The Linux world is full of interesting projects, all targeting different kinds of users and use cases. Sure, you have your run-of-the-mill distros like Ubuntu or Linux Mint, but then are are also things like Proxmox, which have a much more specific purpose.
But a particularly interesting project I learned about recently is Tails. It's a fully privacy-focused operating system that's designed to be completely portable, too. Many Linux distros can run off of a USB drive for testing, but Tails is designed to be used this way, and it's all about privacy and security. Admittedly, I'm not some kind of cybersecurity genius, but Tails is still a very interesting project if you care about digital privacy and want to take it to its furthest extent.
Knowing what you're getting into
Newer hardware may struggle
Tails is a fairly active project, but because a lot of development is required to achieve its privacy and security goals, it's not uncommon for the project to fall behind the latest Linux kernel versions. What this means is sometimes, you may try to install Tails on newer hardware that's not yet supported, which is what happened to me, leading to a lot of frustration. By default, Tails may not inform you that the hardware is unsupported until you change some boot settings, which left me puzzled as to why my PC wouldn't boot.
As it turns out, both Intel Core Ultra Series 1 and Series 2 are not yet supported due to the current stable release of Tails being based on version 6.1 of the Linux kernel. For reference, at writing time, the Linux kernel is up to version 6.16. It's not a huge deal if you have older hardware or there haven't been as many architectural changes since the latest kernel release. I'm currently using it on the Minisforum V3 tablet with an AMD Ryzen 8000 series processor, and it works fine. But there's potential for breaking changes.
This is based on Tails 6, which is over a year old at this point. Tails 7 is currently in the later stages of testing, with Release Candidate 2 already available to test publicly. This will be based on version 6.14 of the Linux kernel, so all the latest hardware should be supported much better than in the current release. I stuck with the stable release and decided to use it on a couple of older laptops I have lying around, including the aforementioned Minisforum V3 and the Huawei MateBook X Pro with 12th-gen Intel Core processors.
Privacy first
Stay safe online
The entire purpose of Tails is to prioritize user privacy above everything else. Being a portable operating system also means you can use it without leaving any traces on the host computer, since your operating system won't have access to the internal disks. Everything runs exclusively off of the USB drive, and files are all stored on it.
As with most live Linux distros, Tails also doesn't preserve your data across sessions by default. Once you restart the computer, all your data is gone, and you'll start into a fresh environment every time. Tails advertises itself as a great choice for journalists and their informants, and even goes as far as specifically mentioning domestic violence survivors, as it gives them an avenue to get online and get help without leaving any traces for their abusers to find.
In addition to not leaving any data on the host computer, Tails also relies on privacy-focused software to protect your identity online. It comes prepackaged with the Tor Browser and a custom Tor Connection manager that forces the Tor connection to be used for all your traffic. By relaying your data through multiple random IP addresses, it becomes nearly impossible for anyone to know what websites you've visited, especially as you can easily start a new identity at any time in the Tor browser. What's more, you can also use Tor bridges to hide the fact that you're using Tor to your local network. This routes traffic to a less suspicious IP before going through other Tor relays. There's also Onion Share, a service for sharing and receiving files or chatting online completely anonymously.
While you can install other software on Tor, you may have a hard time getting internet software to work reliably. I tried replacing the Tor browser with Vivaldi, but no websites would load on it.
Tails even goes as far as disabling root access by default. There's no root password, which means any commands requiring root privileges won't work. This can help prevent someone from physically accessing your PC and finding your data or changing certain settings. A root password can be configured at launch, but it's only valid for that session.
It's actually portable
Your personal PC, on any PC
While no data is kept by default when you restart Tails, you can set up Persistent Storage, a feature that does keep your data across sessions, though only certain types. For example, you can save your Tor browser bookmarks, but not history or login information. If you use the Thunderbird email client, you can also save your configurations so you can access your email accounts more easily when you switch devices. Likewise, you can save Wi-Fi passwords to easily connect to the internet.
And if you need certain documents or you want to keep some app installers handy, you can also a persistent folder that you simply use to store your general files and data. This should make it easier if you have things you need to repeatedly access that aren't necessarily privacy-sensitive by themselves. This is how I managed to install Vivaldi, since it's not available in the default repositories for Tails.
The idea of having an operating system you can boot up on any computer with access to your most important data, while keeping all of it safe from potential intruders, is certainly appealing.
But can you actually daily-drive it?
It's not ideal, but it works
Because of how it handles your data and privacy, Tails isn't an ideal experience to use as your default operating system. It's not very convenient to not be able to see websites in your history, or to have to enter your password every time you go onto a website you've visited a million times before. But just because it's not perfect, it doesn't mean it's not usable, and Tails is actually quite solid.
It's based on an older Linux kernel, sure, but aside from compatibility with newer hardware, this has very little bearing on usability. It uses the GNOME desktop environment, which looks and works great with all the features you'd expect, including little things like support for dark mode. I was even able to set up my computer with a second monitor to make it more of a workstation, which is where I'm typing this very text. On the Minisforum V3, I noticed some subtle flickering on my main display, but it wasn't enough to really affect the experience.
You also get the basics of the apps you'd need for basic use. There's the Tor browser for web access, Mozilla Thunderbird for email, LibreOffice for all your document and spreadsheet needs, Audacity for audio recording and editing, and more. You can also use the apt repositories and the included Synaptic Package Manager to install additional apps like VLC, and you can choose to have those installers saved to your Persistent Storage folder so you can always get them back when you boot up Tails again.
Of course, you won't find every app here, though. Aside from neither Vivaldi nor Firefox seemingly being available as web browsers, I also couldn't find a Slack app (I could just use the web version, though), and Beeper, one of my favorites, also didn't work since it's only available as an AppImage file. Still, most of the time we live in a web browser, and Tor does a perfectly fine job of it.
A careful balancing act
It would have been easy for Tails to become an operating system that's exclusively used by those who are overzealous about their privacy. It could have sacrificed the basic aspects of the user experience to focus exclusively on privacy. But what's been created here is an operating system that actually works fairly well, and tries its best to offer options that bridge the gap between absolute privacy (as far as possible) and an operating that a regular user can live with day-to-day. I'm not planning to move to Tails as a full-time operating system, but if I had to use it for work again for a day or two, I most likely would survive.