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by invalidator 1031 days ago
Mostly yes. Your applications run in a standard Linux environment and if you pop up a terminal, hey, it's your favorite distro and it works.

There's some learning curve for features which exist for valid reasons, especially around communicating between domains. For instance, copy-and-paste between qubes requires extra steps. Plugging in a USB keyboard or mouse doesn't just work - you have to authorize it first (just click the OK button using a PS/2 mouse, or laptop's touchpad). You have to learn how to move files between qubes. USB drives, cameras, and microphones aren't globally available to all applications - you have to attach them to a qube first. You can install software using apt-get inside a qube, but it won't persist across reboots - you have to update the OS template.

I want those extra steps and complications - they are features, not a bugs! The first few days you'll be looking things up in the FAQ. After that it's pretty easy.

There are a few sore points that don't go away. You don't get GPU acceleration in your web browser, so rendering is slower. Gaming is not an option. Your application qubes live behind a firewall qube, so things that require network broadcast like Chromecast won't work. Those are fine for me but not for everyone.

1 comments

Please tell me the USB devices that were there at install time get authorized.

> You can install software using apt-get inside a qube, but it won't persist across reboots - you have to update the OS template.

> I want those extra steps and complications

Is it wrong of me to say that enabling persistence, with snapshots, on a qube should be a single toggle?

> Please tell me the USB devices that were there at install time get authorized.

Yes, if you only have a USB keyboard, it will work. Manual creation of a USB VM then is recommended for security: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/usb-qubes/

> Is it wrong of me to say that enabling persistence, with snapshots, on a qube should be a single toggle?

Of course you are right. TemplateVMs provide /root partition to AppVMs and software should be installed normally to the former. At every AppVM reboot, their /root is reset to the one from TemplateVM. Ordinary, persistent VMs are also possible. Details: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/getting-started/