Welcome to QubesOS // Start Hear.

TL:DR // ELI5

What is Qubes OS?

QubesOS is like apartment building that you own each room is seperate the apartment rooms based on what you need. for example:

• apartments for Banking
• apartments for Work
• apartments for Personal &c.

With each apartments have rooms and each apartments in the apartment complex have a small studio appartment (e.g. StandaloneVM) while others have multiple of room (e.g. Templates.)

This rooms (apps): individual applications that are inside the apartment, exmaple include

• The Banking aparment haves the Firefox Bowser room and the Folder room
• The Work apartment haves the Edge Browser, three Work Apps and a Folder
• The Personal apartment have have the Brave Bowser, two Personal apps and you personal Folder

While the Templates are great, what if you need to run a separt OS (Linux, Unix, Windows, &c.,)?

That where StandaloneVM comefrom.

In StandaloneVM (or just Standalones) you can creat stand alone verical machines (OS on a OS) on your operating system that is separate from you templates. You can run any Linux Distros, non-Linux operating systems, older operating systems like system 7, and Windows operating system like 10, 8, 7, or XP & Vista.

Note there are Windows Template (WTQ) but there heard to run and on going. If you like I am working on "WinQubes" and QTW to run on QubesOS.

Templates Vs. Standalones

Standard apartments share a Template to save space while Standalones are as Studio apartments as templates are Multi-room Apartments; they are fully independent and have their own files and system settings, &c. They are heavier on the building's resources, but thet give you total control of there one-room apartment.

My recommendation with what templates and standalones

Templates

For the Templates the custom version are the best choise so you do not need to create them as a you frist start out, but ones fammiliar with the software than make as much as you need

• NOTE: Create Template that you'll need to work on your envirement. Do Not make more than you'll need.

Qubes

Work, Personal, and Untrusted are your best bet for security through compartmentalization. Anything else is for spific reasons and not may overuse you RAM.

StandaloneVM

For Linux I will choose either Kail Linux or PerrotSec of Red Hat, and ubuntu for standard Linux OS testing For Non-Linux Windows 10 or 11 can work but there hevy so choose wisely. It good if you do not want to use WINE or a compatibility layers.