[RESPONDED] Qubes OS on the Framework Laptop

I was hoping to install Qubes on my new laptop, but for now I guess I’ll install Ubuntu 21 instead.

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

This operating system seems to be the holy grail of secure operating systems with the ability to sandbox poorly written operating systems like Windows.

Unfortunately I can’t even get Qubes OS to boot from any media at this stage.

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Have you disabled Secure Boot in the BIOS? I know others in the forums have gotten Qubes to work on the Framework.

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Apparently the beta version of Qubes 4.1 works, but I can’t chance running it on a development system.

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Qubes betas are like Google betas, fairly stable overall they just don’t want to call it ‘done’ yet.

You can always run another Linux off USB or a storage module if you ever actually find a bug in Qubes that can’t be worked around.

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I’m anxiously awaiting my Framework, and Qubes is on the list of distros that I want to experiment with. I’ve used it in the past (several years ago) and while I loved some of the security/peace of mind it provides, there are definitely some things that make it hard to use as a daily driver for software development or general productivity if you aren’t intimately aware of the underlying system and how things work. I’m hoping some of that has been polished a little bit, but worst case, I end up repurposing my old laptop for Qubes and my secure computing tasks and run something else on the Framework.

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Ohh precisely why I’m grabbing the 1tb expansion module. Putting qubes on that :slight_smile:

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At the time of inclusion in the HCL, the Framework was using the release candidate (RC) of Qubes 4.1, which seemed to be installable according to its HCL report.

(Disclaimer: however, I don’t have either Qubes or a Framework to test this.)

Somewhere in the HCL report there are mentions that Qubes 4.1 works better than 4.0, so give Qubes on Framework a try now that 4.1 was released yesterday.

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@Mdaly001 How is the general experience of booting off Qubes (or generally any Linux distro) the Framework expansion module? I’m wondering if it’s fast enough. (I don’t really care too much about numerical metrics.)

Not like I trust Linus Sebastian for everything, but I do recall he said he would use the expansion storage modules as backup units rather than putting an OS in his initial Framework review.

(I only say this because I once installed Parrot OS Home directly onto a USB - not to be confused with a live USB - and it was painfully slow whenever anything required read/write operations. For example, updating or installing packages brought a spotlight onto this. I inferred this was the cause because using a web browser was actually fine, so those actions are mostly using RAM, or something among those lines. Of course, I had an off the shelf flash drive and not a USB drive with the world’s fastest read/write speeds.)

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@buzz_recount Honestly I have not played with it enough to give an opinion. I use qubes for travel and pandemic has shut that down haha. Let me know tho if you do some extensive testing. The hour or two i did play with it when i first set it up, I didn’t notice anything frustratingly slow. That being said I am coming from an old x330 for my qubes setup.

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Hey @Norman_Davie I was able to get qubes installed. I followed the instructions for creating the boot drive on qubes-os.org.

I shut down the framework laptop.
Tap F2 repeatedly to enter BIOS.
Then I disabled secure boot and enabled restoring secure boot to factory settings.
Then I shutdown and booted while tapping F12.
Then I was able to select my boot device loaded with QubesOS iso.

Hopefully it works for you or you’ve already got it installed!

Cheers!

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Is this an update from info in Hardware Compatibility List

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Does the right click on the trackpad work? The HCL mentions problems with the right click, which I hope have been resolved.
I imagine that right click works on fedora and Debian, which means that it should be able to work on Qubes

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You might get a faster response if you directly ask in the HCL itslef on Qubes OS Forum (though the last post there was in December 2021):

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Thanks.
For me, right click is working fine on my new Framework, with Qubes installed.

Dear Con-Qubers,
I am completely new to this laptop and to Qubes. Everything was fine, until I hit reboot after installation (which went without a glitch). Since then the framework diy has hung up with a non-blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the screen, and I don’t know how the shut it down.
I have used the HCL recommended hardware and downloaded, verified Qubes 4.1.0.
Help, please?

Worst case, do a reinstall.
I haven’t had this problem, but I have had a couple of other issues.
If the laptop is suspended, you probably can’t get it to resume, without shutting down the power.
Push the power button for at least 15 seconds, until the light goes out completely, wait briefly, then hit power again.
This might get it to come back.

Qubes 4.1.1 was released on July 18, 2022 (the LTS Linux kernel is now 5.15, so hopefully generally better hardware support) - but also the 12th gen Intel processor motherboards were released on July 21, 2022.

Lots of moving variables here.

Good news.
Suspend and resume now work (mostly)

After my latest Qubes upgrade, I can now suspend and upgrade, except for sys-whonix.
For sys-whonix, I need to take the following steps.

  1. List item
  2. stop/restart sys-whonix
  3. Start sys-whonix

then everything is good to go

kill sys-whonix, and

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I was googling to see if there’s newer development with qubes+framework, and came across this writeup.

It seems the newer kernels fixes the wifi problem. Also, the post mentions how to mitigate common issues.

Correct! I am using Qubes in my 12th gen framework.

dom0 is running in the latest kernel along with sys-net.