Documentation & support

When the inevitable happens.

Helpful documentation and active support avenues play an important role in the uptake of any software. This is especially true for privacy-enhancing distros that can often be frustrating and involve a learning curve even for people familiar with Linux. Tails offers in-depth end-user documentation in multiple languages with general information, first steps, commonly asked questions and detailed explanations to make you aware of common issues related to privacy and the importance of encryption. There’s even an XMPP chat room, a support mailing list and a form to request features.

Whonix won’t let you down either with its wiki containing detailed documentation. The distro also offers several support options and has a very active forum. To assist new users, TENS’ s website contains several thorough FAQs as well as a Quick Start guide and a user’s manual. Linux Kodachi too has all the information you need to get started with the distro including an installation guide and some useful notes on usage.

The Subgraph OS website explains the various privacy-centric features in detail and there’s also a well-illustrated handbook in both ODF and HTML format. On the downside however, TENS, Kodachi and Subgraph have no official means of support—no forum boards and no IRC. That said, it’s still early days for Subgraph.