QUBES and TAILS operating systems VS linux mint

[winxpwasgreat]

I am interested in your views on pros and cons with linux mint and qubes / tails. I don't really know much about the latter, but seems to come from the same premises linux mint does come from (secure, lightweight).
I was also wondering how user-friendly qubes / tails is compared to linux mint, and how big their community is.

[catweazel]

I am interested in your views on pros and cons with linux mint and qubes / tails. I don't really know much about the latter, but seems to come from the same premises linux mint does come from (secure, lightweight).

Tails stands for The Amnesic Incognito Live System. It is a live operating system that aims to preserve your privacy and anonymity. Tails is intended to be booted off of a live CD and leave no trace on the computer it is run on, but using Tails this way requires the user to restart their computer every time they want to switch from their installed OS to Tails. Despite this, in case that method becomes cumbersome, Tails can be used inside virtualization software and Qubes.

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/tails/

You can use Mint in that fashion but it's really designed to be installed.

I was also wondering how user-friendly qubes / tails is compared to linux mint, and how big their community is.

Wouldn't you be better off asking them that: https://www.qubes-os.org/support/

[Moem]

the same premises linux mint does come from (secure, lightweight).

I wouldn't say that's the main focus of Mint. The homepage says:

The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.

There are distros that focus more on security (although I consider Mint to be plenty secure enough for most people and purposes) and there are lots of distros that are more lightweight.

[leo-tech]

I've read somewhere that Qubes+Xen can be compared to VMware ESXi (Hypervisor Type-1). Also an interesting article on the subject:

Qubes OS: Build in Security with Virtualization
http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Fe ... ualization

Qubes OS compartmentalizes every activity on your desktop in its own VM.

Compartmentalization has always been a basic principle of security. For instance, limiting what can be done with a regular user account confines the damage that can be done by malware to the current user account. However, Qubes OS takes compartmentalization to an extreme, running each window in its own Xen hypervisor. The result is one of the most innovative desktop environments available, as well as what the project understatedly calls a “reasonably secure operating system” ...

[Faust]

TAILS , Qubes and Mint <=> Apples , oranges and bananas

Likewise with privacy , security and ease of use .

I've used all three systems extensively and each OS has a quite different primary aim ,
Note : there are suggestions that merely downloading and using TAILS may draw unwanted attention from The Man .
Qubes has it's main focus on system security but is far away from being a user-friendly general purpose OS ,
and that is where Mint shines , with a reasonable amount of privacy and security ( which can be tweaked ) .

Many folk use the terms privacy and security interchangeably , or simply lump them together ,
assuming that having one of them means having both !

.....
Tails is intended to be booted off of a live CD and leave no trace on the computer it is run on, but using Tails this way requires the user to restart their computer every time they want to switch from their installed OS to Tails. ......

What is described is a truly stateless system , which sadly must remain a pipe-dream while we are all still using
dangerously compromised hardware ( eg. Intel ME )
Other hardware is equally suspect , it's just that Intel gets more attention , and Intel-bashing has become quite popular
( they don't exactly help themselves ! ) .
http://blog.ptsecurity.com/2017/08/disa ... el-me.html

Purism are taking steps to address this problem ( eg. incorporating hardware kill switches )
but for now we have to assume that Ring Zero can be compromised on ALL hardware platforms .

There is a superb presentation by Joanna Rutkowska from a few years ago :-
" Towards (reasonably) trustworthy x86 laptops "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcwngbUrZNg

It is a thorny problem .

[catweazel]

... booted off of a live CD ...

What you describe is a truly stateless system...

I did a double-take reading the above. I would never use such appalling grammar as 'off of'. It turns out I didn't describe anything. I was quoting the linked page.

[Faust]

... booted off of a live CD ...

What you describe is a truly stateless system...

I did a double-take reading the above. I would never use such appalling grammar as 'off of'. It turns out I didn't describe anything. I was quoting the linked page.

Apologies ..... the mistake was entirely mine .
No slight intended , your writing is impeccable

I have edited my post accordingly .