Ok for realsies since you guys were asking real questions lol. I’m a professional software engineer, ex-top-tech, my setup is extravagantly complex. It did take a few hundred hours but it includes 15TB of data hoard, roms, emus, dos and flash games, Plex media server for home usage, a dizzying array of decades old software I’ve written in dozens of languages, very old obscure deprecated media formats like GMAX, a syncing script to keep it all organized and backed up with encrypted and chunked pCloud/local clones (20 rclone commands). Custom optical disc backup scripts and paper barcode storage because I’m also into cryonics. 50ish cryptocurrencies. Many online financial accounts, scripts to manage the tangle, scripts to manage the scripts.

Flashing and installing Ubuntu took an hour. I uncovered a bug where USB Sata connection install doesn’t work with LUKS FDE. To give you an idea of why my ultra complex setup slows me down, lol.

I’ve dual booted on and off for 15 years (I unknowingly installed everything from source back then!) but with my first child coming I’ve been reconsidering my values and made the full switch to FOSS. Also dual booting Qubes OS for a while, for fun.

I chose Ubuntu because I’m into Stable Diffusion AI and have an NVIDIA GPU, I’m time constrained and Ubuntu “just works” but I do plan to hop onto Debian/Gnome when I’m more settled. I use no other Ubuntu functionality. This will shock you but I prefer simplicity. Lol.

Not sure, it was on a USB in a Walmart parking lot. Something called freetacos.exe

Lol: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/44979912/18955914

Yes, it’s Linux Inc.'s newest OS.

I’m very much into privacy/FOSS so I have an old school Polaroid with no Bluetooth, where I manually screenshot my porn every 5 seconds with my left hand. Then I’ve been sending the pile every day to Satya Nadella at Microsoft HQ, Seattle via Snail Mail.

From the English translation of Chobits: animepedia.com/Hideki

99% working in 10 hours. There’s always that last little blue anal bead dingleberrying around.

Installation took 1 hour. Converting all my powershell scripts took 10. Copying my yummies from NTFS to Ext5 took 290 hours, I had to watch each and every one to be sure.

I prefer landleech

You won’t get a lot of people talking about their usage, lol. Are you in witness protection? I think witness protection is useless too, since I’ve never heard anyone even admit to being in the program. Do you watch porn? Porn is completely useless, no one has ever even admitted watching it to me, even after I badger them about their fetishes.

Monero is exactly what I think it is. Is its value inflated 100x by pump and dump investors? Sure. Is it useful to millions even without the investments? You bet.

“Again: How many of your last 100 purchases were made directly with monero? Just ballpark, I’m sure you have a sense.”. A reasonable interpretation of this is, “you don’t use it, so no one should”.

Apparently millions of people find it useful. If you don’t that’s totally ok.

I think this is simply a privacy education issue. Here’s how to anonymously buy a steam game, step by step:

1. On an insecure computer, buy Bitcoin or other with your credit card
2. Exchange Bitcoin for monero on an exchange website
3. Send Monero to your private wallet
4. Now on your very secure computer, create a Steam account using an anonymous email, all through VPN/Tor
5. Create a Bitcoin or other wallet
6. Access your monero on this computer and exchange it for Bitcoin or other, sent to your wallet
7. Use Bitcoin or other to exchange to Fiat, Bitrefill looks like an option
8. Purchase Steam game

If your secure computer is totally anonymous, so is your purchase.

Of my last 1 million purchases, exactly zero were done this way. The currency is not worth zero so obviously it’s useful to some. “I don’t personally use it” is an unconvincing argument, you simply don’t care about private purchases which is totally ok.

If you were a progressive reporter in Saudi Arabia buying a web subscription to New York Times you would probably keep a balance of monero around, so these steps would take no time at all.

For the rest of us with nothing to hide, some of us use Monero like this simply to protect those who do need privacy. The more who use it, the better anonymity it provides.

You can exchange it to another accepted crypto, or convert to fiat depending on what you’re trying to do. If you differ the exact amounts you buy and use, and delay the timing of your monero purchase and final purchase, it gives you anonymity. Or more like plausible deniability. Nobody said anonymity was convenient. You also don’t need every purchase to be anonymous for it to be useful.

When you do most of those purchases you’re not anonymous to begin. But if you want to buy an embarrassing pornographic game on Steam and don’t want your payment provider to have “FURRYDICKS STUDIO” in your name, you sure can use Monero.

That’s how amnesiac it is.

Monero doesn’t need to be mainstream, it’s immediately useful for privacy. Its price could dump 99% and it would be equally useful. You buy some, make your transaction, enjoy your anonymity and then forget about it. It’s a tool, not an investment.

Uh oh. I just learned about NixOS right now and I’m intrigued.