Linux Distro?

[TOWT]

There has prolly been thousands of the same question
but im sorry

im trying to learn linux (setting up servers and the security aspect of it)

i was thinking of using slackware but maybe someone can help me

what i would have to set up would be a:

printserver
http
ftp
proxy

i would also like if the type of linux had the majority of security progs that i need, as i said before im learning

[Metgod]

I'm still not really well or here, but I figured I'd send this to you telepathically. So here it is. Listen carefully, since I only have so much strength/energy to send things.

My understanding is that Slackware is behind times. This might have changed (don't know) but it seems they've been lacking in a lot of areas. But some people do like it. It's certainly a more manual system too, which can be a bonus to learn the command line.

My personal favourite is Gentoo (gentoo.org). A lot of people don't like it, several reasons, among them that you compile everything from scratch (although you don't have to for installation and the most recent version has a GUI installer). Just depends on how you install it though. You can actually download the ISO image, and most of it is already compiled. Add to that, you can have the compile system make images of the compiled programs so that if you ever install on another machine (or the same machine) with the same code (processor) it's even quicker. Then there are programs like ccache (compiler cache), and other features to speed things up. So basically, what you have to do for sure is some configuration type things that pretty much every distro has you do in some form or another.

The bonus here is that you learn the command line a lot by going through the installation manual. Plus you learn the distro specifics. And you can even learn how to configure the kernel without a GUI (graphical user inferface in case you can't remember or know).

I know some here on the HFX boards really like SuSE. I've tried it and it's quite decent now adays; I just prefer Gentoo for some reason (maybe because I don't use a GUI although you certainly can with Gentoo).

Pretty much any major distro should allow what you want to play with. To be honest I don't have much experience with printing and such in Linux (although it's not hard, I just have no use or no secondary printer [and no printer switches]).

As far as HTTP/FTP, it's pretty simple. You just choose which daemon you want to use (apache is common for http, a common ftp is vsftpd or even proftpd or pureftpd). Take your pick really. Then there is proxies and you have choices there too (which btw, choices is what Gentoo is all about).

So my advice to you would be to look around. Say check SuSE, Gentoo, Slackware... and any others you might have heard of. I will say I'm not a huge fan of RedHat, but a lot of people are and there seems to be a lot of information out there. But that's not to say other distros don't have that. Gentoo boards are awesome, and I think I remember SuSE having decent support too.

And you can always ask here. I usually lurk around here, but don't reply as much lately. But if no one responds or it's something I know, I'll try to get a reply in.

Good luck and hope that helps.

[benthehutt]

My personal favorite is Debian, or debian based distros like Ubuntu.  They have GUI installers and a ton of options with it.  You can just download the .iso, burn it to a CD, and install it.  It even has options to install print servers, http servers, ftp servers, etc.  I have worked extensively with print servers and ftp servers and I think debian would work great.  It's got a program called aptitude, and you can install\uninstall\update programs by using this program, much easy than in gentoo or even using rpm's.  (I'm not a big fan of Gentoo, too gross and overly difficult for me--but you may like it).

That's my two cents.

[TOWT]

Thanks for the help, and i will prolly try out gentoo to learn more about the configuring of it, I found out after dloading and burning that slackware is kinda behind times, its still using kernel 2.4

I have used suse but i was wondering if there was any other distros that were out there that were better, thanks

[Darksat]

If your starting off, you might as well use Backtrack.
Its based on Slackware/Slax but has more security tools built into it than Mitnicks PC.

[Metgod]

If your starting off, you might as well use Backtrack.
Its based on Slackware/Slax but has more security tools built into it than Mitnicks PC.

I wasn't aware Mitnick knew a thing about security. He's just a lying sack of ... well, something. I don't know how he is now, but I would hope he's improved on that bit after his time in prison. I actually wasn't aware of BackTrack (being out of the loop for a good while does that) but it looks cool from a quick google.

(and yes, it's been AGES since I made a post here... imagine that, the most active forum member not posting in ages.. fuck knows what reminded me of that fact or whether it'll change)

- Met

[godaigo]

Well, I've been checking, but damn it's been a long time since people posted. I think Cobby just posted something. What happened to everyone?