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HOW CAN I TRY OUT DISCREETE LINUX?
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If yout just want to try it out, you can download an ISO-Image here and create a bootable USB pendrive or DVD as discribed here. Next you have to boot your computer from this removable media, as described here. Once Discreete Linux is running, you can create a cryptobox, i.e. encrypted space on your removable media. Of course you can also just open already existing Truecrypt-, Veracrypt- or LUKS-Volumes or containers, but then you can not use the benefits of Cryptoboxes.
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I HAVE OLD TRUECRYPT-CONTAINERS/-VOLUMES. CAN I CONTINUE USING THEM IN DISCREETE LINUX?
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Yes, you can open them with Veracrypt, although we recomend creating a new Veracrypt or LUKS volume. The recommended default is LUKS.
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WHERE ARE MY GNUPG KEYS?
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Keys are located by default in ~/.gnupg. The contents of this directory are normally lost on shut down or reboot since we are using a live system. You can use Cryptoboxes for this, which will - among other things - store the contents of .gnupg. When opening such a Cryptobox, a symlink from ~/.gnupg to the actual directory within the Cryptobox is created automatically, making your keys and seahorse settings available. A guide for using Cryptobox can be found here.
When the Cryptobox is opened, you can create new keyrings with seahorse ("Applicatios - Utility - Passwords and Encryption") or import an existing one with the "Import" -Button. Alternatively, you can also copy pubring.gpg and secring.gpg manually to the directory .gnupg within the Cryptobox (you need to tell the file manager to "Show hidden files" or you won't see it). Keyrings created using PGP can also be imported. If you want to copy them, rename the extension to ".gpg" first.
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MY SETTINGS FOR XY ARE NOT SAVED WITHIN THE CRYPTOBOX
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Cryptoboxes do not save all settings which can be made within the operating system or the applications. Despite it would be even easier to save the whole home directory within the Cryptobox, this would possibly undermine the security of Discreete Linux. This security lies in the fact that malware, even if successfully installed, would not survive a reboot.
It is, however, possible to install software on several places within the home directory so that it would be executed automatically on boot, or here when opening the Cryptobox. This way, one could install malware permanently, albeit indirectly. Therefore, only selected settings are stored within the Cryptobox, which pose no security risk in our opinion.
If you believe that more settings should be saved, feel free to contact us. Experienced programmers wishing to build their own CD will surely easily find the right places within the scripts which need to be adapted.
