Fedora-42-minimal setup guide + looking for recommendations

General Discussion
1

Hi all,

I’ve been using Qubes OS for a while and wanted to publish a “paper trail” of how I’m setting up Qubes R4.2.4 on my hardware—both as a reference for people with similar specs (or not) and as a place to collect quality-of-life recommendations from the community.

My main goal is to keep my fedora template as minimal as practical, while still being usable for day-to-day tasks. That same fedora template is used by sys-net, sys-firewall, and sys-usb, so the package list is intentionally biased toward “system qubes need this to function”.

Hardware / software details

Component Specification
Device NovaCustom V56
CPU Intel(R) Core™ Ultra 7 155H
Graphics Intel Corporation Meteor Lake-P
RAM 64 GB
Qubes OS R4.2.4
BIOS Dasharo (coreboot+UEFI) v1.0.0
Kernel 6.17.9-1.fc37

How I use Qubes day-to-day

I’m keeping my qube layout pretty simple:

  1. internet
  • Template: fedora-42-minimal
  • NetVM: sys-whonix
  • Purpose: normal browsing with Firefox where I’m not trying to be particularly private.
  1. programming
  • Template: fedora-42-minimal
  • NetVM: sys-firewall
  • Purpose: development/programming work.
  • Note: created, but I haven’t installed any development tooling yet.
  1. vault (default)
  • Template: fedora-42-minimal
  • NetVM: n/a
  • Purpose: storing accounts in an offline KeePassXC database.
  1. anon-whonix (default)
  • Template: whonix-workstation-17
  • NetVM: sys-whonix
  • Purpose: Tor browsing when privacy matters.

Packages installed in fedora-42-minimal

Below is the current packages set I’ve added to the fedora-42-minimal template. I grouped them by why they exist (system integration, sys-net, sys-usb, GUI, etc.) so it’s easier to skim.

Core Qubes integration

  • qubes-core-agent
  • qubes-core-agent-dom0-updates

NetVM (sys-net)

  • qubes-core-agent-networking
  • qubes-core-agent-network-manager
  • NetworkManager-wifi
  • network-manager-applet
  • notification-daemon
  • gnome-keyring
  • polkit
  • @hardware-support

FirewallVM (sys-firewall)

  • iproute

USB (sys-usb)

  • qubes-usb-proxy
  • qubes-input-proxy-sender

default-mgmt-dvm

  • qubes-core-agent-passwordless-root
  • qubes-mgmt-salt-vm-connector

Audio

  • pipewire-qubes

GUI / graphics support

  • xorg-x11-xauth
  • xorg-x11-server-Xorg
  • mesa-dri-drivers
  • mesa-libGL
  • mesa-libEGL

Fonts

  • dejavu-sans-fonts
  • dejavu-serif-fonts
  • dejavu-sans-mono-fonts

Applications

  • firefox
  • keepassxc

What I did after a fresh Qubes install

  • Updated all qubes via Qubes Update (dom0)
  • Installed fedora-42-minimal via Template Manager (dom0)
  • Installed the packages listed above into fedora-42-minimal
  • Switched sys-net, default-dvm, and default-mgmt-dvm to fedora-42-minimal
  • Set the global default template to fedora-42-minimal
  • Removed fedora-41-xfce
  • Created internet and programming qubes using fedora-42-minimal

What I’d like feedback on

If you spot anything that’s:

  • missing but important (especially for sys-net / sys-firewall / sys-usb reliability),
  • unnecessarily heavy for a “minimal but usable” template,
  • or just a better way to structure this (e.g., splitting templates, alternative packages, etc.),

I’d really appreciate the suggestions.

Thanks!

1 Like
2

What I don’t understand is why you use firefox with sys-whonix instead of using sys-firewall/sys-vpn??
Using anon-whonix with sys-whonix to have an “anonymized” internet with tor browser, ok, but what’s the point of using firefox with sys-whonix??
it doesn’t make any sense :confused:

3

How would you know if it makes sense or not without his threat model and use case?

3 Likes
4

It’s just that I wonder what’s the point :confused:
I would like to understand why use firefox with sys-whonix :slight_smile:

5

Well, she clearly stated it as a question (and its a very valid one). That’s what an forum is for.

6

You may want your regular Firefox experience, and hide your traffic from your ISP or endpoint, without paying for a VPN (or you may trust tor more than any VPN provider).

1 Like
7

“It doesn’t make any sense” doesn’t sound like it, but whatever.

1 Like
8

yes ok, why not

perhaps i was to say “It doesn’t make any sense for me” :slight_smile:

9

Thanks so much for this, love minimal setup guides :smiley:

Quick question - sorry for off-topic - but are you happy with your NovaCustom V56? Any reasons not to buy?

10

Purely looking at it from a device perspective, no problems whatsoever.

Super easy Qubes installation since they are designed to be compatible with the operating system.

I would say the only “inconvenience” I’ve run into is the DPI scaling with Qubes but that has nothing to do with the V56 itself.

11

UPDATE: Still using the fedora-42-minimal template, but using a StandaloneVM