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Hey, if you're interested in pairing on the project together, I'm interested and available (especially if it's open-source). I'm a "full stack" web app developer, and "coach" other developers (a common situation is a senior developer who got promoted into a team lead / architecture role, and haven't coded for awhile, got laid off, and - oh shoot - code skills are dusty & rusty), and get code skills and project back on track.

For the past couple months, I've been pair-jamming with friends & colleagues on side projects. We'll often order in pizza, build a backlog of features we can ship in the next week or two, and work on it together (alternating who's coding using pomodoro timers). It's a lot of fun.

For what it's worth - I get the same feeling about my own projects, and frankly - helping someone else with their project can often unblock your own. Team work makes the dream work.

If that's something you're interested in, my contact details are in my HN profile. I do it for fun (& pizza!).

If you're interested in further text to speech missions, I just got Piper (open-source text-to-speech engine) running happily in a Docker container on my Mac. Effectively "free", high quality, fast-generating text-to-speech.

Check out their voice samples: https://rhasspy.github.io/piper-samples/ (or make your own).

Happy to help you set it up locally...

https://github.com/rhasspy/piper

If you're interested in an open-source, free equivalent, check out VSCodium (open-source version of VSCode), and FOAM (VSCode plugin - https://foambubble.github.io/foam/). In a new project, create a `docs/` folder, and start with `docs/notes.md`. When you want to branch out to other files & links, you can type [[MyTopic]] and FOAM will automatically create MyTopic.md, and will allow you to click on the link and navigate to it. Later, if you want to publish your notes as an HTML site, you can run `mkdocs` on the `docs/` folder, and it'll create a website from your notes. This MkDocs plugin enables the crosslinks in HTML: https://github.com/Jackiexiao/mkdocs-roamlinks-plugin. Good luck!

If you have the option near you, definitely search for and visit a makerspace near you. One reason is that 3D printers require frequent maintenance - something which will be "taken care of" at a makerspace - and you can spend time talking to 3D experts before making the commitment.

An interesting field you may want to check out is prototyping physical custom assistive devices for disabled / differently-abled people.

Examples: 3D printed bookmark with a "line slot" to allow people with dyslexia to read without distractions, customized wheelchair / scooters for kids (since they are smaller, its hard to find the right size for them as they grow), to prosthetic legs and more.

A plan would be to do a search for "makerspaces in (CITY)", find the one with the best reviews and take a tour. You're guaranteed to meet interesting creative people. Makerspaces always need tech/coders (from setting up apps, to programming robots, to community infra like setting up Discourse servers, helping makerspace entrepreneurs setup an ecommerce site, etc).

Best of luck!

Thank you!

Can you suggest (1) How to get it working on a Mac, (2) alternatively, how to get it running in a Docker container (on a mac)?

SEEKING WORK

LETS BUILD YOUR PROTOTYPE

Location: Medellin / Austin Texas

Remote: YES

Got a great idea, and looking to build a web application prototype? Let's make it happen.

I'm JRO, a "full-stack" web application developer & entrepreneur, and would love to help you get your app idea out of your head, and into the world.

Tech stack: Python / Django / React / SQLite & Postgres / APIs / Docker / Fly.io & AWS

Specialty tech: Voice synth (Piper, ElevenLabs), Video & audio conversion/processing (FFmpeg), document conversion - Markdown, EPUB, PDFs (Pandoc), payment processing (Stripe), open-source, searchable team knowledge-bases & (VSCodium / FOAM / MkDocs, local LLMs)

Want to learn how to program? We'll pair-program while building & launching your project together, and we'll have a lot of fun doing it.

Hourly rate: $175 USD / hour

Week rate: $3-4k USD

* 20% discount for teachers & musicians.

* I welcome barter/skill trade!

Ready to get started? ASK@Cambria-Labs.com

Which Quake? Are we talking Q1 E1M1 and the rocket launcher, Q2 Base1 + Quad damage + double-shotty, or Q2CTF and grapple hook-fishing, Action quake or what?? :)

If you ever come across it - I'd love to find the "MkDocs-Material of Photo Gallery". Structured folders of photos - run one command - a slick, static-HTML site is built. A feature where you could put full-size photos in there, and the tool would automatically generate web-friendly sizes... Keep an eye out (or share here if you know a good one!)

I'm scoping this out, and was able to install espeak-ng on Mac using Homebrew... but I'm not understanding how to get quality voices loaded up (the default voice it installed is quite robotic sounding). What's the path to, for example - a high quality British voice...?

That's interesting - I'll have to explore HTMX and TailWindCSS further - one thing that has held me back is just looking at the HTML source, with all the odd tags, looks messy. I know that's an emotional reaction and not a technical one, but I do appreciate looking at code which just looks clean and neat to me...

I've been learning React / Django / Bootstrap (open to ideas on that, but it's just been "there" for me) / SQLite, Postgres / Stripe for payment, Docker, and hosting on AWS and exploring Fly.IO for hosting. I haven't dug into APIs, but curious your thoughts DRF / FastAPI / Django-ninja).

I know this is a Rails thread, so there might be a better place to have a discussion about it...

Thanks for your insights!

What is your ideal Django stack (from front-end, to backend, APIs, database, hosting, etc), using well-supported, solid tech?

I'm on a similar path (VSCodium + FOAM plugin, and then using MkDocs & Roam-links plugin to export as HTML). Can you share some of the VSCode plugins / settings / color schemes / etc which have been working well for you?

SEEKING WORK | Medellin Colombia / Austin Texas | Local & Remote

Web application development

I'm a full-stack web application developer & agile product manager. I build prototypes for creative entrepreneurs. & Teach coding to kids.

I would love to help build your dream app.

Tech stack:

- Front-end: HTML, React - Back-end: Django, Python - Database: SQLite, Postgres - Payment processor: Stripe - App container: Docker - Hosting platform: AWS, Fly.io

Special tech:

- Voice synthesis / Text to speech: ElevenLabs, Coqui - Video & audio processing: Ffmpeg - Document conversion, PDF & Ebook generation: pandoc - Interactive visualization: D3.js, ChartJS - Knowledge-base website: VSCodium, FOAM, Markdown, MkDocs - Automation (eg Lambda function on a cron)

I love to teach/coach with clients - so if you've got a code project you want to bring to life (and haven't coded before, it'a been awhile) we can build & learn together.

Looking forward to jamming with you!

// JRO (ASK@Cambria-Labs.com)

Have you heard of Django girls?

https://djangogirls.org/

I've been jamming on Python & Django, and found that Django Girls has such excellent guides & tutorials - not just about web applications, but computer systems and programming in general.

Browse the site & check them out.

Has anyone experienced their events & workshops (example: "Install parties"). Sounds fun!

One of my favorite books - thanks for sharing. I also love the "year" naming.

(1) I love the idea. (2) I would love to assist (including development & planning) - what do you need to succeed? Full-stack web app developer & agile product manager/team coach. I'm digging into React / Python / Django / Postgres & SQLite / Docker / Fly.io / CRUD web stack lately, in case those tools overlap with your tech vision.

(1) Check out the underlying D3 example of zoomable circles - https://observablehq.com/@d3/zoomable-circle-packing?intent=...

(2) Explore D3.js interactive visualization demos -

https://observablehq.com/@d3/gallery

I show potential clients this demo page frequently, and it never ceases to blow minds and start interesting conversations!

Enjoy.

Well played.

Check out: VSCodium + FOAM (VSCode plugin). Cross-linked markdown notes. You can then use MkDocs/MkDocs-Material and ROAMLinks (MkDocs plugin) to publish as a cross-linked HTML site.

Option #3 (HTML post-procssing) seemed to work. This Python script takes a directory of HTML files, and removes the [[ and ]] and replaces them with <span class="link-placeholder"> and </span>.

----

    import os
    from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

    # Function to process HTML files in a directory
    def process_html_files(directory):
        for root, dirs, files in os.walk(directory):
            for file in files:
                if file.endswith('.html'):
                    filepath = os.path.join(root, file)
                    process_html_file(filepath)

    # Function to process individual HTML file
    def process_html_file(filepath):
        with open(filepath, 'r') as f:
            html_content = f.read()

        # Parse HTML
        soup = BeautifulSoup(html_content, 'html.parser')

        # Iterate through all text nodes in the HTML
        for text_node in soup.find_all(text=True):
            if '[[' in text_node and ']]' in text_node:
                # Replace [[ and ]] within the text nodes with <span> tags
                replaced_text = text_node.replace('[[', '<span class="link-placeholder">').replace(']]', '</span>')
                text_node.replace_with(BeautifulSoup(replaced_text, 'html.parser'))

        # Write back the modified HTML
        with open(filepath, 'w') as f:
            f.write(str(soup))

    # Replace 'your_directory_path' with the directory containing your HTML files
    process_html_files('site')

Could you share more details about this? The tools / flow?

Serious question: What's the feasibility of local web apps in containers, which appear to the user to be a "regular" app. E.g. Django + SQLite, running in a Docker container, and run by a Mac app shortcut. How would you recommend setting up and running that stack? Better ideas?

What’s your take on Coqui-TTS?

Search for & take tours of community maker-spaces in your city. You’ll find people (often SWE) who switched over to 3D printing, metal working, robotics, wood working & more. They have classes, so you can get certified to use the tools - and you’ll just learn by hanging out, meeting fellow makers & checking out their projects. Best of luck on the journey - it’s a ton of fun.

Care to share your 3 top wildest?

Can you say more about this?

What’s with the flood of new accounts / word corrections on the parent comment??

I suggest searching for a makerspace / hackerspace in your city, and scheduling a tour. Day 1, you’ll meet interesting people working on projects like that - meeting them and geeking out, you might quickly have a local advice / how-to / project partner buddy.