“Outlining everything you need to know to get Ubuntu up and running on older computers, the latest free PDF manual from MakeUseOf isn’t one to be missed.”
“Outlining everything you need to know to get Ubuntu up and running on older computers, the latest free PDF manual from MakeUseOf isn’t one to be missed.”
There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding viruses, the security of Unix based OSs, even in more tech savvy groups. So, what’s the deal with viruses and Linux?
In this article we get to discuss Opera’s role as an innovator in the browser market as well as find out if Opera will release its code under the GPL and some technical bits about the ‘Turbo’ technology.
I recently wrote an article about Opera 10 – which is currently in development – and got a lot of backlash from readers.
After trying Ubuntu 8.10 for two days on my Macbook, which proved to be a success, I now take Fedora 10 for a spin. Read on to see how my two days experience was with this Linux distro.
Before we start
Fedora is a popular Linux distro (ranking number 4 on Distrowatch), sponsored by RedHat and developed by the Fedora Project community, with a 4-6 month release cycle. Actually, it may be considered a “beta” version of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat’s supported distribution with a release cycle of 18 month.
Red Hat recommends Fedora for developers and highly-technical enthusiasts using Linux in non-critical environments. I’m neither a Linux developer or highly-technical when it comes to Linux, but at least I’m enthusiast.
Because both Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 use the latest versions of Gnome and Nautilus, they look quite similar.
What’s different
Editor’s note: Bogdan is the resident Mac geek, and has just started using linux. This article is not an in-depth comparison between Ubuntu and Fedora.
The main features that differentiate Fedora from Ubuntu are:
It uses RPM packaging and YUM for command-line package management, which some may find slower than Ubuntu’s apt-get and aptitude, but I didn’t notice that much of a difference.Community is smaller, number of pages indexed by Google is smaller(31 mil compared to 75) but the forums are active and you will definitely get your questions answered.It is considered leading-edge, because it always integrates the latest open-source technologies. (For example: OpenOffice 3.0, that didn’t made it to Ubuntu 8.10)Comes only with FOSS. So you don’t have MP3 support out of the box.because security is one of the most important features in Fedora, it has Security-Enhanced Linux(SELinux) which provides advanced security policies trough the use of Linux Security Modules(LSM) in the Linux kernel.
Installation
Fedora’s installer, called Anaconda, looks like a mature installer, with a lot of options if you know what you are doing (fully unattended installation with scripts or VNC support).
Partition configuration is easy and more intuitive than Ubuntu’s and you can also choose which software packages to install. During installation, you are asked for the root password. In Ubuntu I had to search the forums to figure out how to do a sudo, because the installer did not ask for a root password.
Devices
Logitech USB Webcam, Fuji Digital Camera, Wireless and Dual Monitor support worked OOB. To enable Bluetooth I had to modify a config file, but it worked great. My Canon MP520 printer refused to print with the generic drivers and no plug&play 3G internet connection with my Nokia phone. Overall, the experience was acceptable. Power management, suspend and hibernate also worked flawlessly on my MacBook.
Look and feel
As mentioned, because of Gnome, Fedora looked very much like Ubuntu. The default Nautilus is striped down – no side panel, no buttons and no tab browsing. One little glitch I encountered: folder icons on external drives were represented with file icons.
I liked the Solar theme with it’s desktop wallpaper and the wait cursor. The boot loading bar is quite original, but the start-up tune is awful.
No luck in enabling desktop effects. It would just hang, requiring a restart. I tried to install some Compiz Configuration packages, but at every boot, it just loaded a blank screen. I had to reinstall Fedora. So no eye-candy for me. Reinstalling Fedora because of Xorg video framework errors is highly unnecessary; just remember to back-up the config files, then boot into the failsafe terminal to restore them. Unlike Ubuntu, the configuration tools are organized in folders and are easier to find.
Something very useful I didn’t notice in Ubuntu 8.10 is the File Sharing (SAMBA) configuration utility. This applet lets you easily set up a shared folder locally or access already shared resources.
Package Manager
Yum’s graphical front-end (gpk-application or Add/Remove Software) is somewhat similar to Synaptic, but a little less ergonomic and the number of available applications seemed smaller. To get the software that Fedora Project did not want to ship you need to install RPM Fusion.
Every time I tried to install a downloaded rpm package, I was greeted with some annoying warning messages and had to click “Copy File” and “Force Install”. To add to the frustration, no finish message was displayed, leaving me to think something bad happened.
I don’t know if this behavior is general, or specific just to Fedora and other RPM-based distros, but it is very annoying: I can’t install an rpm while another rpm is being installed.
Editor’s note: This is a security feature of SELinux.
Updates seem to come very often. Unfortunately, after a round of updates I started to receive Kernel failure errors. Just my luck.
Newbie friendly
In order to do some of the basic things they are used to on Windows or Mac, new Linux users must be fairly tech-savvy. This is why the ‘newbie friendly’ factor is important in attracting new Linux users from the other operating systems.
Ubuntu emerged as the most easy and user-friendly Linux distribution. I can say Fedora is not that far behind, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone completely new to Linux.
I agree with the consensus that Ubuntu is intended for the desktop, while Fedora, with its high degree of configuration and professional feeling is intended for developers, linux enthusiasts or server machines. Or NASA geeks.
In today’s article we review a fresh version of Dreamlinux, a linux distribution that promises to be good-looking, lightweight yet fully featured, with useful extras available out of the box – making it an attractive package for new users.
The default desktop is quite good-looking – considering it is a RC release and based on XFCE.
First Impressions
My first contact with Dreamlinux was on their oficial website – which isn’t a design marvel – but does a good job convincing the visitor to give Dreamlinux a try. You’re greeted with a series of pretty good-looking screenshots, and a everything you need to know about the OS before jumping in:
Dreamlinux 3.5 RC4 can be run from either LiveCD, DVD, USB Stick or installed to the hard drive.The DVD version includes all the codecs necessary for playing popular music and video formats.A neat feature for the more ‘nerdy’ crowd, MkDistro LiveRemaster allows to custom build the OS to suit your specific needs:Its main goal is to make it possible for any user, when running Dreamlinux as a LiveCD, to customize the distro and then regenerate a new iso image mirroring the customizations made.
One of the screenshots posted on Dreamlinux official website, showcasing a Mac OS X Leopard themed Avant Window Navigator Dock and Google Gadgets for Linux.
User Interface
You’ve got to give credit to their full-on approach, from the bootloader-to the desktop, everything has the same clean ‘feel’, except for the verbose-mode being enabled by default at boot-up, which is most certainly just an RC ‘feature’.
The interface is clearly inspired by Mac OS X Aqua, with the translucent dock, shiny icons and windows borders. But the team behind Dreamlinux is working on more than just the surface – touching stuff like the control panel and making it look and work like its Mac counterpart – making it very easy and straightforward to change settings even for non-technical persons.
Admittedly its current implementation is far from perfect and it breaks down at the second step, opening a new window instead of allowing you to make the changes from inside the Control Panel app. This will be probably one of the kinks which will be ironed out before the final release.
Another thing worth mentioning is window environment: XFCE. It’s a lightweight engine which provides most of the functionality of Gnome or KDE, while cutting down on the bells and whistles. The developers said:
In this release candidate, Dreamlinux returns to its origin and comes with the XFCE Desktop only, since we are still aiming to produce a CD-sized ISO image.
Altough their goal is understandable – I really wonder why they didn’t include Gnome, a better, more refined window manager – after all Ubuntu fits on a single CD and Dreamlinux doesn’t include a lot of extra apps that would take that much space.
Overall I would say their approach to UI is a good idea, while it is currently rough at the edges.
Performance and Hardware
Dreamlinux boots up a little faster than Ubuntu with our timer stopping at 48 seconds from boot-up to desktop.
Like most linux distributions it has quite a few misunderstandings with WiFi cards – neither one of the integrated Atheros 5007EG or the external SMC stick was recognized, prompting for a 5 minute trip to the terminal and custom madwifi drivers. On the other hand, we have the ndiswrapper tool installed by default – which makes it a breeze to install wifi drivers for most cards.
No luck with the integrated Bison webcam either, something that Ubuntu 8.04 got out of the box using video4lin driver.
We couldn’t convince ALSA to work with the with the ATI chipset for audio in – but most of these problems are strictly related to our test hardware, an Acer laptop with some weirder components.
If you bought your computer with Ubuntu in mind, choosing compatible hardware, or have Ubuntu working perfectly out of the box you’ll be okay with Dreamlinux. Remember you can always use tutorials written with Ubuntu in mind because you’re using the same base: Debian.
Applications
Apart from a few useful addtions to the usual suspects, Dreamlinux doesn’t bring anything ground-breaking:
Multimedia: Rhythmbox, Mplayer, Gxine, SoundJuicer, SoundConverter, Avidemux.Internet: Pidgin Instant Messenger, Gftp, Thunderbird Mail Client, Iceweasel (Firefox)FlashPlayer, Java.Graphics: Inkscape, Gimpshop, Gthumb, Xsane.Open Office, Evince and SciTe.It’s based on Debian Lenny, which means you get the APT package manager (and the graphical interface to it, Synaptic Package Manager), .deb compatibility allows you to install a wealth of apps easily. It’s an easy switch for anyone used to working on Ubuntu – which is also based on Debian.
Conclusion
Dreamlinux is a linux distribution which promises a lot for future versions – especially on the user interface side, as developers have more time to tweak the details – for that perfect user experience.
Right now, I wouldn’t recommend installing Dreamlinux – because it just about halfway to becoming a really different, good linux distribution.
For someone looking for eye-candy and user-friendliness I would recommend gOS3 and Linux Mint, the former which I use as my primary operating system. Visit the official website here.
Can iTunes media player monopoly on the Mac come to an end? There are two noteworthy contenders: Songbird and Banshee. Let’s see if they have a chance at overthrowing iTunes.
What’s wrong with iTunes?
It depends on who you ask. Some may say it’s bloated, it’s slow, a resource hog, lacks support for players other than iPods, you can’t customize it, it doesn’t allow you to organize music the way you want – you constantly need to import music files into iTunes library (aka no “Watch Folders” feature), no “now playing” playlist, DRM-ed songs bought through the iTunes store can only be played on iPods, cover art download feature doesn’t work most of the time and let’s not forget it’s closed source.
On the other hand iTunes is sexy, easy, pretty much painless, integrates perfectly with the Mac, iPod and iPhone, streams music with AirTunes, cover-flow library view is gorgeous, library syncing works fantastic, it has smart folders, built-in CD ripping/writing and it basically has everything you need for playing, organizing, syncing, encoding and downloading music, podcasts and movies.
We will take a look at open-source Songbird 0.7.0 and Banshee 1.4 from a Mac user perspective and compare them to iTunes to see if there are any compelling reasons to switch.
Technology used
Songbird is built on Mozilla’s XULRunner platform and it allows skinning and add-ons similar to Firefox, but it uses a lot of RAM. It is called by many the Firefox of media players. Another selling point is browsing web pages from within Songbird (Gecko engine) and automatic music discovery(“url slurper”) – music files embedded on a web page are displayed on a separate pane where they can be played or downloaded.
Banshee is built on the Mono platform and Gtk – the reason why it has a certain Gnome look and feel, which is not actually a bad thing. This version of Banshee is the first technology preview release for Mac OS X which explains the glitches and frequent crashes. Before installing Banshee you need to install Mono.
Both Songbird and Banshee use GStreamer multimedia framework for decoding and encoding media files.
Media files support
Songbirds can play MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WMA and Apple FairPlay – encoded audio, while Banshee plays Ogg Vorbis, MP3,FLAC and H.264 videos.
Library Management
Songbird allows importing your iTunes music library. In my tests, songs and playlists were imported correctly, but no ratings or play counts. Banshee can’t import the iTunes library but you can import the media from the iTunes folder. I imported more than 7000 tracks from my external Firewire drive. Both applications were quite fast, but Banshee seemed a little faster. When importing is complete, Songbird automatically searches for duplicates and Banshee tries to find cover art from the internet.
When it comes to organizing your music, you get the usual stuff you might expect: playlists, smart playlists, ratings, live search and sorting from multiple criteria. Neither has playlist folders.
A feature that we long for in iTunes, Folder-watch (auto discovery and import of new music files from specified folders), is also missing, but is promised in a future release of Songbird. At least Banshee has a Rescan Library Tool, a tool that will rescan your media collection and update your library if any changes have occurred. A very welcomed feature is the Play Queue in Banshee, which allows you to queue up songs on the fly. Why isn’t this in all media players?
Metadata and cover art
Both have good meta data editors, but Banshee’s is better. A thing I’ve noticed: Songbird did not read the whole meta data:
When you import music files, Banshee will automatically try to download cover art from Rhapsody, Amazon and Last.fm. It does a pretty good job. Way better than iTunes.
Songbird does not have such a feature built-in and cannot import cover art from the iTunes library, but you can use Album Manager and Last.FM Cover Fetcher addons. From what I can tell, you have to manually right click each of your albums to download the cover art. Ouch!
Interface
Songbird has a fairly polished interface, very iTunes-like, and many Mac users will appreciate the similarities. Unlike iTunes, or Banshee for that matter, the interface offers a very high degree of customization. You also get a tabbed browser and customizable music search box, where you can add your favorite mp3 music search engines or use the defaults: SkreemR or The Hype Machine.
Besides the playlist pane and the central pane you get three customizable panes for add-ons: two at the bottom and one on the right side.
Also with the help of add-ons you can choose the library view from: List, Filter Pane, Album List, Album View, and MediaFlow (mimics iTunes CoverFlow and it’s not to shabby) . Album List is terrible.
While some may say Banshee’s streamlined interface could use some spicing up, when compared to Songbird, I find it easy, clear and uncluttered. It has only one view for the library, with three panes: the artists. the albums and the songs. I consider this to be the most useful way to view my music library.
Considering this is the first beta preview on the Mac, I will ignore the little interface quirks like chunks of text disappearing or the absence of a functional progress bar for songs.
Both application offer a mini-mode, but Banshee’s interface is bulky while Songbird’s mini interface is highly stylized.
Skins
Songbird’s skins are called feathers. You can choose from well over 100 feathers and with the help of the add-on manager you can easily install them. I don’t really know what is the deal with Banshee themes. Apparently it supports skinning but I did not find a way to get and install such themes.
iPod support
Songbird has built-in support for managing iPods (but no iPhones or iPod touch). You can let it sync or manually transfer the files.
The Mac version of Banshee does not yet support devices, but the Linux versions supports iPods and mobile phones (even HTC G1 Android, but no iPhone) so hopefully this will not be an issue with future versions.
Music stores
With Songbird there is a Jamendo and eMusic add-on, but the integration with these stores resumes at displaying a list of tracks and a play button in the bottom pane. To buy a song you need to visit the website. As for Banshee, there is an unofficial iTunes Music store plugin, but more about plugins in the next section.
Extension Support
The strong point of Songbird is the ability to easily add extensions. There are over a hundred extensions for library views, social services like Last.fm and Twitter, lyric finders, music recommendations, concert ticket finders, artist bios, Apple remote-control support and many more. Some of these add-ons will fit nicely in the extra panes.
The recommended add-ons you can install on the first start of Songbird are:iPod Device Support, QuickTime Playback, SHOUTcast Radio,Concerts,iTunes Library Importer,Songbird Developer Tools.
Banshee also supports extensions, but their number is very limited. Most of these plugins have been included by default in Banshee and they are called Core-Plugins. The unofficial plugins are not that easy to install- you have to know your way with the command line. Among the core-plugins you can find: Bookmarks, Cover Art fetching, Digital Media Player support, Mass storage media player support, Internet Radio, Last.fm radio and Scrobbling, Mini Mode, Play Queue and Podcasts.
I find the Last.Fm integration very well built in Banshee.
Radios and podcasts
In Songbird there is no podcast category. To get a podcast to appear in Songbird you need to right click the Playlists category, choose New Subscription and enter the feed URL. The podcast will appear as a playlist and you can begin streaming the episode you want, unlike iTunes where you have to wait for the download to finish.
Songbird comes with SHOUTcast Radio add-on. If your favorite radio station isn’t there, then you have to follow the same procedure as for adding podcasts.You guess it, the radio station will appear as a playlist. Awkward and annoying. No to mention the fact that if you add a radio, the download animation will constantly indicate a download is in progress.
Banshee has a dedicated Podcast and Radio category. You will see the cover art for all your podcasts in the album pane. An interesting feature is the ability to organize podcasts in playlists and smart playlists. Radio doesn’t work 100%. I could add all my stations but some refused to play.
Conclusion
With good looks, customization, addons and integrated web browser with music discovery and download features, Songbird is an ambitious project.
With sheer elegance in its simplicity, Banshee for Mac looks very promising. But at the current stage it’s not really usable- it crashes every few tracks.
If you think about it, you have great plugins for iTunes too: Last.fm, iLike or the upcoming TuneUp companion. Most people don’t even care about the audio encoding or where the physical music files are stored on the drive, they just want to listen to their music. These people and those who like iTunes the way it is, probably consider Songbird or Banshee just a crippled-down iTunes.
For those who dislike iTunes I have bad news: neither Songbird or Banshee is an iTunes killer on the Mac. Simply put, at this moment there are no real compelling reasons to switch.
On the other hand, as an iTunes alternative on Linux, the fight is tough, as there are two more contenders: Amarok and Rhythmbox.
Thanks everyone, this post made it to Reddit!
I’ve been using Ubuntu for years now. However, having worked with both Fedora and SUSE as well, I’ve always been very open to the idea of trying out other distributions. I recently stumbled upon MEPIS Linux (pronounced ‘meh-pis’ — similar to “memphis”), and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to pick up and use. I’ve decided to share my experiences with the latest beta of the upcoming MEPIS 8.
Installation
The installation of MEPIS was very easy. Since I was using a fresh hard drive, I started with the ‘automated’ installation, which set up separate partitions for MEPIS, swap, and my home directory. This is a particularly exciting default partitioning scheme, since it gives me the ability to reinstall MEPIS (or to install a new flavor of Linux) without losing my documents and configurations. I also went back and experimented with the manual installations settings. The options were very easy to understand, and after only one setup screen I was able to reach the installation phase. I’m confident that setting up a double or triple-boot system would be quite easy.
At the end of the installation process, MEPIS prompted me to install GRUB, and gave me the option to install it on the boot sector of a partition instead of on the MBR. While most users will use the default settings for this, I tend to prefer the Windows bootloader, and was happy to see this option available. This is especially important for anyone wishing to run Vista alongside Linux, as Vista requires the use of Microsoft’s bootloader.
Configuration
Almost painless…
Except for one large roadblock, getting MEPIS set up they way I wanted was very easy. MEPIS comes with KDE 3.5, which has a host of useful applications. Since this is a beta release of the next MEPIS, I expected to see the latest version of KDE. However, KDE 4 had a very rocky release, and since KDE 3 is still a very highly regarded windows manager, I understand why it would be worth keeping around for a while.
Software
For the most part, I’m happy to use the default software KDE offers. While I am used to instant messaging with Pidgin, I found Kopete to be more than adequate for my needs. I also found Amarok and Akgregator very useful, and I was pleased to see that MEPIS provides the new OpenOffice.org 3, which makes word processing in Linux very easy.
Other programs like Kontact and KOrganizer are useful as well, although since I tend to organize my life in Google Calendar and Gmail, all I really need is a working installation of Firefox, which MEPIS provides. However, before I could get really started, I had to get my internet connectivity working, which is when the trouble began.
Wireless
When MEPIS first booted up, it was unable to detect any network devices. I did some research, and found that my Intel wireless card should be supported, so I went into the “MEPIS Network Assistant” and manually entered the credentials for my wireless network. After fiddling for a while without any luck, I plugged in an ethernet connection. After I restarted my computer, I suddenly saw KNemo connect to my wireless network.
Thinking I had somehow fixed the problem, I unplugged the ethernet and went to work on my couch. However, the next time I restarted, wireless was gone. I eventually gathered that my wireless only works when I boot up with ethernet plugged in. This is made even stranger by the fact that my ethernet does not work in either case. I’m not sure if this is a bug or if my hardware simply isn’t well supported.
The Look
While I worked on getting my Internet to work, I started playing around with the themes. In general, I found the defaults provided by MEPIS to be somewhat unappealing. I quickly swapped the default MEPIS background for a classier KDE one, and I changed the panel configuration to be wider and slimmer. I also switched to the “Plastik” window decoration style, which I find slightly more pleasing to look at.
Updates
As soon as I was able to connect to the internet, I loaded my favorite package manager, ‘synaptic,’ and downloaded all of the latest updates, which installed flawlessly.
Graphics and Gaming
I then went ahead and grabbed the package ‘nvidia-xconfig,’ which I’ve used in the past to get my nvidia card working, and the game Planet Penguin Racer, which I use to test that my card works. After restarting X, I was immediately able to race down some stellar 3D slopes. I’m impressed that it only took me a couple steps to get my graphics working. While it’d be great if this sort of thing would work right away, setting up my NVIDIA graphics used to take hours on older releases of Ubuntu.
Finally, I installed ‘wine’ from the repositories so that I could run Steam, which I’m finding works very well in MEPIS. Compiz Fusion is also working, for the most part. I’m certain I could get it working fully if I wanted to take the time, but there are still a few glitches I haven’t bothered to iron out.
Conclusions
With MEPIS Linux, there seems to be an expectation of quality. Because of its unique relationship with Debian and Ubuntu, it has a rich library of packages, which see pretty regular updates. I am impressed with how readily-available the software is, and how easy it is to download and configure.
To clarify, however, I’ll point out that MEPIS is definitely not just another Ubuntu derivative. As of version 7, MEPIS no longer relies on Ubuntu, instead relying on Debian 5 sourcecode. Because Ubuntu is essentially rebuilt from the bottom-up with each release, Debian provides a more stable foundation for continual development. MEPIS maintains its own kernel, and has its own software repository. Since Debian 5 (Lenny) has yet to be released, MEPIS 8 is still a cutting-edge beta.
While it may not have the same kind of community support as, say, Ubuntu, MEPIS definitely has a large community and has been gradually gaining attention.
Why I Hesitate
Someone who is not an experienced Linux user will definitely take a lot of time getting things up and running. The KDE 3 menu system seems cluttered to me. Within each menu category exist many submenus, some with the name “More Applications,” leaving the user exploring for the right program. Each program is listed using both its description (i.e. “CD Player”) and its name (i.e. “KsCD”), an unnecessary addition to the clutter. The assistant software provided by MEPIS only complicates the menus further, making it hard to know where to look, since there already exist a KDE control center, a “System” menu, and a “Utilities” menu.
Furthermore, features I enjoyed seeing in MEPIS have existed in Ubuntu/Kubuntu for a while now. While MEPIS can definitly hold its own as a desktop operating system, I didn’t find it to be a definite improvement over many of the other major distributions. It’s only mostly user friendly and, while KDE is great, there are still plenty of Linux alternatives that are slightly easier to pick up and use.
Small details certainly don’t make or break an operating system (take Windows as an example), but until MEPIS can stand out from the masses, I’m not convinced I’ll be tempted to use it as a primary OS anytime soon. That being said, MEPIS is still quite impressive, and since this is still a beta release, things are definitely subject to change.
I have dealt with a lot of Linux distros since I first learned the power of my newfound penguin friend. He was free unlike a Microsoft or Apple product, had thousands of available programs (also free), and looked damn classy while he was in control of my computer.
My first forays were using live Linux CDs on an old 1998 Gateway computer, then I experimented with installing Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian. However, after a while I started to stray from my new friend and I found myself going back to old habits, using XP and eventually embroiling myself in the OSX86 project and experimenting with Tiger and then Leopard. I gave up on Linux for a while and divided my OS use between my hackintosh and Vista boxes.
Choices
I was perfectly content with my two choices up until I started experimenting with network security. Sure, you can get network security tools for both of the major systems, but they are nothing compared to the plethora available when you choose Linux as your auditing operating system. I started with Kubuntu and customized my installation with as many security apps as I could find. This was a bit of a heavy-handed approach to things, and it took up a good size of my laptop hard drive. What I needed was a more portable solution.
Backtrack
I found everything I could ever want and hope for when a friend of mine introduced me to Backtrack. He performed a Man In The Middle (MITM) attack on a sample LAN, replacing every photo URL that I browsed for in Firefox with one of a skull and crossbones. I had never seen such pirate witchcraft done so easily, so I asked him what other things this Linux distribution could do. He basically told me that nearly everything you could ever want for wardriving, penetration testing, vulnerability testing, privilege escalation, and just all-round mayhem could be performed with this distribution. And the best part about the whole deal is that it is a live cd distro. You don’t need to install it to your hard drive in order to perform security tests, for that matter it doesn’t even have to be your computer! Just have the CD with you and you are good to go.
Backtrack is developed by the remote-exploit community over at remote-exploit.org. When I was first introduced to Backtrack the latest iteration was Backtrack 2, and I loved what I saw. Backtrack 3 has since come out and looks spiffier than ever with more tools and updated software.
Is it good?
I’ll sum up my feelings for Backtrack in one simple statement: This is the only Linux I use. It has exactly what you’re looking for. The only thing that it does not have that might be useful to me is Open Office.
Now, I’d love to list in detail all of the lovely tools that Backtrack has, but you would be scrolling for quite a while and and this article probably wouldn’t have gotten done until sometime around 2010. Don’t fear though! Here is the link to the Backtrack wiki page that details the tools that can be found in Backtrack’s arsenal.
Now, you might ask yourself, “What’s better than a live cd Linux that does penetration testing and just about any other testing I’d ever want?”. I will answer that question with: A live USB thumbdrive Linux that does penetration testing and just about any other testing you’d ever want.
Creating the thumbdrive
You only need the following to create a keychain portable Linux OS:
Requirements:
1GB or bigger thumbdriveBacktrack .iso fileNifty little program called UNetbootinIn order to guarantee a clean installation of Backtrack, be sure to format your thumbdrive to clean out any files. I suggest using FAT32 when you are formatting it, simply because I know that it works and I’ve never had any problems. The Backtrack .iso file can be downloaded here.
Because your thumbdrive is 1 GB, it can handle the USB version that has a bit more stuff packed into it. That is the version I suggest downloading.
UNetbootin
UNetbootin will take any .iso file and “burn” it to your thumbdrive painlessly and especially fast. It will do this with ANY Linux distro, not just Backtrack. I love this program and I’ve used it dozens of times. Its interface is pretty much self explanatory:
Click the … next to the ISO text field and select the Backtrack (or any other Linux distro) .iso file, make sure that the correct USB drive is selected in the Drive: drop down menu, and then click OK. UNetbootin will now copy over the operation system from the .iso file and burn it to your thumbdrive. Once its done copying the files, it will install a bootloader to your USB drive, and then prompt you for a restart in order to load Backtrack. This part is obviously optional, but if your a little zoned you you might just click ok and lose whatever you may have been working in in other windows, so try to be careful.
Conclusion
It’s as simple as that, you now have Linux on a thumbdrive that can travel with you wherever you go. Be careful how you use your new found power, a lot of the apps on Backtrack are useful for security testing, but could be twisted for use on the dark side of things. I don’t condone using Backtrack for nefarious deeds, and I suggest that you do not follow that path.
If you would like some tutorials in how to use the features found in Backtrack, IronGeek has a few videos available that can help you along.
A new version of Ubuntu Tweak has just been released and continues to make tweaking easier for Ubuntu. Thanks to Ubuntu Tweak you don’t have to hack deep into the terminal for making many useful changes to your Ubuntu setup.
