Cheap/free server wanted

3 views
Skip to first unread message

Jack Coats

unread,
Mar 5, 2026, 10:09:24 PM (16 hours ago) Mar 5
to NLUG
I don't have a Linux machine anymore.  I want to set up a openclaw machine with ollama and postgress, probably all running in docker.

Suggestions?  This is a toy, not for real work.

Anyone else done this?

Distribution suggestions appreciated.

><> ... Jack

If you are not paying for something, you are not a consumer, you are the product. - Chamath Palihapitiya
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." - Ben Franklin
Tesla Referral code: "https://www.tesla.com/referral/jack84455" - save money on a Tesla

Kent Perrier

unread,
9:26 AM (4 hours ago) 9:26 AM
to nlug...@googlegroups.com
Cheep/free and AI workloads do not mix.  

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NLUG" group.
To post to this group, send email to nlug...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to nlug-talk+...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nlug-talk?hl=en

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NLUG" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nlug-talk+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nlug-talk/CAFq0N1zVOa-tO3TNKercPq5TaABJPV6VEMsfQhAH4yXThW%3DWVQ%40mail.gmail.com.

Tommy Kelly

unread,
10:48 AM (3 hours ago) 10:48 AM
to nlug...@googlegroups.com
Yeah I agree. Expect to spend at least 2k for what you described if you want to run a 34b or the 120b chatgpt MoE model. The video card to run that alone is around that price, before the machine you put it in.

Jack Coats

unread,
12:25 PM (1 hour ago) 12:25 PM
to nlug...@googlegroups.com
I agree, they don't mix, but if you don't ask you don't find a nugget in the wild.  

I'm planning on running it headless (after setup), but plans are made to be changed.  To start I might buy some tokens from a vendor, but hoping to run at least small things locally.  I know even a Raspberry Pi can run OpenClaw, but no real 'performance'.  This is just for personal training for me (retiree that does it for entertainment and to keep my mind busy).

I know I should just do a cloud based version, but I have an inherent dislike of subscription based services (not that I don't have several, yes, i'm an oxymoron personified <<grin>> ).

Thanks for the feedback. ... Jack



--

Tommy Kelly

unread,
1:17 PM (1 hour ago) 1:17 PM
to nlug...@googlegroups.com
Ahh, okay. If you're just using it for messing around and training, you could try a Google Coral dongle on Raspberry Pi.
I have no idea how good it is, and I doubt it will power any ollama model worth running for general text over 1B parmeters, but if you've got a small use case and want to test training on like a 1B model or something, it could fit your use-case

You're right though, runpod time is pretty cheap to experiment with, and you just buy time. It's not a subscription.

Good luck, and I hope that helps!

Jack Coats

unread,
1:30 PM (17 minutes ago) 1:30 PM
to nlug...@googlegroups.com
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages