That is so awesome! I’ve been thinking of the exact same thing for years. I already have a cheap source of heat, so there’s no need for a project like this. However, if I did live in a house with electric heating, mining crypto is exactly what I would do.

I would probably make a dedicated server room, blow the warm air to other rooms through pipes etc. it’s a bit of a gamble though, because mining hardware costs something, and I don’t know if the coins would really be worth it. As long as it costs less than traditional electric heating, it should be fine.

That’s what happens when people don’t know how to use the system properly. They just throw their files and announcements into random places without any thought, and expect everyone to be able to find them.

In cases like that, you just need to ask a more experienced user for direction, because nothing else works. It’s not your fault you can’t find your way around a labyrinth like this. It’s the fault of everyone who turned that place into a labyrinth.

Can we also blame the software? Maybe, if the marketing was misreading. Mostly though, this sort of mess emerges as a result of ignorant people abusing the system.

Depends on what you need from Excel. All the simple stuff and most of the medium complex stuff is available in Calc. However, there are still many Excel only features where Calc can’t compete. Not a big deal for most people since those tend to be slightly obscure features anyway. If Calc can’t get the job done, I suggest switching to R or GNU Octave. You’ll thank me later.

Opt-out? Seriously? What are the Manjaro devs smoking?

What if you have appliances such as a scale, lights, watch or something? Pretty much guaranteed that those won’t work unless you use their app. If you want to go FOSS, you may need to sell all of your smart stuff and replace them with similar devices that do work in a privacy respecting strictly FOSS environment.

My bank warned that they are planning to phase out the code booklet and replace it with a mobile app. Sure, you can continue to use a web browser, but how do you verify anything without a mobile app?

Also, some apps are very picky and refuse to work properly unless your android has GAPPS and is in the in an unmodified state just like the OEM intended. That’s bad news for privacy oriented Android users, let alone anyone who wants to run something even more FOSS.

“For instance, I often had to rely on the web browser to access services like Reddit, Telegram, and Discord since native apps weren’t available. Web apps work for primary use but can’t always replace dedicated apps, especially for banking or fitness tracking.”

That’s the core of the problem these days. Nowadays, there’s so much that requires an app to work.

Avoiding mobile apps was entirely realistic in the 2010s, but it’s too late for that now. The world has changed, that ship has sailed etc.

If you can isolate yourself from certain realities of the outside worlds, using a fully FOSS system can be done. The technology is there. It’s just that most people can’t isolate themselves to that degree.

In this case, you should prioritize those laptops with an Intel network card. You don’t want to deal with strange driver issues if using SSH is important.