[LBo] Distros...

[Jisao]

Allen wrote:
> Hi gang,
>
> Swamped so I haven't been around much. Now I'm studying for my CISSP 
> exam and then next month going for two more certs in penetration 
> testing methodology. Plus the HMO I'm consulting at is, well I'm not 
> sure the best way to put it so I'll just say it reminds me of the 
> ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." Mind you, 
> it is a curse, not a blessing.
>
> In any case I need to take a wireless laptop with me to the second two 
> workshops on penetration testing. My old PIII HP's batteries are long 
> dead and not cheap to replace so I bought a new - to me - T40 Thinkpad 
> and I'm going nuts trying to figure out the distro I should use for an 
> install and how to partition the space I have to do the Linux on the 
> dual boot. For the moment I'm going to use Xubuntu although I've been 
> using mostly OpenSuse for the last while on one of my desktops. It 
> seems to be a bit bloated for for a laptop install.
>
> The questions I have are:
>
>     1) Xubuntu says a swap of 1 gig, but the old formula I
>        remember is 2x installed memory. I have a gig of
>        memory so should I really use a 2 gig swap?
As for swap, I have 512 meg, and both Debian and Ubuntu work well with 
it (however, I do believe that 512 Meg RAM is not enough anymore for the 
type of applications I run). So if space is not an issue, I would use 1 
gig.  If it is, 512 meg would work.

>
>     2) Xubuntu says only other partition needed one with a
>        mount point of /. Is this really the way to go or
>        should I have a partition for /boot as well? If so
>        how big, 128 meg?
I don't use boot partitions.  Just / and another partition that I use 
for home.
>     
>     3) Back to the distro question. I do a lot of information
>        security analysis work, some pen testing/forensics,
>        and some just straight documentation/writing. I think
>        that I might want to use LiveCDs for the pen testing
>        and other forensics work as the tools are changing
>        regularly so burning a new CD to use keeps me up to
>        date with those tools. Then use the laptop installed
>        distro for the grunt work of writing, analysis,
>        process analysis stuff and use it to store the pen
>        test logs. Does this make sense? If so is Xubuntu a
>        good choice? Others I've looked at include PCLinuxOS,
>        rPath, gNewSense, BLAG and DSL. I've even thought of
>        going with PC-BSD. My real goal is stability with a
>        minimum of fuss and constant fiddling with updates.
>        Suggestions?
I use both Debian and Kubuntu (I don't know the other OSes you 
mention).  Debian is very stable, but not cutting edge current.  And you 
have to fuss to configure things as most come "unconfigured".  This is 
what I use 90% of the time (I have a "dual" boot system: Debian Lenny 
(testing) and Kubuntu Feisty (7.04)). 

The *buntu family has the advantage of being better supported (for the 
end user), and things come pretty much "pre-configured" when you install 
them.  They tend to "work right out of the box".  You save hours of 
fussing.  However, this comes at the price of a little stability (the 
*buntu family is not 100% stable on my computer - the Xorg applications 
freezes the computer pretty regularly). 

>
>     4) Anybody familiar with the T40? I can't seem to figure
>        out how to boot from a USB key or such. The BIOS says
>        you have to enable the USB, but it doesn't say how.
>        It did come with a manual so does anyone have one that
>        I can get a copy of? Same for the original CDs.
T40 Hardware Manual:  
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/39t6192_01.pdf

User manual can be found here: 
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?template=/productpage/landingpages/productPageLandingPage.vm&brandind=10&familyind=117057&machineind=0&modelind=0&partnumberind=0&subcategoryind=0&doctypeind=9&doccategoryind=0&operatingsystemind=49979&validate=true&nextdocumentset=101 
(you have to get to 76-100, which is page 3).  Lots of other goodies 
there (mostly Windows, though), including firmware updates, if you are 
daring.  (Flashing a bios can bring new capabilities, but can fry the 
computer if it goes wrong).

I would not recommend to go with Suse.  Keep with a distro which uses 
apt for package management, that meets your requirements better, I believe.

Jisao