From f4b68d5142efd215cd64cd39a31113c873ed23b2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Chris Sherwood Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 08:51:19 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] docs: trim the quickstart note to one line plus a link Three copies of a figure that varies is worse than one. Keep the two numbers a reader needs before running the install command, and move the detail down to Device Requirements where it sits with the specs. Suggested by @mk-pmb on #1271. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01F8Mgg1vd2eKSs8StZiuyMV --- README.md | 6 ++++-- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 0213c431..648a9b33 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Project NOMAD is a self-contained, offline-first knowledge and education server ## Installation & Quickstart Project NOMAD can be installed on any Debian-based operating system (we recommend Ubuntu 26.04 LTS; 24.04 LTS and Debian 12 are also supported). Installation is completely terminal-based, and all tools and resources are designed to be accessed through the browser, so there's no need for a desktop environment if you'd rather setup NOMAD as a "server" and access it through other clients. -**Disk space:** NOMAD itself needs about **5 GB**, so plan for **10 GB free** to install comfortably. Adding the AI Assistant needs roughly **25 GB** in total, since Ollama and a general-purpose model are large. Offline content is downloaded separately and is what actually fills a drive: a full Wikipedia or a regional map set runs to tens or hundreds of gigabytes, so an SSD of 500 GB or more is the practical recommendation once you start adding libraries. See the [FAQ](https://www.projectnomad.us/docs/faq) for content sizes. +**Before you start:** NOMAD itself needs about **5 GB of disk and under 1 GB of RAM**. The offline content you add afterwards is what actually fills a drive, and the AI Assistant is what drives the memory requirement up. See [Device Requirements](#device-requirements) for both, and the [FAQ](https://www.projectnomad.us/docs/faq) for individual content sizes. *Note: sudo/root privileges are required to run the install script* @@ -78,10 +78,12 @@ At its core, however, NOMAD is still very lightweight. For a barebones installat #### Minimum Specs - Processor: 2 GHz dual-core processor or better - RAM: 4GB system memory (the whole stack without AI runs in under 1 GB) -- Storage: At least 5 GB free disk space +- Storage: At least 5 GB free disk space (plan for 10 GB to install comfortably) - OS: Debian-based (Ubuntu 26.04 LTS recommended) - Stable internet connection (required during install only) +Adding the AI Assistant brings the install to roughly **25 GB**, because Ollama and a general-purpose model are both large, and a model needs about its download size in memory while it answers. That memory comes from VRAM if you have a discrete GPU and from system RAM if you do not, which is the single biggest reason the figures below are so much higher. + To run LLMs and other included AI tools: #### Optimal Specs