What is Ubuntu?

[sam64]

Hi. I'm a complete noob with both Virtual Box and Linux. I'm still slightly confused to what Ubunto is. Is Ubunto an ISO for a VM, or can Ubunto be applied as some sort of application to a guest Windows 7 operating system in Virtual Box? The whole reason I'm doing all this is because I want to learn enough about Linux to prepare myself for penetration testing training with Kali Linux without breaking my host operating system.

[QIII]

Moved to its own thread from here.

[grahammechanical]

So, you have no intention of using Ubuntu. What help did you get from the Kali Linux forums?

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution. It can be installed on to a hard disk. It can be installed into a virtual machine that is running on another OS provided the hardware is capable of running a VM.

Penetration testing in a VM? I am not sure there is any benefit to that. And I do not think this forum supports discussions of penetration testing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution


Regards.

[Mark Phelps]

The whole reason I'm doing all this is because I want to learn enough about Linux ...

Linux is an operating system kernel. Ubuntu is a distribution (often abbreviated as "distro") that contains a Linux kernel, some other middleware, and some applications -- packaged with an installer.

There are literally hundreds of distros, but only a handful are well known and most Linux folks use one of them.

For a list of the more well-known distros, visit distrowatch.com.

In my experience, the best place to start would be to get your hands on the Beginner's Guide to Linux (a book) and to go to various website that offer intro material -- as in the Beginner tutorials at Linux.org.

Other folks may have some links to material that they wish to share.

[sam64]

So, you have no intention of using Ubuntu.

I'm not sure yet. All I want (and have been struggling to find) is some kind of tool or application that will allow me to learn Linux hands on, safely, on my Windows 7 operating system. The only way I know of to do that is installing the Ubuntu distro tool/application/program/whatever-it-is onto a VM in Virtual Box. That way if something goes wrong, my VM is toast instead of my main host OS. But I'm open to suggestions.

What help did you get from the Kali Linux forums?

http://docs.kali.org/introduction/sh...use-kali-linux

I'm not ready for help with Kali yet (I need to learn some Linux first, so I don't break anything).

[yancek]

The only way I know of to do that is installing the Ubuntu distro tool/application/program/whatever-it-is

As explained above, Ubuntu is an operating system and not an application or program. You can install it in VirtualBox or some other virtual software. You can also download the Ubuntu iso and burn it as an image to a DVD or put it on a flash drive and run it live. A Live CD is an unfamiliar term to windows users as it is not available. You can run Ubuntu (or most any other Linux) that way to test it without installing it. The big difference between a Live CD and an installed system is that a Live CD is a read-only filesystem and no changes are saved on reboot.

Installing it on your hard drive with another system is not that complicated and many millions of users have done that.

[mastablasta]

here is how you do it in virtualbox - the easy way...: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/virtualbox

as other said it's an operating system running most of the internet. i mean not Ubuntu but Linux kernel and it's versions of the OS.

Kali is Debian based, Debian is another operating system and Ubuntu's "father". So it is slightly different. but not that much.

Backbox is like Kali and is Ubuntu based.

[Bucky Ball]

Thread moved to Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat.

And better here. Not a support request.

[d-cosner]

I will share with you the MOST VALUABLE information I have ever been given in my life! My brother told me years ago, "It's only software." In other words, if you screw it up you can always put it back on. Way back when I began tinkering with computers I bought a new video card, installed it and totally screwed up my system.

This mistake was the start of my learning how to do things for myself! I had no idea how to install an OS, no idea how to even get started. I found an out of date book and learned one command from it, dir -w, that was all it took for me to find the setup exe for the first release of Win 95. Everything was easy after that!

Today Windows and most Linux distributions have automated installers, my son installed Ubuntu for me when he was 5 and I was recovering from major eye surgery! Why am I telling you all this? You can not be afraid to mess things up or you will never learn anything. I have learned far more from mistakes I have made over the years than all the things that have just worked.

Back up your data and do whatever you want with your computer, it's only software!

[stalkingwolf]

you might also want to look at installing ubuntu to a flash drive or ssd. I use a 16 gb flash drive. then just plug it in and boot into your ubuntu system. this way you can install programs you want.