What's a Good Version of Linux for Basic Hacking

[TheSavageSquid]

I'm pretty new at hacking and wanted to know what would be a good version of Linux for learning and basic hacking, I'm just kinda toying around with this stuff and have no real intention of using it for anything really bad. I think it'd be something fun to learn and possibly be useful or come in handy sometime. I've used RedHat Linux before because my dad is a database administrator and uses that a lot at work so we installed it on an old laptop. I'm currently running Windows 7 on my personal laptop but wanted to also install Linux on the side so I can run either one. Any suggestions for what would be a good kind of Linux for what I'm going for right now?

[Bren2010]

You can pretty much use any operating system for the kind of casual hacking your talking about. While it would be good to get familiar with the more popular Linux flavors like Ubuntu, FreeBSD, RedHat etc., it's not required, per say. But for most of the hacking you'll learn here, you just need a good browser, like Firefox or Chrome, and an internet connection.

[PinkFloyd22]

You can pretty much use any operating system for the kind of casual hacking your talking about. While it would be good to get familiar with the more popular Linux flavors like Ubuntu, FreeBSD, RedHat etc., it's not required, per say. But for most of the hacking you'll learn here, you just need a good browser, like Firefox or Chrome, and an internet connection.

Agreed totally (except for Chrome).For the hacking you want to do you don't really need Linux.But I highly recommend you look into it its briliant you will love it.
Also I recommend to get Ubuntu first it's quite easy to handle.

[DrWheetos]

That's uncanny! I'm just in the process of installing Ubuntu 10.04 into Sun VirtualBox on my Windows 7 laptop. After doing some of the HTS challenges I've found that some of the tools work better on Linux than Windows so I thought I'd give it a go too.

[TheSavageSquid]

Well that's the kind of hacking I'm doing now but I wanna get more into it later once I understand it more. I want to be able to do a lot with this. I'm just a kid and I've always loved computers so I figure if I learn this stuff while I'm younger and maybe itll come in handy later

-- Sat Aug 28, 2010 10:23 pm --

I was talking to my dad and he suggested Fadora or a flavor of SUSE Linux, but I was looking at Ubuntu. I want to install Linux for stuff other than hacking, I'm just interested in using it because I think it'll be good learning experience, and I liked Linux when we had it installed on our old laptop, but learning to hack with it is definitely a big part in it.

[tgoe]

...Linux flavors like Ubuntu, FreeBSD, RedHat etc.

Gahhh, mine eyes!

[Pythous]

...Linux flavors like Ubuntu, FreeBSD, RedHat etc.

Gahhh, mine eyes!

tgoe,

[tgoe]

@Pythous
I honestly can't tell if you're insulting me or yourself

[Pythous]

Don't worry tgoe, just kidding. That wasn't a serious flame.

[Ansikt]

Replace "Basic Hacking" with "me."

The only differences between the different "versions" of Linux are the programs installed by default - some major ones to consider are the Desktop Environment (sometimes referred to as DE) and the Window Manager (WM). There's also external factors to consider, like community support, and how often the release is updated.

So, it's a process that involves a bit of soul searching. Check the different distros at Distrowatch or similar websites, check what kind of computer you have (old computers would benefit most from a lightweight distribution, for example), go to youtube and check out videos there, read performance specs, read the forums, essentially, do your best to get a "feel" of a distro, and if you like it, try it.

Once you've got the distribution, it's only a matter of installing the various tools you need, and customizing it to your taste.

I know that some distributions - Backtrack being an example - come pre-installed with many of the tools, and also have that special "h4xX0Rz" cred, but in the long run, it'll probably be better to have a computer that you're totally at ease with, and install the tools as you go along (with a good package manager, it isn't difficult), rather than having a foreign distribution pre-compiled with a bunch of tools you don't understand (which is silly because, again, these tools are really easy to install. I've heard of people using backtrack for the Wireless breaking abilities, but essentially that's just one program - Aircrack-ng).

Oh, and for what it's worth, I personally use Xubuntu (Ubuntu configured for Xfce Window Manager) 10.04, but am considering switching to CrunchBang once the next release comes out.