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
      9 months 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
        ·
        9 months 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
          ·
          9 months 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
            ·
            9 months 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.