SheeEttin

You should consider opnsense instead of pfsense in any case.

Ebay. If you're outside the US, you'll probably be better off with a more local site.

I usually find the cheapest drives and buy multiple of those, but you should be able to assemble a RAID out of different disks, though you'll be limited to the space of the smallest one in the mirror set.

Also make sure that your RAID systems supports this.

See if there's a cooling profile option in the BIOS. Maybe also run the Dell diagnostics. Might be something wrong with the fan tachometer.

Worst case, assuming the PWM is working properly, you could use a third-party application to control the fan speed.

As long as the laptop doesn't go to sleep, yes.

You say it's far from reality, but I'm speaking from experience. I was responsible for maritime life safety systems. When those systems were implemented, they were tested and qualified for use. It didn't matter how many updates came out, if they weren't qualified, they didn't get deployed. If I had deployed an update that hadn't been qualified, it would have put lives at risk, such as by causing issues with ship detection or man overboard alerts not going off.

If you want to get really into it, like the systems that run aircraft and nuclear reactors, look up formal verification.

No. If you're working with life-critical systems, you only apply patches that are relevant to you. For example, an implantable insulin pump with Bluetooth capability. If there's a patch that changes the Bluetooth functionality, but you don't use that functionality, there's no point in applying the patch.

It's a piece of plastic that guides air. Shroud, baffle, duct, whatever you want to call it. I've run plenty of servers without them just fine. The fans push enough air on their own. You really only need it if you're running hot due to a lot of drives, cards, or sustained CPU or RAM usage.

And honestly, I'm not sure that this one would be doing very much anyway, considering the other CPU and RAM won't have one.

A quick Google shows they look similar. You could probably see if the part number is applicable to the other model as well.

Personally, I'd be more concerned about stuff like PSU connections. It should still run fine without the fan shroud.

The phrasing of "an increase in hate speech and calls to violence" suggests that there is a tolerable level of those.

Very comparable. There's nothing wrong with getting a whole box of tools for free even if you just need a single screwdriver. Open image in GIMP, text tool, done.

Stick with the VPN. No point in exposing more services with possible security vulnerabilities.