Kali linux!!

The tools you need depend on what you want to do. I recommend you to install it as a virtual machine (at least for the beginning). You don’t need to know a programming language to use Kali, but it will be useful to know at least one for a lot of things.

I wouldn’t say that you don’t need to know anything about programming to use Kali, since you have to do most of the work from a terminal, you better know the basics of bash, it would save you a lot of time. However, you can still install it without knowing anything and play with it to learn. Simply don’t think that you can you it at its full potential if you have never used a Linux distro before.

It all depends what he wants to do with Kali, but it’s sure that if he installs a Linux distro, he better knows bash, but I wasn’t considering bash as programming language.

Well when in good hands it really powerful. You could write a malware with it for example.

But you are right, it’s scripting language, not a programming one.

Kali would be my suggestion if you have no clue as to where you ultimately want to go. Install it on VM and start playing. after a year or so you should have a pretty good idea on what tickles your fancy, then you can explore BlackArch

maybe you’ll need to start with ubuntu … more friendly to see how linux works … and then to kali

Hello, friend try it with a bootable usb stick, you can install more than one OS in a usb stick like kali, deft, caine, matriux and others i love this method.
Enjoy!
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

You don’t really need know a programming language to use kali, but instead of that i strongly recommend that you learn to operate/use linux, it will help you a lot.

I did a lot on this website only using Windows but some linux distro are very useful :) (Actually Arch Linux looks very good)

BlackArch … I didn’t know it but I have to check it tomorrow. Thx

its not mandatory to have a programming language to be able to use linux but its advisable to learn some

to use kali, you just need to learn some linux basics

you can check these books (pdf):
https://github.com/wuzhouhui/misc/raw/master/Linux.Command.Line.and.Shell.Scripting.Bible.2nd.edition.pdf

ps: there are a third edition, you can google it : Linux command line and shell scripting bible

http://zempirians.com/ebooks/Packt.Kali.Linux.Network.Scanning.Cookbook.Aug.2014.ISBN.1783982144.pdf
http://zempirians.com/ebooks/CreateSpace.Publishing.Basic.Security.Testing.With.Kali.Linux.Jan.2014.ISBN.1494861275.pdf

but you’ll see that after learning some linux basic (first pdf) it will be easy to use kali linux tools
and learning programming languages will late you to create your own tools , participating to improve existing tools, correcting bugs of some ones, create scripts to make using some tools more easier :)

be comfortable with the terminal ^^

The problem I ha’ve with Kali Linux is that it is very good when you already know what you are doing, but I don’t think it should be used by someone new to Hacking and/or Linux. Hacking is a state of mind, and not a set of tools. Starting too soon with tools designed for professionals won’t teach you the basics and neither this way of thinking. My advice would be to avoid using tools you wouldn’t be able to write yourself. Of course, I am only speaking about IT security tools, but what would Kali be without them. I think tools should always come after the knowledge.

Zhejiang,China where G20 was held…

The best thing you can is Ethical Hacking course (that’s what i am doing now) , it can help to learning Kali Linux at a bit high level from begning

you can use a vm but you ned activate the virtualisation in your bios

escuse my for my mistakes

Does anyone know if the OS itself has any optimization for the hacking tools and, if it has, how does it work? For example, is there any improvement on the usage of CPU or RAM for the tools and network stuff? If we take off the hacking programs, does Kali become a raw and common linux distro?

I ask it because I’ve tested some different linux distros in an old notebook I have. Arch Linux, Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, LUbuntu, Mint, Fedora. The main difference I noticed was the GUI, the shortcuts and the initial programs which are already installed. However many of those stuff could be configured later. The terminal is always the same, we can always install Fish! It is possible to turn a Linux Mint into something very close to an Ubuntu, just through software installations and configurations.

And when I think about Kali, I think that the interesting part is the hacking softwares. Not the OS itself. If the tools can be installed in another linux OS, I would install then in an user-friendly Linux. After all, Kali hacking tools are linux made, free. Well, yeah, not all the hacking tools have universal Linux compatibility, some dependencies are actually annoying and not easy to solve. Installing the Kali OS has the advantage of having all hacking programs installed along with the OS installation. Even then, I would prefer to have other OS, which I like more, given that I can install softwares later.

In Ubuntu 14.04, we can easily do:

sudo apt install hydra crunch nmap dsniff tcpdump ettercap

What do you think?

I think the only point of the distro is to have easier installations. Apart from that, it is always possible to install a Linux tool on any linux distro.
Your are referring to Mint looking like Ubuntu, but it'seems normal: Mint is a custom Ubuntu. That'said what a Linux distro is: lots of software and configurations put together by the distro maker to let people focus on their daIly computer usage on stead of having to setup everything.

And the live CD is quite useful if you need lots of tools out of the box in your pockets.

The live CD is one more good concept of hacking. haha

A dude in my class at uni asked me the same question and my reply was the same as everyone else from this post!

It depends what you want to do with kali, but learn the basics of bash, play with ubuntu and practice using terminal for everryything.

He said he got bored of ubuntu after a weekend and installed kali in a VM using the build from offensive security - which is really simple to setup and runs well.

He said playing around with ubuntu in terminal helped him to navigate the tools in kali. I felt proud.

Exactly, WHGhost.

A simple way to start could be instead of using your mouse to do things like opening applications, creating new folders, dragging and moving files - etc - practice by doing these everyday things through the terminal.