Im very paranoid about getting into piracy and im not sure if i should or it or not but there are so many things i want that i cant afford.

is there a secure linux os that i can use without a vpn? im pretty use to windows 10 but i was told linux mint is good for this kind of stuff, is that true?

  • andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Free or just included with your internet service? I remember getting usenet as an ISP perk long ago. No idea if they indexed any binary newsgroups though.

    • db2@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Included with service. Then they stopped doing it citing cost, not unlike how they don't give you an email address anymore. I'm not sure I believe either excuse tbh.

      • The Doctor@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        The amount of space required to maintain an NNTP spool was considerable before Usenet spam because the problem it is today. When I was in undergrad (late 90's), the college I went to had an NNTP server for on-campus use. In 1998 it had something like 2TB of disk space (I don't want to think about how much that cost back then). I can't imagine that the spam has gotten better, or the amount of disk space needed for just the alt.* hierarchy has gone down since that time.

        • db2@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          And back in 1998 we were paying the equivalent of $200 in today money per month for crappy slow internet access. They weren't hurting.