I’d also recommend reviewing Thomas’ 2/24/2020 qubes-users mailing list post containing notes of his experience getting Qubes R4.0 running on the KGPE-D16 with Coreboot 4.11 and GRUB2 at https://groups.google.com/g/qubes-users/c/nbwWa9b-Eo0 Note: My experience does not completely coincide with the last post in that thread.
This should definitely branch off into “If you could design the perfect Qubes OS laptop and desktop machines, what would they be like? Be as detailed as you can, because we might actually be able to crowdfund this!”
I also agree with all of @Sven’s points, with a few of my own:
Laptop
The internal keyboard and trackpad must be on its own bus
all other internal peripherals should either be on their own dedicated bus, or at the very least grouped by function/purpose
integrated graphics AND discrete GPU (possibly multiple GPUs, for passthrough fir gaming, video editing and mining)
Multiple M.2 slots for SSDs
MANY MANY SODIMM slots for RAM for Qubes
Kill-switches for camera
Ports ports and more ports, of all varieties (maybe even interchangeable like the Framework Laptop, allowing more flexibility to port passthrough)
Maybe some kind of “USB Condom” on all USB ports
FOSS-friendly Ethernet (potentially multiple RJ45 ports) and wifi (preferably multiple antennas, for pentesting)
Enough battery life for 3-4 hours of use at full load
4k display (potentially touchscreen)
Rugged enough to “take a beating”, but elegant enough to not look like you’re on an archaeological excavation endeavour
I don’t care if it’s a brick, I’ll still carry it round
Desktop
LOTS of PCI slots
LOTS of separate USB Buses (preferably max two ports per bus, as you can always use adapters to connect more devices)
Maybe some kind of “USB Condom” on all USB ports
FOSS-friendly Ethernet and wifi
FOSS BIOS (ideally Heads or a fork of Heads)
UPS (just in case, even if it’s only a 10-minute battery, just so your machine can shut down properly)
SILENT FANS, or no fans at all! (I’ve done my time in a server room)
Am I missing anything?
Disclaimer: This is a wishlist, and I’m fully aware that all of this in a single machine would be difficult, if not impossible….
Merged this post from another thread, but it also sort-of belongs in that thread (too bad I can’t copy instead of splitting or merging). Definitely a post that should start with ‘Dear Santa’.
Perhaps there is wishlist material here & then couldn’t there also be sensible material (two separate lists?)? Plus a call to arms for consumers/populace to insist upon electronics designed to assist them in their aim to be secure in their persons & the devices that they purchase (long term & unlikely to take much root - heh)? Open hardware & companies that support consumer rights…
This is more of a ‘for fun’ list (hence “Dear Santa”), since a sensible list wouldn’t make any difference. Users are confined to the x86 product ecosystem (at least until the ppc64 port is released, though few will actually get their hands on a compatible system).
