Add Qubes OS usage introductory content

[ChumOfChance]

The current SDW docs include a very brief "What is Qubes OS?" and some architectural notes about different VMs, but lacks a "Qubes OS 101" for users. Using SDW day-to-day intentionally requires very little understanding of how to navigate and use Qubes OS, but any troubleshooting (like the common situations outlined in the docs) or off-menu workflows (e.g. using Signal or Dangerzone) requires this specialized knowledge. When needed, we currently explain these steps in detail each time (how to open a terminal in dom0 is repeated many times), or provide a "tip".

The official Qubes docs are quite dense and require an overall: the introductory screenshots are out of date, there is no documentation for the Qubes Application menu, etc.

I propose we add an introductory page to the SDW docs that demonstrates the basics of navigating and using Qubes so that SDW users and admins will be slightly more comfortable doing anything in Qubes outside of SDW's basic features (installing, troubleshooting, and other potential workflows). This will consolidate some "tips" that are currently sprinkled throughout the docs, and also provide a reference for repeated multi-step tasks (restarting a qube, opening a dom0 terminal, etc) so we don't have to repeat them in detail within the docs.

It should be fairly brief, with up-to-date screenshots.

Ideas:

• Qubes Application menu location and usage (e.g. adding favourites)
• Qubes Domains menu location and usage (see what qubes are running, restart a qube, open a terminal in a qube, etc.)
• How to open a dom0 terminal
• How to open the Qube Manager + overview
• Explanation of coloured window borders and how are they used in SDW
• ??

[deeplow]

This is an important discussion to have. For context, about 6 years ago I had offered to build such materials (as a volunteer contributor). The offer ended up not being taken at the time, I imagine due to many other priorities in the project. But since then I've come to be more in line with the official Workstation strategy of abstracting away Qubes from most users (i.e. separating management from usage).

I'll share some thoughts related to these concerns, but I also don't want to get too much in the way since you have closer contact to what's needed from a support perspective. The TL;DR is that I think these may be OK, but more in the admin section. If you feel the need for adding much more context to the regular users, I'd encourage having a broader discussion since feels like a bit of a shift from the previous "official" approach.

Are regular SDW user docs insufficient?

Form the way you frame it, there are some troubleshooting tasks that users need to perform that go beyond the regular system usage. Do you have specific examples of what's not currently covered in the user section of the docs?

I'm just trying to get a picture of what else we expect from regular users that are a bit more in the "administration territory".

How to deal with Signal (etc.)

With the advent of the official Signal integration / Export-to-VM may open the door to the need of more broad Qubes Onboarding (depending on how we go about it). I'm still inclined to abstracting away as much as possible (e.g. with the menu 🔖 bookmarks, as you suggest).

Part of my motivation for this to avoid overwhelming users, but also to prevent foot shooting. If we choose to teach users "The Power of Qubes" beyond just admins, that's a big responsibility and if we feel it's a real need, we make it right (perhaps may even need its own training module). The natural overconfidence from learning a new system can be a powerful motivator, but without guard-rails real damage can be inflicted. I just want us not to over-empower users without the adequate safety equipment, at least in the beginning.

I think of this quarter's goals is to clarify this broader approach strategy-wise. But since your question is a bit more pragmatic than a future discussion my inclination would be suggest this as something inside the admin / advanced usage until we have have a clear picture. We do know for sure admins need this Qubes training, so it feels like there it makes logical sense.