Safely running non-free software when I'm "forced" to
Introduction:
I've been running only free software for a while and there hasn't been any reason to change this as for all my tasks there was a free software alternative, but recently I was invited to be part of a practice/kind of work related with photogeometry taking photos of some terrain with drones and building 3D models and ortophotos from this images, and just as I predicted I was required to run some non-free software (In this case Agisoft's Photoscan), the first thing I did was to search for some free software alternative and actually found one (OpenDroneMap) which did almost all the other program could (which is funny as the privative alternative costs $3499 usd while three people could create a decent alternative for free) the problem was that it didn't have GPU support which is vital for making the process faster as there is too much computing to perform. I'm only going to run the privative alternative for a short period while the practive lasts, the reason I'll accept running this software is because this is a great opportunity for learning and would be a pity to miss it even if it implies running non-free software for a while.
This program probably is safe to use but because it's non-free I can't simply trust in it or in it's developers.
So after all that introduction my question is: How could I run safely some non-free software I don't trust (for being non-free) without it being harmful in some way.
I thought using some kind of sandbox software like firejail but then how should I use it and how should I set up the config file.
Please don't just tell me something like "Just don't run it" as that is it pretty obvious and doesn't really help me.
If it's work-related then this is your employer's computing. If they want you to use proprietary software for their computing they should provide their own machine for you to use. If they don't do this, the next best thing is to find another computer to use. One of my jobs is for my university and requires occasional use of Flash. I use a university computer to do this. A public library would work too. It sounds like that won't work for you though, since you need to install a piece of expensive software for long-term use. Do you have access to a spare computer? If not, buying a cheap one will be a tiny expense compared to the cost of the software. That way, you can use that machine soley for this task and have no other personal data on it or use it for any of your personal computing. I do not advise installing proprietary software on your personal machine.
That said, I strongly encourage you to use OpenDroneMap for as many tasks as possible and only use one of the proprietary programs when you absolutely have to. Since you consider this a valuable learning opportunity, I assume you plan to use what you learn in the future. If this becomes part of your life, and you rely on proprietary software to do it, you will not have control over that part of your life. You may even reach a point where you are not just learning about this field but also contributing to it, at which point control over your computing will help to ensure that your contributions benefit society rather than harm it.
Have you asked the developers how close they are to implementing GPU support? I couldn't find any info with a brief search, but there is a support chat here https://gitter.im/OpenDroneMap/generalhelp
I was considering just using it while OpenDroneMap was developing the GPU support (I even thought of helping them archive this but I'm not so sure if I'm capable enough) and becouse they want me only to know how the program works I think I'll test it and learn it in my notebook (which sadly is not very powerful but It's not used for any of my personal computing) and do the actual computing using OpenDroneMap. Thanks for the advice!
And as another question, what is your opinion about having a powerful computer running non-free software but just as a working machine (for all the task It is needed) and having my personal computer running only free software and giving instrutions to this "powerful slave" over ssh or similar.
I was thinking the same, like having the main machine only on the local network. I have a similar problem as yours since my laptop has a nvidia discrete GPU that at the moment is disabled since I am running Trisquel 8 on it. I was thinking to use this laptop as a workstation, disconnected from internet, to make 3d modeling etc... by enabling the installation of the proprietary video drivers. At the same time I was thinking to install coreboot and Trisquel on my old mac book air 4.2, but it is a more difficult task to achieve since to access the firmware I need to build a special adapter and so on...
End of the story I am still on Trisquel 8 on the main laptop doing rare 3D modeling using the s##### intel video card integrated on the processor.
I am forced to use non-free pirated winblows software Adob* Photoshop (portable cracked edition), Visual Basic 6 (portable cracked) and Visual Basic .NET (not much space to install) on our school I do not have a separate machine to use them, I only have a netbook computer, but I am planning to disconnect the network and use they in WINE but I doubt that they will run since they are wind*ws programs.