Okay, here’s my list of ideas I had and would like to implement but will probably never get to it:
- Extend flexibility of the qubes themselves, namely:
- Be able to create a disposable based directly on a template bypassing the AppQube step completely. Why don’t just use the same mechanism that creates a new user for an app qube by copying
/etc/skel? Probably there is a good reason idk
- Be able to run multiple instances of a named disposable. Yes, the same way the conventional disposables are spawned with arbitrary numbers. For me, named disposables are just a way to store a particular config detached from their template. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to run multiple instances of the same config.
- Be able to have a template tree. This seems more like sci-fi to me, but it would be really cool to have a template based on a template which differ by one additional not-so-trusted app installed. This would greatly decrease the space required to operate qubes. Dedup may be an alternative to this.
- Snapshot tree. It should be possible to work with snapshots via gui. I want to be able to version-control my vms and revert to any of manually saved states on a whim instead of cloning them like a caveman. Please throw a link at me if this already exists and I am just unaware of it.
I have a feeling that the template tree may be done by using a snapshot tree. How? No idea.
- Be able to create a disposable based directly on a template bypassing the AppQube step completely. Why don’t just use the same mechanism that creates a new user for an app qube by copying
- Improve sys-usb
- sys-usb is pretty problematic, mainly because usb passthrough is pretty laggy even when works correctly. Sometimes it takes multiple seconds to attach hardware to a qube. I understand that it may be a hardware problem, but if the speed can be improved in software please do so.
- sys-usb tray applet is very janky. It works fine when everything is fine, but when a usb device fails to attach for some reason or gets unexpectedly detached, it is completely clueless and still shows that the device is attached. Usb device passthough is a significant part of everyday routine for an average qubes user. Please make it smoother.
- sys-usb is pretty problematic, mainly because usb passthrough is pretty laggy even when works correctly. Sometimes it takes multiple seconds to attach hardware to a qube. I understand that it may be a hardware problem, but if the speed can be improved in software please do so.
- Improve visual support for domains without
qubes-guiprocess running. Sometimes people run boring vms and the fact that graphics support is not even close to the convenienve of the remote viewer that often comes with the virtual machine manager on the conventional distros is pretty annoying. Sometimes it is problematic to change resolution. It is impossible to resize or maximize the window. I have no idea how to do this, but such a feature would noticeably enhance the user experience. - Increase efficiency of the system by delegating at least OpenGL/Vulkan and WebGL tasks to a graphics card. We already have sys-gui on the horizon, but it only exists to separate gui rendering from the dom0. Next step would be to somehow allow domains to call it to do computing tasks. This seems like a security issue to me, and kind of tickles the existential aspects of the QubesOS itself but it would be cool nonetheless ngl.
Website and documentation:
- Add better documentation and forum search. People ask about already documented stuff on forums all the time. It is hard to sift through the documentation, even when you know what you are searching for and pretty sure that it should be there somewhere. Maybe add AI to help to search it.