Local AI Solution with Mac Mini

My Local AI Solution with Mac Mini

Hardware

The foundation of my local AI setup is the Apple Mac Mini Desktop Computer with M4 Pro chip, equipped with 24GB of RAM. This compact powerhouse provides the processing muscle needed for running AI models efficiently without relying on cloud services.

Storage Setup

In addition to the Mac Mini's internal storage, I use two 1TB external drives: one dedicated to photos (/Volumes/Photos) and another for videos (/Volumes/Videos). There's also a 2TB external drive (/Volumes/Backup) that serves as the primary backup drive via Time Machine. For the external drives, I recommend models like the BUFFALO External SSD 1TB (scaled up to 2TB for the backup).

To maintain a neat and organized desk setup, I connect the external drives using new, dedicated cables such as the Micro B to USB C, USB 3.0 Cable External Hard Drive Cord. This direct connection to the Mac Mini's USB-C ports eliminates clutter from mismatched or worn-out cables, resulting in a clean, professional look with optimal data transfer speeds.

As an alternative, if you prefer to reuse existing USB-A cables from your drives, you can employ a compact USB 3.0 Female to Thunderbolt 4/3 Adapter. This adapter plugs into the Mac Mini's Thunderbolt ports, allowing seamless compatibility while keeping the setup tidy—though the direct cable option is generally sleeker with fewer points of failure.

Backup Process

Backing up the /Volumes/Photos and /Volumes/Movies drives to the /Volumes/Backup drive is handled through macOS's built-in Time Machine feature, which provides automated, incremental backups. Here's the step-by-step process:

1. Connect all external drives to your Mac Mini and ensure they are mounted (appearing as /Volumes/Photos, /Volumes/Movies, and /Volumes/Backup).
2. Go to System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions) > Time Machine.
3. Select the /Volumes/Backup drive as your backup disk if it's not already configured.
4. Click "Options..." (or "Select Disk..." if setting up fresh) and review the exclude list. By default, Time Machine backs up your internal drive, but external volumes like Photos and Movies may be excluded to save space. Remove them from the exclude list to include them in backups.
5. Time Machine will now automatically back up the selected volumes hourly (for changes), daily, and weekly, retaining versions as space allows. You can trigger a manual backup by clicking the Time Machine menu bar icon and selecting "Back Up Now."
6. For added reliability, monitor the backup progress and verify restores periodically by entering Time Machine (via the menu bar) and browsing the backed-up files.

This process ensures your photos and videos are safely duplicated without manual intervention, protecting against data loss.

AI Software

My local AI stack runs entirely on the Mac Mini, leveraging open-source tools for flexibility and privacy:

• Ollama: A lightweight framework for running large language models (LLMs) locally. It handles model downloading, inference, and API serving, making it easy to deploy AI without internet dependency.
• OpenWebUI: A user-friendly web interface built on top of Ollama, allowing browser-based interaction with models through chat interfaces, custom prompts, and session management.
• N8N: An automation platform for creating workflows. I use it to chain AI models with other tools, such as automating data processing, API calls, or integrating with local files for AI-driven tasks.

AI Models

I run the following models via Ollama, each tailored to specific use cases:

• llama3.1:8b: A compact 8-billion-parameter version of Meta's Llama 3.1 model, optimized for general text-based tasks like chatting, writing assistance, summarization, and reasoning. It's efficient for everyday queries on modest hardware.
• llama3.2-vision:11b: An 11-billion-parameter multimodal model from the Llama 3.2 series, incorporating vision capabilities. It excels at image analysis, such as describing photos, answering questions about visual content, or generating text based on images (e.g., captioning or object detection).
• x/flux2-klein:9b: A 9-billion-parameter text-to-image generation model (a smaller variant of the Flux series), designed for creating high-quality images from textual descriptions. It's useful for creative tasks like generating artwork, visualizations, or custom graphics.
• qwen2.5-coder:14B-instruct: A 14-billion-parameter instruction-tuned model from the Qwen 2.5 family, specialized in coding. It handles code generation, debugging, explaining programming concepts, and assisting with software development in languages like Python, JavaScript, and more.

Shopping List

Apple Mac Mini Desktop Computer with M4 Pro chip: Compact, high-performance machine with 24GB RAM ideal for local AI workloads.

Buy Now

Micro B to USB C, USB 3.0 Cable External Hard Drive Cord: High-speed cable for connecting external drives to USB-C ports.

Buy Now

USB 3.0 Female to Thunderbolt 4/3 Adapter: Compact adapter for bridging USB-A devices to Thunderbolt/USB-C ports.

Buy Now

BUFFALO External SSD 1TB: Portable, fast SSD for storing photos, videos, or backups (available in larger capacities like 2TB).

Buy Now

Wireless charging stand for iPhone

The Essential iPhone Desktop Charger

Anker MagGo Magnetic Stand

I've been using the Anker MagSafe Charger Stand on my desk for a while now. It's one of those items that makes daily life noticeably more convenient and just nicer. If you have a recent iPhone (17/16/15/14/13 series), this stand is a total game-changer for desk charging.

The biggest win is the sheer convenience of **hands-free, perfectly angled charging**. No more fumbling with cables or propping your phone awkwardly. The strong magnetic snap locks my iPhone in place instantly, delivering solid charging speeds that match true MagSafe performance—I've seen my iPhone jump from low battery to 30% in about 20 minutes. The included adapter means plug-and-play setup with reliable power right out of the box.

What really elevates it is the **360° rotation and adjustable tilt**—up to 70° for portrait or landscape. Whether I'm glancing at notifications, taking FaceTime calls, watching quick videos, or using StandBy mode overnight, I can dial in the exact angle without any wobble. My desk stays ultra-clean and organized: no cable mess, just a sleek stand that props everything up nicely. The subtle LED indicator shows charging status without being distracting.

Bonus! It works flawlessly through my magnetic case!

If you hate cable clutter, want that seamless MagSafe magic, and need a versatile desk charger with full 15W speed and flexible positioning, this Anker MagGo stand is absolutely worth it. It's not the cheapest, but the fast charging, 360° adjustability, included adapter, and desk-friendly design make it feel like an essential luxury. Highly recommend—it's become my go-to desktop charger!

Anker MagGo iPhone MagSafe Charger Compatible Stand/Wireless Charger (With Adapter)

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for the support!

Images are from public product listings for illustration purposes.

How to create an Amazon Echo Home Theatre

How to Create an Amazon Echo Home Theater

Turn your Echo speakers into a wireless surround sound system with Fire TV — no soundbar required!

What is Alexa Home Theater?

Alexa Home Theater lets you pair multiple compatible Echo speakers (and an optional subwoofer) with a Fire TV device to create immersive surround sound — including Dolby Atmos support on newer models like the Echo Studio (2025 release). Audio syncs wirelessly, and the system auto-calibrates for your room.

Required Hardware

All Echo speakers in the setup must be the same model (mixed models are not supported). Choose one of the Fire TV Stick OR Fire TV Cube devices listed below, and also choose 2 Echo Studio (Left and Right speakers) and an Echo Subwoofer if interested. My personal setup includes a Fire TV Stick 4k, 2 Echo Studios, and 1 Echo sub).

Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen)
(Recommended)

View on Amazon

Fire TV Cube (3rd Gen)
(Premium option)

View on Amazon

Echo Studio (2025 release)
Best for Dolby Atmos

View on Amazon

Echo Sub
(Optional — adds deep bass)

View on Amazon

• Stable Wi-Fi network (all devices on same network)
• Amazon account & latest Alexa app on your phone
• TV with HDMI port (ARC preferred)

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

1. Set up each Echo speaker individually
   Plug in each Echo → Open the Alexa app → Add Device → Follow prompts to connect to Wi-Fi. Do this for all speakers (and Echo Sub if using).
2. Connect your Fire TV device
   Plug your Fire TV into your TV's HDMI port (use ARC-labeled port if possible). Complete initial setup if new.
3. Enable HDMI ARC (if using TV audio routing)
   On your TV settings: Enable HDMI-ARC and HDMI-CEC (Anynet+, Simplink, etc.). Set TV audio output to PCM or Stereo if needed.
4. Create the Home Theater on Fire TV
   On your Fire TV remote: Go to Settings → Display & Sounds → Alexa Home Theater → Create Alexa Home Theater.
5. Select your speakers
   Choose 2–5 identical Echo speakers (and optional Echo Sub). Follow on-screen prompts to confirm placement (e.g., front left/right, surrounds).
6. Calibrate the system
   Fire TV plays test tones from each speaker → It auto-detects positions and tunes spatial audio. This takes 1–3 minutes.
7. Done!
   Your Alexa Home Theater is ready. Test with movies, music, or say “Alexa, play [content] on Fire TV”.

Pro Tip: For best Dolby Atmos & spatial audio, use 2–5 Echo Studio (2025 release) speakers + Echo Sub. Place front speakers near TV, rears behind seating area.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Ensure all devices are on the same Wi-Fi network and Amazon account.
• Update Fire TV and Echo devices to latest software.
• If no sound: Check TV audio output settings and HDMI ARC/CEC is enabled.
• Restart devices if setup fails — then try creating the home theater again.

Guide based on official Amazon documentation (as of February 2026). This page contains affiliate links — purchases made through them may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Enjoy your cinematic Echo-powered setup!

Using an External USB drive with the Ubiquiti Cloudkey Gen2 Plus

There’s plenty of information and posts available in the Unifi forums that explains how to replace the default 1TB hard drive with one of larger capacity, but there seems to be another issue that’s being overlooked.

Data retention and backups are critical in a corporate environment, and an issue that several people observed was that the scheduled backups on a Unifi Cloudkey Gen2 Plus only include the system configuration, and do NOT include the proprietary video archive files.

The Unifi Cloudkey Gen2 Plus is essentially a mini Linux computer. I noticed there was a spare USB Type C port on the back of the device that the vendor states is “reserved for future use”, as shown below on the right.

I’ve tested several external drives on this port using a small converter I bought on Amazon, and while I ran into some issues with the popular small form factor drives that are powered by the USB port itself, I ended up finding a GREAT solution that involves using an externally powered full size 6TB USB external HDD by Western Digital.

Using the steps below, you can mirror your video footage from it’s default location to an external drive.

Note: There are 3 ways to power a Cloudkey Gen2 Plus. This method works best when using PoE Switch port or a PoE injector.

Required Hardware

1. Ubiquiti Cloudkey Gen2 Plus

2. WD 6TB Elements External Hard Drive (or a similar one, as long as it has its own power supply)

3. USB-C to USB Adapter (this model is tested and confirmed to work)

Initial USB Drive Install and Detection

1. Plug the USBC to USB adapter into the spare USB-C port on the back of the Cloudkey (see diagram above).

2. Plug the power cord to the new external HDD and turn on it’s power.

3. Plug the USB cord of the HDD into the adapter you’ve installed on the Cloudkey.

4. SSH into your Cloudkey and run `lsusb`. The output show show the new drive.

root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# lsusb

Bus 002 Device 005: ID 1058:25a3 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Elements Desktop (WDBWLG)

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 174c:1153 ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1153 SATA 3Gb/s bridge

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0b95:1790 ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0451:8440 Texas Instruments, Inc.

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0451:82ff Texas Instruments, Inc.

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0451:8442 Texas Instruments, Inc.

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Configure the new USB Drive

1. The command `fdisk -l` should show you the new drive location. In my case, it was /dev/sdb. Pay close attention to the output and be sure you are identifying the new disk correctly!

   root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# fdisk -l | grep Disk ← This command only displays the disk information.

   Disk /dev/mtdblock0: 64 KiB, 65536 bytes, 128 sectors

   Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 29.1 GiB, 31268536320 bytes, 61071360 sectors

   Disklabel type: gpt

   Disk identifier: 98101B32-BBE2-4BF2-A06E-2BB33D000C20

   Disk /dev/mmcblk1: 1.9 GiB, 2002780160 bytes, 3911680 sectors

   Disklabel type: gpt

   Disk identifier: 853D3873-C240-465B-BAAB-71BADB716C09

   Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors

   Disklabel type: gpt

   Disk identifier: 95FA9511-D663-4144-BA52-885FBA96352F

   Disk /dev/sdb: 5.5 TiB, 6001140957184 bytes, 11720978432 sectors

   Disklabel type: gpt

   Disk identifier: B0A5E08B-AA2D-42CD-AEDB-92220EE744A7

2. Next, you’ll need to clear the partition table on the disk (since most new drives come with a DOS partition by default) and create a new Linux EXT4 partition.

   root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# fdisk /dev/sdb ← Make sure you type the correct disk here!

   Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.29.2).

   Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.

   Be careful before using the write command.

   Command (m for help): d ←Type “d” to delete the factory defined partition.

   Selected partition 1

   Partition 1 has been deleted.

   Command (m for help): w ← Type “w” to write the table to disk.

   The partition table has been altered.

   Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

   Syncing disks.

3. Now you can create a new Linux EXT4 filesystem.

   root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# fdisk /dev/sdb ← Make sure you type the correct disk here!

   Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.29.2).

   Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.

   Be careful before using the write command.

   Command (m for help): n ←Type “n” for new partition.

   Partition type

   p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)

   e extended (container for logical partitions)

   Select (default p): p ←Type “p” for primary.

   Partition number (1-4, default 1):

   First sector (2048-1953525167, default 2048):

   Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-1953525167, default 1953525167):

   Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 931.5 GiB.

   Command (m for help): w ← Type “w” to write the table to disk. This will create /dev/sdb1.

   The partition table has been altered.

   Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

   Syncing disks.

4. Lastly, format the new /dev/sdb1 partition type as Linux EXT4:

   root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1 ← Make sure you type the correct partition here!

   mke2fs 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)

   /dev/sdb1 contains a file system

   Proceed anyway? (y,n) y ← Type “y” to proceed

   Creating filesystem with 244190390 4k blocks and 61054976 inodes

   Filesystem UUID: 4b892979-ccef-4353-ba05-2a70b0d25cf4

   Superblock backups stored on blocks:

   32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,

   4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,

   102400000, 214990848

   Allocating group tables: done

   Writing inode tables: done

   Creating journal (32768 blocks): done

   Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Mount the new USB Drive

1. Create a mount point and mount the new drive.

   root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# mkdir /mnt/backup ← Create a mount point.

   root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/backup ← Mount the new partition.

   root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# df -h ← View all mounted drives.

   Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

   udev 1.5G 0 1.5G 0% /dev

   tmpfs 299M 5.0M 294M 2% /run

   /dev/mmcblk0p46 5.9G 516M 5.3G 9% /mnt/.rwfs

   /dev/disk/by-partlabel/rootfs 363M 363M 0 100% /mnt/.rofs

   overlayfs-root 5.9G 516M 5.3G 9% /

   tmpfs 1.5G 4.0K 1.5G 1% /dev/shm

   tmpfs 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock

   tmpfs 1.5G 0 1.5G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup

   tmpfs 746M 132K 746M 1% /tmp

   /dev/mmcblk0p45 976M 142M 809M 15% /persist

   /dev/mmcblk0p47 19G 45M 19G 1% /srv-internal

   /dev/sda4 878G 5.7G 872G 1% /srv

   /dev/sda2 16G 156M 16G 1% /srv/var

   /dev/sda3 32G 123M 32G 1% /srv/db

   /dev/mmcblk1p1 1.9G 7.8M 1.8G 1% /data

   tmpfs 256M 2.9M 254M 2% /srv/unifi-protect/temp

   /dev/sdb1 5.5T 1.7T 3.5T 34% /mnt/backup ← There it is!

2. Mount the new USB drive upon reboot (2 methods are shown below).

root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# vi /etc/rc3.d/S01unifi ← add “ mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/backup”

save the file by typing “:wq!”

OR, if you are not comfortable with the vi editor, this command will do the same thing:

root@UCK-G2-Plus:/etc/rc3.d# echo "mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/backup" | cat - /etc/rc3.d/S01unifi > temp && mv temp /etc/rc3.d/S01unifi

Synchronize the default video location with a folder on the new USB drive

root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# apt install rsync

root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# mkdir /mnt/backup/video

root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# rsync -aP /srv/unifi-protect/video/ /mnt/backup/video/

sending incremental file list

./

2020/

2020/07/

2020/07/12/

2020/07/12/FCECDAD88B53_0_rotating_1594587207715.ubv

1,073,741,824 100% 73.21MB/s 0:00:13 (xfr#1, to-chk=4/11)

2020/07/12/FCECDAD88B53_0_timelapse_1594587847873.ubv

1,073,741,824 100% 73.07MB/s 0:00:14 (xfr#2, to-chk=3/11)

2020/07/12/FCECDAD88B53_2_rotating_1594587207671.ubv

1,073,741,824 100% 74.73MB/s 0:00:13 (xfr#3, to-chk=2/11)

2020/07/12/FCECDAD88B53_2_timelapse_1594589641979.ubv

1,073,741,824 100% 69.41MB/s 0:00:14 (xfr#4, to-chk=1/11)

2020/07/26/

2020/07/26/FCECDAD88B53_0_rotating_1595775383126.ubv

1,073,741,824 100% 67.99MB/s 0:00:15 (xfr#5, to-chk=0/11)

pool/

Configure a scheduled task to mirror your videos each day

Use the cron scheduler service to create your daily backups using the rsync command above.

root@UCK-G2-Plus:~# crontab -e ← This basically opens a vi editor where you can add the rsync command and timing variables using the vi command set.

How to Power a Ubiquiti Cloudkey Gen2 Plus

If you are just getting started with Ubiquiti devices, you may have installed the free Unifi Controller and/or Video software onto a server on your network. At least, that is what I did initially, and it worked great. As my network grew, I wanted to have a dedicated machine for the Controller software, and I also liked the idea of a true Network Video Recorder for my Unifi security cameras, as well as cloud access to the management interface of all of my gear. The Ubiquiti Unifi Cloudkey Gen2 Plus was a perfect match!

Much to my surprise, the Cloudkey Gen2 Plus does NOT come with a power supply. For advanced users who already own a Unifi Power Over Ethernet capable switch, this is not an issue, but to the average home user, it can be quite confusing. Allow me to clear things up in a very simple way. You have 3 power options for the Cloudkey Gen2 Plus.

1. Go all out and purchase one of the smaller Unifi switches that include Power Over Ethernet ports, such as the Unifi 8-port 150 Watt PoE switch, and use one of its ports to power your new Cloudkey Gen2 Plus. This is a great option if you plan to add Unifi Security Cameras such as the Unifi G3 Flex at some point, as you will already have the means to power them.

2. Purchase the Ubiquiti U-POE-AF Power over Ethernet Injector, which basically has a standard power cable, and 1 RJ45 port that connects to your existing switch (assuming you have spare switch ports), and 1 RJ45 port that connects and delivers power to your Cloudkey Gen2 Plus.

3. No switch ports left? No problem! Purchase a USB-C power supply (I"ve purchased this model, and it worked with my Cloudkey Gen2 Plus before I decided to use PoE). Please note, there are several other USB-C Power supplies available on Amazon. I've tried a few other brands, and the Cloudkey Gen2 Plus would not boot up, and gave an error "Bad USB-C Power".