Install LM Studio
LM Studio is a graphical desktop application and an alternative to Ollama. It is all you need for Part 1.
The download page lists LM Studio Bionic first. That is a different product with paid cloud plans. Download the second entry, LM Studio (0.4.26 or newer).
Requirements
- macOS 14 or newer on Apple Silicon only. Intel Macs should use Ollama.
- Windows x64 with AVX2 (any CPU from the last ten years), or Windows ARM.
- Linux: the download is an AppImage file.
Install
Install and open
Install LM Studio for your system and open it.
Choose User mode
User mode is enough to finish the installation and download a model. You switch to Developer mode later, in the First chat chapter. That mode shows a sidebar with the two settings the Part 1 exercises use. One is the system prompt, which gives the model its role and rules. The other is the temperature, which controls how varied the answers are.
Install the runtime
When LM Studio asks, install the llama.cpp runtime. This is the engine that runs the model. Cmd+Shift+R (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows and Linux) shows the runtimes.
Skip sign-in
Skip any sign-in prompt. LM Studio works without an account.
Verify
Click the magnifying glass to open Discover, then try a search. If search works, nothing else is needed before you download the model.
In Part 2 the notebooks connect to Ollama. If you install only LM Studio, you can still follow Part 2 by watching, without running the notebooks yourself.