I've been trying out Qubes OS, an operating system built around virtual machines with security in mind. Any of you that know me will know that I love virtual machines and I use them for just about everything.
This blog post is written using Qubes, and every post after for the next year at least will be as well. I'll try to keep this updated with my progress.
Why Qubes?
I am a cybersecurity researcher who has a reputation for angering China, so I need to protect myself from threats from a wide variety of bad actors. Historically, my security hasn't been up to standard for the kind of work I do, and this is my attempt to fix that. Qubes seemed like the perfect option since it is both usable and secure. Win win!
I also like the design, with VM windows not being confined to the guest, and allowed to freely coexist with windows from the host. It just works well for my workflow and thought process.
Requirements
A system wtihout any functionality is stupid, so I was quite generous with the requirements.
- Signal messenger
- Monero GUI wallet
- VS Code or Lapce editor
- A variety of programming languages
- All of my scripts must run just fine
- Tor (service) and Tor Browser - both included
Nice to have
I'm not a robot, I want to have a life as well, so I need things to do besides strictly work.
- Minecraft, Mindustry, and some other games
- MS Paint from Windows 10 (not the new shitty AI one)
- Telegram (for downloading MP3s, or a tool to scrape YTm)
Update #1: Requirements and hardware
May 03, 2024
I've spent some time with Qubes now, and all of my requirements have been met. The only thing that doesn't quite work is voice calling on Signal. I'm writing this blog post on Qubes, and it's working great so far.
I like Qubes so much that I decided to buy dedicated hardware for it, since the 16gb of memory in my current laptop just doesn't quite cut it, and the performance of a laptop is significantly less than that of a desktop. The new system has 32gb of memory with the option to upgrade to 64 later on, as well as