thanksforallthefish
They can also hijack the connection of a connected box (ethernet over hdmi) or via a connected phone (bluetooth & chromecast iirc)
Disappointing tgat we arent when you put it that way
You don't need to give the VM network access to download the software if you have a linux host. You can directly mount a virtual box drive from the host, copy the file(s) onto the drive and then unmount it and start the VM as per normal.
Search for qemu-nbd iirc (network block device) - I have the how to details saved on my host (ie not on me) so ping me if you want them. Note it's a qemu app that works for vbox
At that age cpu it's almost certainly a hard drive not ssd.
My guess is 1-2 days. 4gb RAM is going to thrash like hell
Could be worth asking on selfhosted (how do I link a sub on lemmy ?) They probably have more relevant experience at this sort of thing.
Edit
Does this work ?
What is the difference between type 1 & 2 please ?
Simless phones can make emergency calls because the towers are configured to accept a request for an emergency call to any device that handshakes sufficiently (in Europe and most of Asia anyway, I assume also true of USA because it does work).
The phone is able to contact the nearest tower and initiate a call because it scans for the nearest towers in the boot process in order to go to the next step (check sim details and connect to configured provider). In the process of determining available towers it provides the IMEI to each of them.
If you live in a country where you have to provide ID to buy a handset then this definitely isn't anonymous, but even if you are in a country that doesnt, all the manufacturers track where every IMEI is shipped, and sku numbers on POS will easily allow determination of exactly when the device was sold. Even if you paid cash there will be CCTV footage of the purchase.
TL;DR this will work mostly until you make a mistake against corporate tracking but will absolutely not protect you from three-letter-acronyms and law enforcement.
Consider your threat model carefully before relying on it
Popular support rarely changes anything. Money talks to power, people talk to themselves
It's not unreasonable to be ignorant. Particularly about technology which most don't understand
For me this falls in the category of "sit back and eat popcorn". Both sides are arseholes I don't mind which loses, in fact it's a shame they all can't lose