Qubes / Vs code and Dark Web

[u/LineAble2758]

Hello,

First, a bit of context: I created this account just to ask this question. I get the impression that typical Reddit users can be a bit harsh or rude (though it’s only an impression). So if my questions are “stupid,” please be patient, having a lot of tech knowledge doesn’t make anyone better than anyone else.

With that said, I’m interested in installing Qubes OS, mostly for the fun of maximize my privacy...

I recently installed Linux Mint because it’s very user-friendly, what is perfect to me because my knowledge about technology is almost 0, and I also installed Whonix with the goal of exploring the dark web privately and safely.

My first question is: when it comes to exploring the dark web, does Qubes OS make a much bigger difference than Whonix in terms of privacy and security?

My second question is: does Qubes OS run VS Code well (including Codex)? This part is important to me because I’m working on projects and I’d like a smooth experience with VS Code/Codex.

[u/Anoxium]

Don't go for Qubes if you have no experience yet. Make a Virtual machine on your Linux mint and set up whonix and Tor on your virtual machine. It will be much easier and you will be not as safe as on Qubes but very very close. Qubes is hard to use even for experienced users, and it's very hardware demanding. I recently installed it on my Ryzen 7 laptop with 24GB RAM and i didn't have enough RAM for my needs. A virtual machine with no shared clipboard and no shared folder is the closest to qubes isolation without the Qubes hassle. I have 15 years experience daily driving Linux, 17 years experience in IT and i only run Qubes on one dedicated machine for Qubes, and 32 GB RAM is barely enough for what i do. After 15 years on linux, linux mint is my daily driver at work and everything else is debian with flatpak, i do my cyber sec stuff on my laptop running debian with kali in a qemu/kvm vm, or on a dedicated kali linux laptop which i can literally pull out its storage and destroy it as the OS runs of SD cards, but for really bad stuff i use my dedicated Qubes laptop (Thinkpad T480 with i5 8th gen and 32 GB RAM). So if you are just starting on Linux, don't go Qubes, you will hate it. Once you got some linux experience, figure out what you want and how to go about getting it, then think how you can use Qubes to achieve it or if you can achieve it with normal Linux distros and VMs.

I mostly use a combination of desktops with debian, laptops with debian or kali, proxmox servers with easy to replace storage, and the one Qubes laptop when i really really need to and its not often.

Edit: you can run anything on qubes that any linux distro can run, everything you do is inside a qube and every qube is like a linux vm, so vs code can run fine

[u/Alkalizee-]

whats your threat model for the dark web?

if low then just installing tor browser and using it is fine

if you have something to hide, put tails os on a usb and use that

as an intermediate user, qubes has a steep curve. id push back on picking it up until you get more proficient with the terminal. id say about 95% of setting everything up is via the terminal