Qubes VM Manager Suggestions

[johny...@sigaint.org]

These are fairly minor cosmetic issues, and if I ever get some of my
current struggles under control, I'll submit patches instead of
suggestions. :)

I think the Qubes folks work on the VM Manager (and install process, which
is amazing) has made major strides in making the system more accessible to
all. Which is, in turn, key to making a secure work/personal computing
environment available to the oppressed, or those who are simply security
conscious.

In that spirit, here are a few minor things I'd like to see tweaked in the
VM Manager:

1) Column resizing. I like to toss my windows into one of four
"quadrants" on the screen. xfce shortcuts make that pretty easy to do.
But it'd be nice to see the whole VM Manager, not truncated, with the
fields I want to see, each given the column size they deserve.

2) Current CPU % takes up wayyyy to much space for a simple two-digti
number. You don't need a bar graph to go along with it.

3) The CPU graph itself could easily add the current CPU % to it
(centered, perhaps), without compromising the display.

4) Custom ordering. I like to stack my VM's in the order I want them.
(Maybe even nested. :P) Currently, I use my own coloring scheme to
achieve that, and sort by color. But it'd be nice if there were better
support for arranging the multitud of VM's.

(Just FYI, if you sort by color, the order is
red-orange-yellow-green-gray-blue-purple-black. I usually sort by color,
and use red for system stuff; orange for dicey stuff with no firewall
protection; green for stuff that's nicely protected by Tor or a VPN; blue
for stuff that has *no* network and is just a lot safer; black for
templates; grey/purple for VM's I either no longer trust or no longer
use).

5) It'd also be nice to be able to hide certain VM's (or certain colors,
perhaps) no longer of interest, but that you want to keep around for
reference. (Like the "internal" flag, but separate). The color mechanism
is a great cue to the level of security you've flagged certain VM's to be,
so that might be a good way to hide/show certain classes of VM's.

6) It'd be handy to have the application list for a VM (as you see on the
main Qubes menu) be accessible when you right-click on a VM. Right-click
on WorkVM, choose Firefox, kinda thing. (There's a "run command", but
having the configured app list show up would be a lot handier.)

7) Are there any thoughts to support "hibernation" in VM's? (Not just a
pause, but something that could survive a reboot?) "xl save/restore" does
it, and I've had a bit of success with that, but I think it freaked out
the VM Manager on a couple of occasions. :P

Especially when memory is tight, it'd be nice to be able to hibernate a
less-critical VM or two, and fire up something more important.

I think I've read that disposable VM's use that save/restore feature,
although not having explored that feature thoroughly yet (and that fact it
takes up precious memory), I have that disabled for now.

I think that's it for now. Sorry for the brain dump. :)

Cheers.

JJ

[Andrew David Wong]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Thanks for the suggestions. Our goal for Qubes 4.0 is to "decmopose"
the current Qubes Manager by integrating its functions more seamlessly
into the desktop environment:

https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/2132

We hope that this approach will take care of the kinds of issues that
you and others have pointed out regarding the current Qubes Manager.

> 7) Are there any thoughts to support "hibernation" in VM's? (Not
> just a pause, but something that could survive a reboot?) "xl
> save/restore" does it, and I've had a bit of success with that, but
> I think it freaked out the VM Manager on a couple of occasions.
> :P
>
> Especially when memory is tight, it'd be nice to be able to
> hibernate a less-critical VM or two, and fire up something more
> important.
>

Interesting suggestion. Tracking it here:

https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/2273


- --
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=Zkze
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

[johny...@sigaint.org]

> Thanks for the suggestions. Our goal for Qubes 4.0 is to "decmopose"
> the current Qubes Manager by integrating its functions more seamlessly
> into the desktop environment:
>
> https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/2132
>
> We hope that this approach will take care of the kinds of issues that
> you and others have pointed out regarding the current Qubes Manager.

Hmmmmm. That's interesting.

I'm not 100% sure I comprehend what "decomposition" means here.

I'm not sure splitting stuff out into different parts of the window
manager makes things less confusing, or more confusing. And potentially
harder to maintain.

I hate trying to hunt around and find things when they could all be in one
place. In the past when I've seen stuff like that, it means a lot more
work finding stuff.

I like what Qubes does, and I think the Qubes VM Manager sums it the state
of things pretty nicely, currently. I really don't have a problem with it
and the way it's tied to main Qubes menu.

But I'll Joanna's page a more detailed read when I'm a bit more refreshed.

Thanks. :)

JJ

[johny...@sigaint.org]

> But I'll Joanna's page a more detailed read when I'm a bit more refreshed.

Sorry, not just "Joanna's" page; on a quick scan, I see you contributed to
it significantly as well.

I very much look forward to giving it a proper read and review tomorrow.

Cheers, and thanks, Andrew. :)

JJ