Best options for OSX, Windows, Linux, on Purism Hardware

Librem
1

I have to be able to use Windows, OSX, & Linux for my work.

Before getting the Librem, I was informed it could work as a Hackintosh, as well as Windows multi-boot.

I was hoping I could install Windows, PureOS, & OSX inside a Qubes VM.

So far, days later, I still have not been able to get it to work.

When installing Windows 10, I get the error “Missing USB drivers” (Paraphrased). No solutions posted online have worked.

When installing PureOS in a Qubes VM it works, but I cannot get network working.

And here’s the kicker… so far, no luck getting the Ethernet to work with Qubes.

At this point I’m looking for alternatives.

Anyone that has encountered this problem please let me know what you came up with that worked.

Potential solutions:

3 partition, multi-boot option:

Partioning the main drive, then installing Windows, PureOS, and OSX on their own partitions (and endure the security hole that creates). )(Its unkown if I’ll encounter the same driver issues trying to get Windows to work?)

Another VM software (not Qubes)

PureOS as root, another VM software to run Windows & OSX inside PureOS?

Another VM software, on top of Qubes

Perhaps I’ll have better luck with another VM software other than Zen, to install Windows, PureOS, and OSX on top of Qubes, and still get the functionality of Qubes for other things.

…before I blow a few more days fighting with tech, to find the solution, Purism veterans, what’s the best approach to get my outcome in your opinion?

2

Using Qubes for something like that would at least involve a lot of trial and error. There is no “official” support for Windows or OSX templates in Qubes afaik, so you will need to experiment.

I’d say it depends on your specific demands and abilities if it is worth the hassle. If you need Windows/OSX because of specialized software e.g. in the graphics sector I would outright refrain from trying, as Qubes still gives only limited access to graphics computing hardware for security reasons.

I would definitely not use another VM solution within Qubes - even if you manage to make it work you would waste so much memory and computing power on sustaining your nested virtualization infrastructure alone that your actual work will become a rather painful experience. At least that’s what i would expect.

Even a 3x multiboot sounds pretty adventurous to me - I would only try that on a productive machine with three physical drives, as some OS have the nasty habit of acting like they are all alone and messing with the boot loader when updating. Are you sure you wouldn’t be better off with at least two discrete devices? Like, say, a Windows/Linux laptop and an old Macbook to go with it? That’s kind of the approach I use.

3

Use Ubuntu (although I’ve used it with pureos as well) with VMware workstation. (sacrilege I know around these parts but sometimes you just need things to work.) You get 3d graphic acceleration and should be able to get OS X and Windows to boot. I haven’t tried doing that for a while as I quit trying to develop for the platform. However I’m in windows everyday and it works very well.

4

This is a new Librem laptop, right? Have you formally contacted Purism for support?

5

This may not be a popular approach, but for quick and dirty I’d boot windows and use hyper-v. It’s been a while since I made a hackintosh VM but it was very little fuss last time I did. And Linux VM’s are a breeze.

I tried running Windows in Boxes with pureOS as the base and had terrible performance when compared to windows as the base and a Linux hyper-v VM. Not saying this is ideal, just that it’s an option that may work better for your specific use case without knowing how much time you need in each OS.

If you have a second SSD laying around maybe do that while trying to get qubes to work on the primary disk?

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