Copying file from Debian8(or Whonix) to a Fedora VM?

[vel...@tutamail.com]

I have been using Qubes 3.2 for about 5 months and love it...thank you all who have contributed!

I am a noobie so be gentle...I am also by no means an expert at Linux however I have been forced to learn quick.

I managed to upgrade my Fedora template to 25 and have most of my VMs running on Fedora25 except for the default Debian8(Which I have reinstalled since my initial Qubes installation), my Whonix WS and GW are also defaults. I have also periodically upgraded these templates.

I have some basic questions I am hoping I can get some help with:

1) It seems that alot of the experts use Debian as thier working VMs(Personal, Work, Banking, etc...) and have Fedora as the sys-firewall, sys-net, etc...is it more secure to use Debian in this way? Am I just as secure as using Fedora for my working VMs? I would have to think hacking Xen, then Fedora, then Debian would be harder...

2) I have been able to copy/move files from Fedora VMs to other Fedora VMs but I have struggled to try and copy/move files from Debian(or Whonix-ws) to Fedora? Fedora has the "File" option from my "Q" menu(top right), when I am in the files I can right click and "Copy to Other AppVM" or "Open in DispVM". How do I access Debians version?

Thanks in advance for any help...

[Chris Laprise]

On 11/19/2017 01:48 PM, vel...@tutamail.com wrote:
> I have been using Qubes 3.2 for about 5 months and love it...thank you all who have contributed!
>
> I am a noobie so be gentle...I am also by no means an expert at Linux however I have been forced to learn quick.
>
> I managed to upgrade my Fedora template to 25 and have most of my VMs running on Fedora25 except for the default Debian8(Which I have reinstalled since my initial Qubes installation), my Whonix WS and GW are also defaults. I have also periodically upgraded these templates.
>
> I have some basic questions I am hoping I can get some help with:
>
> 1) It seems that alot of the experts use Debian as thier working VMs(Personal, Work, Banking, etc...) and have Fedora as the sys-firewall, sys-net, etc...is it more secure to use Debian in this way? Am I just as secure as using Fedora for my working VMs? I would have to think hacking Xen, then Fedora, then Debian would be harder...

There are three issues that stand out for me:

* Fedora is the only distro I've seen that doesn't sign their repository
manifest. The idea is if you want full security for updates you pay $$$
for RHEL (Red Hat controls the Fedora project).

* Fedora releases expire (stop getting security updates) after a
relatively short period (again, idea is pay $$$ to Red Hat for long-term
updates).

* Fedora repositories are pretty sparse compared to the software
available in Debian and Ubuntu.

These are the main reasons I choose to use Debian over Fedora. Debian
templates also work great for sys-net and firewall/VPN.

> 2) I have been able to copy/move files from Fedora VMs to other Fedora VMs but I have struggled to try and copy/move files from Debian(or Whonix-ws) to Fedora? Fedora has the "File" option from my "Q" menu(top right), when I am in the files I can right click and "Copy to Other AppVM" or "Open in DispVM". How do I access Debians version?

The debian-8 template is close to a 'minimal' release and comes without
a file browser. You can copy from the terminal with the 'qvm-copy-to-vm'
command, or install a supported file browser (the one used in Fedora
template is nautilus).

When installing nautilus, remember that its meant to work in concert
with the rest of Gnome... it may not work right if you install it by
specifying 'nautilus' (also you will have to install the python-gtk2
package separately). The easiest way to get this working like it does in
Fedora is to run 'sudo tasksel' and select the Gnome desktop for
installation.

--

Chris Laprise, tas...@posteo.net
https://github.com/tasket
https://twitter.com/ttaskett
PGP: BEE2 20C5 356E 764A 73EB 4AB3 1DC4 D106 F07F 1886

[vel...@tutamail.com]

On Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 4:03:44 PM UTC-6, Chris Laprise wrote:

> https://github.com/tasket
> https://twitter.com/ttaskett
> PGP: BEE2 20C5 356E 764A 73EB 4AB3 1DC4 D106 F07F 1886

Thank you Chris...instead of asking a myriad of follow up questions, do you or anybody else have some good resources for detailed "how tos" on how to configure the Debian Template for the laymans use?

I managed to get LibreOffice loaded but my wish list would be an up-to-date Firefox, Nautilus(file manager) and what ever is required to get my wireless working with sys-net?

I tried changing sys-net to Debian and my wireless wouldn't turn on(Couldn't find the option in my network icon in the top right of my screen).

I would be happy to post these instructions back and submit them to the Qubes community if that is of value.

Thank you again...

I tried

[awokd]

On Mon, November 20, 2017 00:55, vel...@tutamail.com wrote:
> On Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 4:03:44 PM UTC-6, Chris Laprise wrote:
>> When installing nautilus, remember that its meant to work in concert
>> with the rest of Gnome... it may not work right if you install it by
>> specifying 'nautilus' (also you will have to install the python-gtk2
>> package separately). The easiest way to get this working like it does in
>> Fedora is to run 'sudo tasksel' and select the Gnome desktop for
>> installation.

>

> Thank you Chris...instead of asking a myriad of follow up questions, do
> you or anybody else have some good resources for detailed "how tos" on how
> to configure the Debian Template for the laymans use?
>
> I managed to get LibreOffice loaded but my wish list would be an
> up-to-date Firefox, Nautilus(file manager) and what ever is required to
> get my wireless working with sys-net?
>
> I tried changing sys-net to Debian and my wireless wouldn't turn
> on(Couldn't find the option in my network icon in the top right of my
> screen).

I'm not aware of a detailed "how to" anywhere, unfortunately.

First of all, see if a Debian Stretch template is available with "sudo
qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-9" in dom0 terminal. Use that
instead if it's available and see if it works better. Debian Jessie will
be going away eventually.

Next, do these from your TemplateVM, not an AppVM:
- Like Chris said, "run 'sudo tasksel' and select the Gnome desktop for
installation." This should get you Nautilus.
- Firefox would be "sudo apt install firefox".
- For your wireless, look in the NetVM (extra firmware) section here and
follow the instructions, except use "apt" instead of "dnf" on Debian:
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/templates/fedora-minimal . You may also need
to install some of the packages listed in the NetVM section on the same
link, again using apt instead of dnf.

[Chris Laprise]

A good start is to clone your Debian template, then upgrade to Debian 9
and finally doing the 'tasksel' for Gnome desktop (in that order). That
will give you current Debian packages, most GUI tools and also good
audio/video support.

The upgrade instructions for Debian template are here:

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/template/debian/upgrade-8-to-9/

FYI, Qubes R4 has a pre-made Debian 9 template (just needs a simple
workaround for issue #2913).

> I managed to get LibreOffice loaded but my wish list would be an up-to-date Firefox, Nautilus(file manager) and what ever is required to get my wireless working with sys-net?

For wifi, you may have to install a firmware package. For example with
Intel wifi you can 'apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi'. Of course, Debian
9 should have newer drivers available than 8.


--

Chris Laprise, tas...@posteo.net

[vel...@tutamail.com]

Thank you both for taking the time to help...

Managed to upgrade the template, also managed to get my wifi working on debian-8 template(seems faster now to boot!).

I found this post with instructions:
1) sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi
2) sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

However I am struggling with getting the Gnome desktop installed.

I run 'sudo tasksel' and get the option to scroll down to GNOME, the red cursor seems to move however I am unable to select GNOME, I tried just leaving the red cursor on GNOME, hit enter(or OK) but nothing happens?? It simply closes and I go back to the terminal with user@debian...

Sorry for the basic question but how do I select "GNOME" in this window?(I saw a "*" by googling but no keys seems to work.

Thank you again...unfortunately I have been the target of an ongoing attack and having been hacked with Microsoft, then Apple I decided to go with Qubes as it is the most secure. But it has been a huge learning curve!

[awokd]

On Tue, November 21, 2017 20:52, vel...@tutamail.com wrote:
> Thank you both for taking the time to help...
>
> Managed to upgrade the template, also managed to get my wifi working on
> debian-8 template(seems faster now to boot!).

Good work, it's not always a very intuitive process.

> Sorry for the basic question but how do I select "GNOME" in this window?(I
> saw a "*" by googling but no keys seems to work.

Make sure you're doing "sudo tasksel" and try Space.

[vel...@tutamail.com]

Ahhh...space bar! I think I tried every key except the biggest one....it worked!

All working...thank you both and thank you to all who have made this OSS package possible!

Probably going to try a fresh install again and start from scratch just to make sure. My only concern is I have Firefox ESR however I suspect it might be do to the order I originally updated the software.

Thanks again...