zlacker

I tried using Qubes as a daily driver for a couple of weeks, and wrote up my experiences:

https://rillabs.org/posts/installing-qubes-os

Overall an impressive and surprisingly well functioning software, given what it does.

Unfortunately - which I didn't write in the post yet, should do - is that I felt I had to switch back to a normal distro again because of a combination of a couple of annoyances:

- The need to manually redirect the USB-keyboard to each qube

- The fact that I couldn't get Debian-based Qubes to respect the font size settings

- The overall relative slowness of the system, causing some already slow software to be even slower

- The last straw: Inability to run Virtualbox VMs in Qubes (which I use to create some course content etc).

>>samuel+(OP)
> The need to manually redirect the USB-keyboard to each qube

Why did you have to do this? In order to type in a qube? My usb keyboard just stays connected to the usb qube(sys-usb) and everything seems to work. I have never changed the qube my usb keyboard is connected to.

>>dmm+A
If the signals are going into sys-usb you must be piping them somewhere. For me and probably the GP, there's a "systray" (do they still call it that?) menu for connecting devices to things, and I have to direct my keyboard to a chosen VM that way (I have the added annoyance of having to re-set Dvorak each time; there's a bug somewhere). Maybe for you it's piping straight to dom0?

I recall at the beginning there was some security question you're asked related to this. Maybe you answered differently than us.

>>samuel+(OP)
> - The fact that I couldn't get Debian-based Qubes to respect the font size settings

https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/fonts-are-too-small-by-default/...

> - The overall relative slowness of the system, causing some already slow software to be even slower

Often connected to the fact that hyperthreading is enabled in BIOS (and it shouldn't be).

In general, you should try to ask for help on the Qubes forums. Most problems get resolved quickly.

>>fsflov+j1
Yes, I asked in the forum and got quick help, but it didn't help unfortunately:

https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/dark-mode-in-debian-10-vm/3855/...

>>orbliv+c1
Exactly, the "systray" thing that is needed to switch the keyboard betweeen qubes. Dom0 would not even be accessible from USB-keyboards, for USB-related security reasons.

>>samuel+uc
Wasn't this optional though? At least at some point? Maybe they made it mandatory.

>>orbliv+Bd
It's still optional. You don't have to create a sys-usb VM. It's not even created by default if you have a USB keyboard: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/usb-qubes/#how-to-create-a-usb-.... See also: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/device-handling-security/#usb-s....

>>orbliv+Bd
I use the latest version of qubes and sys-usb and I don't ever reassign my usb keyboard(I do for other usb devices.) It sounds like the person from the top comment just configured their system in an annoying way.

>>orbliv+c1
First off, the USB-thingy is indeed a configuration option. https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/usb-qubes/

Regarding the Dvorak: It's a PITA. I'm running Svorak A5 currently so the current procedure is:

* Make sure it's the default setting in each template

* Make sure it's the default in XFCE

* Run a cronjob in dom0, this make sure that newly connected USB keyboards are changed to the correct layout aswell.

  * * * * * DISPLAY=:0 ~/fix-scripts-xkb

  #!/bin/sh
  [ "$(setxkbmap -query | grep -oP '(?<=variant:    )[a-z]+')" == "svorak" ] || (   setxkbmap se svorak; echo fixed xkbmap  )

* XFCE login is STILL qwerty. This is a _long_ standing bug.

>>orbliv+c1
Something is amiss; did you disable qubes-input-proxy?

If you follow this simple step, USB keyboard and mouse input should Just Work in all your Qubes: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/usb-qubes/#how-to-create-a-usb-...

>>samuel+uc
Something is amiss; did you disable qubes-input-proxy?

If you follow this simple step, USB keyboard and mouse input should Just Work in all your Qubes: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/usb-qubes/#how-to-create-a-usb-...

>>samuel+(OP)
As others said, you don't need to redirect the keyboard if you don't use a USB qube.

Points 2 and 3 you're right about.

You can convert virtualbox VMs to qubes hvms[1] although it requires a bit of CLI work.

[1]https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/standalones-and-hvms/#convertin...

>>isodud+7l
Woah, I guess I've been logging into XFCE with the wrong password this whole time! heh.