Favored Linux Distro?

I started using Kali for an ethical hacking class I'm taking at my college. In my Linux classes we used the Fedora and Ubuntu distros to learn Linux sys admin. I eventually want to install a Linux distro on one of my extra laptops to keep up those skills and wanted an opinion as to which is your preferred distro and why.

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Bryzey

That would be fine clem25

4_lom

Clem25 wrote: »

Core i5, 500gb hdd, 4 gb ram. Would this be ok? What are the min specifications that I could have?

Yeah, that would be fine. When you said 'older laptop', I was thinking a P4 or something

. Here's a link to the hardware requirements:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements

And here's a link to download:

Download Ubuntu Desktop | Ubuntu

I suggest download 12.04 LTS.

Clem25

Thanks everyone, I'm gonna check this out.

What do you recommend for a beginner to learn the basics of Ubuntu Linux?

Bryzey

Youtube

Eli the computer guy
Urban penguin

Both have plenty of free videos up.

yzT

Clem25 wrote: »

...older laptop...

Clem25 wrote: »

Core i5, 500gb hdd, 4 gb ram.

dude, that's not old! xD Old is my Acer Aspire 1640 which runs Lubuntu flawlessly xD

Kinet1c

Started with ubuntu and now using Fedora (with LXDE) as I'm working on centos/rhel in work.

citrus_sugar

Or don't. Kali is not supposed to be used as a main OS. Why reduce your security to that of a Windows user? I just don't like the idea of running as root all the time. Use it for pen testing but for a main os, there are a lot of other options that are better. Also, especially when the goal is to learn linux, Kali is again not the optimal choice.

Thanks for that info. I've just been labbing with it and have yet to do my due diligence with in-depth research, which of course I should be doing as a future security pro. Another lesson learned!

paul78

I like using Linux but I've never quite understood the concept of a favourite Linux distro. I can understand if someone was looking for appropriate distro packages for specific applications to a problem - I.e. RHEL for enterprise use, Mint for casual end-user desktop use, or Kali for security testing.

But for me - the best distro is the one that you build yourself. The whole premise of Linux to me is that you can customize the tools that you want/like/desire around the kernel. Linux lets you have your cake and eat it too.

droz

My vote is for Arch, I switched to Arch about a year ago after many years with openSUSE (along with the occasional temporary distro hopping). The wiki is excellent and pacman and pacaur are outstanding. It is my favorite linux package manager next to Gentoo's portage. But honestly, just build a separate /home directory and distro hop to your hearts content (though you may run into some issues with config files in your home directory interacting with new distros in odd ways).

yzT

droz wrote: »

My vote is for Arch, I switched to Arch about a year ago after many years with openSUSE (along with the occasional temporary distro hopping). The wiki is excellent and pacman and pacaur are outstanding. It is my favorite linux package manager next to Gentoo's portage. But honestly, just build a separate /home directory and distro hop to your hearts content (though you may run into some issues with config files in your home directory interacting with new distros in odd ways).

yup! you can't rely on having a separate home partition to safely test other distros.

W Stewart

My vote is for arch as well. Very hands on and surprisingly I've had an easier time getting arch to install on a uefi laptop than mint or fedora. That's the benefit of being able to see what's going on under the hood.

prism

Debian 6 w/ GNOME II

ally_uk

I used Centos or Ubuntu Server for servers. Ubuntu server has a fasntastic community also recommend the Ubuntu Series of videos by Shawn Powers he is a awesome teacher keeps the material fun to learn. There also is a Centos series.

I run both without a GUI and Vim is my editior of choice.

I Also have a Centos Dev box with a GUI on I use this mainly for BASH scripting currently and reading Bash scripting cookbook by o'reiley and have signed up for a udemy course on Bash scripting. Once I have a good grounding I will move on to Python

Ubuntu and Centos for me reasons being the documentation and the community learning Linux is like running a marathon you don't wake up over night and run the full race without training.

Set yourself small goals and the pieces of puzzle fall into place

Learn the bash shell and the best way to do this is LinuxCommand.org: Learn the Linux command line. Write shell scripts. buy the book aswell highly reccomend it

Once you are comfortable with bash pick a editior and learn advanced features once you have a grasp of that learn unique distribution features such as packagement management / management of services

Get yourself evernote and make notes it's what I did

discount81

I have Ubuntu and CentOS servers, I like both.

For a desktop Linux I like Mint.

Realistically if more hosting companies gave the option, I'd run all my internet servers on FreeBSD.

mikeybikes

Fedora on my desktop, CentOS on servers.

Entering the *NIX realm, pfSense on my firewall and JunOS on my switch