about which distro to use and got a range of suggestions but none of them were arch.

I think Debian is usually the strongest contender here.

This is what i see on connect.

I’d take this feedback to your app dev. Here’s Voyager and Tesseract.

That’s the joke.

I know that’s the point, which is why I said it. The person I replied to asked if they were missing something, so I was attempting to educate them on said point. Then they edited their post to add the /s after the fact.

Most browsers I run into, you can search from the address bar. You can also disable or point to a different search engine, if you want. So you could skip going to the site. That aside…most browsers would accept google.com and not need the full https://www

I say most anecdotally as I haven’t tested them all.

Yes, you need an Internet connection at some point. This can be a cafe, a library, an office, your house, friend’s house, etc. As for controlled by the government, well, that depends on your country.

Worst case, if possible, you can move countries. I understand that might not be feasible, but my point is, you can move countries to escape the government and Internet restrictions. But the government locks your account/bank? Moving countries doesn’t fix that, and you’re locked out of any money you had there.

But even if I have a server, I’ll have to have my own separate Internet if I really want to be able to pay unrestrictedly.

Separate Internet? I mean, yes, you do need Internet. Not sure what you mean by “separate.” And you don’t need a server (node), though they are handy for privacy. You could choose one that is reputable.

Otherwise the government would just shut down my internet connection, right?

If they knew where it/your Internet was. All you really need is your phone or PC. You could use a cafe or library or cell tower or etc.

Nobody is doing that now, with regular money, either.

I think it’s more for ACH between banks as well as some banks have limits. Also, a government literally stepped in to actively block people’s accounts. Just because you can swipe your card and buy a soda, doesn’t mean there aren’t restrictions or people being blocked.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday financial institutions have moved quickly to freeze the accounts of people linked to the demonstrations in Ottawa, leaving an unknown number of protesters in financial limbo

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-protests-frozen-bank-accounts-1.6355396

You don’t need a video camera pointed out towards the public 24/7.

Depends on where you live. Being notified of packages at your door is handy before they get stolen.

And being able to see who knocks on your door is also handy without exposing your eye to the tiny (and glass) peephole.

As well as being able to see who approaches when you’re not even there.

Making a fuss then electing the same…isnt progress, its surrender

And guess what you complaining here and then your inaction does, and symbolizes? Pretty much this.

The trick is to pick the lesser of the two evils.

If you want to start small, I’d go with one supported by Asuswrt-Merlin, “a third party alternative firmware for Asus routers, with a special emphasis on tweaks and fixes rather than radical changes or collecting as many features as possible.” Keeps it close to stock with minor upgrades, and a faster release cycle for fixes. The RT-AX88U_PRO is one of the higher end routers that is supported by Merlin.

You’re one out of 254 usable hosts.

Twice the latency for DNS results? Care to give concrete examples? DNS is usually very fast. Twice as long as very fast is still pretty quick, in my opinion.

I guess people just started to realise that mini x86s exist too

People always knew x86s existed. I think the main culprit is the price gap between them and Pis is decreasing. Pis used to be around $35, which has skyrocketed to 3-5x MSRP, plus they were unavailable for a long time. Now the Pi’s performance to price ratio isn’t justifiable to most, so people pay a little more for the x86 but get so much more capability.

It’s just hardware. Almost any device can act as your router if you put the proper OS and/or software on it.

I don’t care how good you are at chess. No one is shitting in mine…not even me.

Don’t even get me started on the money and time taken to recruit, hire, and train new employees.

For delivery drivers?

Know how to drive? If not, next. Here’s the pizza. Put it on a flat surface in the vehicle, don’t throw or flip it. Use Google maps to get to the house. Hand it to the customer. Come back. Done.

basically means “unable to serve”. This includes dead, injured, captured, deserted etc.

Ah, I didn’t know that. I now envision it sometimes going like:
“Poor Steve, a casualty of war.”
“What do you mean, he snuck back home and is watching TV in his mom’s basement!”

If you don’t use a VPN on the router, you won’t need it.

But what if you decide to set one up so you can VPN in while on the road? Personally, I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it…as well as “buy once, cry once” rather than need to upgrade down the line.