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2024

Running Large Language Models locally

The easiest way to get started with Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 is to use the OpenAI API or Azure OpenAI. However, since the LLaMA leak a variety of LLMs have been created that can be hosted locally. I was interested to see what it would take to do this and what tools are available.

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2023

Steam Deck setup

I caved and finally bought a Steam Deck. The internet was full of guides to upgrade and modify it so I’m documenting some of the things I’ve tried here.

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2022

Logitech K380 keyboard: Page Up/Down/Home/End workarounds

After years of using a full size (and very old) Apple USB keyboard for my Mac, I recently bought a Logitech K380 bluetooth keyboard to try something smaller that would take up less space on the desk. It’s reasonably cheap (around £35), offered support for Mac and PC layouts and can pair with up to 3 devices at once. I bought an MX Master mouse years ago which has been fantastic, so I thought I should try a Logitech keyboard to see how they compare.

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2020

Issues with floating point

Floating point values normally just work, but there are a few issues with them that are useful to be aware of! My previous post discussed the representation of values, but this one will talk more about the times where things might not work quite as expected. I’m aiming for this to be a practical guide with some simple rules to follow, rather than an exhaustive study into all the issues with floating point.

Floating point numbers: some basics

A recent discussion with a colleague about issues with floating point comparisons made me realise that my knowledge of best practices boiled down to comparing floating point values using tolerances and switching to double if issues with accuracy popped up. I figured it was time to look into it further and get a better understanding of what is actually going on.

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2019

Python collection classes: a summary

Following on from the C++ collections post, it’s time to create a similar overview page for Python! There are more collection classes than this, but I wanted to revise the basics.

C++ collection classes: a summary

As I work through a bunch of algorithm problems in C++, I thought it would be useful to create a summary of the collection classes built into the standard library.

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2018

Running a Code Jam

Recently, a number of teams at work have started to make use of Docker. To improve our Docker knowledge across the company, we organised a Code Jam. We’ve run a number of these events in the past and, after some experimentation, we’ve settled on a format that seems to work well for us.

Docker Cheat Sheet

I’ve been playing with Docker recently, but not enough that I always remember the commands. Here’s my cheat sheet for future Docker use.

Notes from Codility lessons

Codility has a number of lessons online to help candidates prepare for the problems on the site. I figured it might be worthwhile to make a summary of some of the algorithms from the lessons that I more easily forget.

Setting up Jekyll for building GitHub pages

Time to resurrect the old GitHub Pages site! I haven’t really touched this for the last two years, so it’s time I brought the site up to date. One part of this is installing Jekyll locally on my Mac so I can test the site without continually uploading it to GitHub.

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2016

Using three.js with TypeScript

I tend to modify more projects than I create, so while I can often remember APIs, I often forget the steps I used to set everything up. Therefore, this page is a future reference for me when I forgot to do all this. (If you haven’t done this before then hopefully this will serve as a good starting point!)

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2015

Running Qt Creator on Windows with an Intel GMA 950 GPU

I set up a fresh install of Qt 5.4 on Windows 7 today and Qt Creator crashed on startup with an error in ig4icd32.dll. Some Google searches gave me the impression that it might be related to the Qt Creator Welcome page (which uses QtQuick) and my terrible old Intel GMA 950 GPU which I’ve got in this laptop.

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2014

Making ISO Disc Images on Mac OS X

Was creating some ISO disc images this week with OS X Lion (from existing discs) and thought I would document the process.

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2013

Simple Rotation Matrices

Rotation matrices can be built by combining basic rotations in X, Y and Z (see Wikipedia), but it’s also possible to describe them by setting values in the matrix directly. I’ve recently found this useful as a quick way to create a matrix to convert from a space where the X and Y axes are flipped.

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