator) is an AI-powered platform where entrepreneurs practice their investor presentations with realistic AI-generated investor NPCs.
DGPUNET: Building a Distributed GPU Cluster When Cloud Providers Fall Short
I've been building distributed computing systems since the 1990s - Beowulf clusters, IRC bot networks, custom infrastructure cobbled together from commodity hardware. The principle has always been the same: when you can't afford enterprise solutions, you build your own from what's available.
AILCPH: Addressing the Context Problem in AI Assistants
AILCPH (AI Large Context Project Helper) is my attempt to address this problem using RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and vector databases.
SIIMPAF: Building a Self-Hosted AI Infrastructure for Real-World Applications
Over the past year, I've been developing something I call SIIMPAF - Synthetic Intelligence Interactive Matrix Personal Adaptive Familiar.
AI Journey 1977-2025: Part 5 of 5 - SIIMPAF - Four Decades of Technology Lessons in One System
This is Part 5 of a 5-part series documenting the technical evolution from early introduction to role-playing gaming in 1977 and hobby programming in 1979 to modern distributed GPU computing and self-hosted Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The series traces patterns that emerged over four decades and shows how they apply to current challenges in AI development and computational independence. This final part brings together four decades of lessons in DGPUNET's, AILCPH's, & SIIMPAF's architecture, explaining how patterns from 1979 remain relevant in 2025.
AI Journey 1977-2025: Part 4 of 5 - Building Distributed GPU Infrastructure When Centralization Threatens Innovation
This part addresses the GPU scarcity challenge and demonstrates how decades-old distributed computing patterns apply to modern AI infrastructure.
AI Journey 1977-2025: Part 3 of 5 Professional Applications and Breakthroughs (2005-2020)
This is Part 3 of a 5-part series documenting the technical evolution from early introduction to role-playing gaming in 1977 and hobby programming in 1979 to modern distributed GPU computing and self-hosted Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The series traces patterns that emerged over four decades and shows how they apply to current challenges in AI development and computational independence. This part focuses on applying technical skills to therapeutic and educational contexts, culminating in systems that outperformed commercial alternatives.
AI Journey 1977 to 2025: Part 2 of 5 - IRC Bots, Beowulf Clusters, and Distributed Computing on Commodity Hardware
This is Part 2 of a 5-part series documenting the technical evolution from early introduction to role-playing gaming in 1977 and hobby programming in 1979 to modern distributed GPU computing and self-hosted Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The series traces patterns that emerged over four decades and shows how they apply to current challenges in AI development and computational independence. This part focuses on scaling patterns from single systems to networks and building production infrastructure on commodity hardware.
AI Journey 1977 to 2025: Part 1 of 5 - How Role-Playing Games and Early Computing Shaped Four Decades of AI Development
This is Part 1 of a 5-part series documenting the technical evolution from early introduction to role-playing gaming in 1977 and hobby programming in 1979 to modern distributed GPU computing and self-hosted Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The series traces patterns that emerged over four decades and shows how they apply to current challenges in AI development and computational independence.
Building Education Technology the "Hard Way" (And Why That's Actually the Easy Way)
I've watched countless companies burn through millions (billions in the aggregate) trying to reinvent wheels that already exist. Not long ago, I reviewed a competitor's failed attempt to build what we launched in six weeks and less than $20,000 USD — they spent three years and $30+ million, and they still couldn't deliver. This isn't about being better-funded, or event smarter; it's about the wisdom of understanding a fundamental truth that most of the tech industry refuses to accept: in the 2020s, 90% of what you need has already been built.
Freedom to Create: The Relationship Between Open Societies and Innovation
Throughout human history, innovation has followed a fascinating pattern of peaks and valleys, strongly correlated with the degree of societal openness and free exchange of ideas. Recent comprehensive analyses combining archaeological data, historical records, and modern patent statistics reveal a compelling relationship between open societies and accelerated technological progress.
Getting WiFi 7 Working on Linux: The ASUS ROG USB-BE92
I recently upgraded to 5.5 Gbps TDS fiber, installed a shiny new ASUS RT-BE86U WiFi 7 access point capable of 10 Gbps, and grabbed an ASUS ROG USB-BE92 WiFi 7 USB adapter to take advantage of it all. The goal? Get my GPU cluster (what I call DGPUNET - Distributed GPU Network) running at multi-gigabit speeds for distributed AI workloads.
Building DGPUNET: Democratizing AI Innovation Through Open Source Infrastructure
Over the past several months, I've been working on something that started as a practical necessity but evolved into a philosophical statement about accessibility in AI development. When a startup couldn't get anything better than a pitiful G10 GPU instance from their cloud provider - completely insufficient for the machine learning workloads needed - I realized I had to take matters into my own hands, and home...
PoDoSOGoAdmin WebUI Mail Servers Administration Tool - Public Release Very Soon!
There isn't a free and open source combined administration tool for the mail server setup of: Postfix + PostGreSQL + Dovecot + SOGo Webmail, I have created such a tool, and will be releasing it publicly on github as soon as I can create a sanitized version.
Postfix, Dovecot, PostGreSQL, and SOGo Webmail on Debian 13
Debian 13 was fairly recently released, but AWS is already shoving it as the primary AMI, and make getting a good Debian 12 a few more steps. Most apps aren't yet compatible with Debian 13, so I recommend waiting for it to stabilize, but here is some information on getting a basic mail server working on Debian 13...
The Content Providers 67% Ownership Revolution: How ClimbHigh.AI and Its Community Are Rewriting EdTech's Rules
At ClimbHigh.AI (https://www.climbhigh.ai), our team, led by CEO Jake Douglass, is building something revolutionary: a platform where creators own 67% of the content equity. Not revenue sharing. Actual ownership...
Claude.ai adds throttling to max users but with no transparency.
I've liked using Claude.ai in many areas, but they are starting to get overwhelmed and have begun throttling "top 5% users", which apparently I am. But they aren't offering ANY transparency about this...
Unofficial Penpot Manual Installation Guide for Debian 12
Penpot opensource free self-hostable server (Figma clone) does not support manual install. They want everyone to use their SaaS cloud service or if self-hosting, use containerized versions. Here are instructions, from (as they suggested) reverse engineering their Docker setup, for a manual setup on Debian 12. YMMV.
Q4OS Debian 12 on Alienware M18 R2 Nvidia 4080
Notes on getting Q4OS Debian 12 with Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE) working on Alienware M18 R2 with Nvidia 4090.
Install Godot on Debian 12 and BCI RPG Dev Environment Setup
Trying to avoid using Snap, Flatpak, and other package manager battles, sticking with either using tarballs or apt installs (preferred).
WHY A CTO SHOULD _NOT_ JUST BE A GLORIFIED CODER/ENGINEER
Increasingly, the title “CTO” is being used to induce engineers to provide underpaid—or even free—technical services. Don't fall for it! Otherwise your organization will very likely be ruined. Generally if they can't actually pay for a CTO, the organization should NOT even be looking to fill a CTO role yet. Instead they should be looking at roles more appropriate to their specific needs and resources.
USB Backup or Sync Android Phone with MacOS Sequoia on MacBook Pro m4
How to connect via USB to backup/sync Android device don MacOS silicon m4-pro.
Setting up for Developing on Apple MacBook Pro m4 48GB RAM
Information on clean setup preparing and using brand new MacBook Pro m4 pro with 48 GB ram, for Flutter, Dart, Python, Java, C#, .Net, JavaScript, Node, React, Angular, Kubernetes, Selenium, AI, etc.
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