Well.. It kind of mixed everything up and confused some things but that is possibly not helped by the input. I did like the format, though, and I’m used to robot voices – check out the hacker news recap for a great example.
Also, who doesn’t like flattery? These guys went on for +10 mins about how cool my project is!
I made a Flask app from scratch using Aider – the AI coding assistant – and FREE LLM’s.
This is for the SmartPoi Arduino Firmware project – POV Poi, now easier than ever to use, just add your details in and download the custom Arduino sketch.
If you don’t have a big budget to pay for ChatGPT or Claude access it turns out AI coding for free is surprisingly effective. I generate a Flask app from scratch – all the way to deployment – using only free models. I also briefly compare some of the best free ones.
YouTube video of the Aider developent process:
Aider with FREE LLM’s
Some notes:
The free LLM’s are rate limited, on OpenRouter at least – so they take longer to load, and do make mistakes sometimes.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is apparently the best?
Thinking of trying Aider for yourself? Check out IndyDevDan on YouTube first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUt06XLbJE – here he explains the “advanced AI workflow” nicely.
Thanks to my new Patreon supporter Flavio I will be trying the paid version on the SmartPoi and MagicPoi code bases very soon
Note: While recording I forgot the name of the best paid LLM for coding: Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 as of record date. Join my patreon to help pay for my AI addiction and subscribe to the channel for more video’s!
UPDATE:
I am getting the best results lately from aider –model gemini/gemini-1.5-pro-exp-0827 – currently free with sign-up to google.
TLDR: Magic Poi Alpha is getting test circuit boards, new firmware which works with the new web service and development is being accelerated by AI. At the end I ask for money to fund the AI coding assistant – via my Patreon Account.
Major updates to the Magic Poi project:
HARDWARE:
ESP32 S3 chip
Buttons
2020 size LED’s for more pixels
Lithium battery
Full housing re-design
FIRMWARE:
OTA programming
Dual Core with FreeRTOS background processes (downloading images won’t interfere with display)
Streaming from web functionality
Full integration with magicpoi web service API but works offline
There have been some challenges – recently I found out that the new ESP32 boards I bought aren’t even fully supported by PlatformIO – but I found a way to work around that.
Ultimately I want MagicPoi to work seamlessly. Add your friends on the web dashboard, create some timelines and push a button on your poi to sync everything up.
Hardware:
The first test board is coming out soon. The design is finished, using EasyEDA. We will be sending the board for production by JLPCB in the very near future – look out for an update.
After that it’s on to the poi body full re-design and finally Indigogo when you will be able to purchase the very first Magic Poi.
You can help!
If you want to be a part of MagicPoi development and the road to the Alpha production line, you can. I have started a Patreon to fund my AI dev tool and services addiction* as well as web hosting costs** – until we have something to sell that is. A few dollars per month from you would really help make this thing go faster. Also, anyone who signs up will get some exclusive discounts on the finished product.
*Go check out Cursor IDE and also the open source Aider they are so worth it.
**I’m spending $25 per month on hosting, $20 per month on AI coding tools and of course my friends over at EnterAction are putting up their own money to do the prototypes.
Feel free to reach out to me and don’t forget to subscribe to the magicpoi mailing list if you haven’t already.
Recently I have been trying out cursor IDE – based on VSCode.
My verdict is: it’s magic. After trying out several others including Github Co-pilot, I have to say that in my opinion this is the future of coding. It’s so easy that after I set it up for him, my son spent a few happy hours prompting his way to a really fun Android game, without writing a single line of code*. You can download and and try it yourself! I especially love level 2 where you have to fight poop emoji’s – fire at will! Just be ready for level 3 where a bug new feature means you can’t fire, and have to collect powerups and ram the enemy ships.
*OK I helped with the image files and debugging, compiling for Android etc..
The future of coding is awesome. That’s why I have now made a patreon account, where you can support my AI addiction – unfortunately cursor and other services I love to use are not free. Help me by subscribing with a few bucks please! https://www.patreon.com/CircusScientist. I promise every cent will be spent on products and services to improve my open source code (currently focused on finishing the awesome Magic Poi)
