Hi,

Kali is the latest distribution to get newbie attention. My suggestion is that if you do not understand or know a Gnu/Linux then Kali is no place to start for inexperienced users.
Look at the sticky; Using Kali Linux? PLEASE READ!! in the <Newbie> forum. You will find several links to helpful information as to where to present your queries.

Just be aware that you might get some not so nice replies. Expect it! You are warned.

Most replies here at LQ for Kali can come off just as bad but you should not experiment with something unless you know it thoroughly. Pentesting can seem cool but for the inexperienced then expect trouble.
Fire is hot, touch it and you will get burned! You as a new Gnu/Linux user should start by using a friendly distribution that you can learn your way through the ins and outs. Get your hands dirty. I have been using Slackware Gnu/Linux since the first release. Sure,I come from a UNIX environment and wanted the best UNIX-like Gnu/Linux.

Just a heads up!
Hope this helps.

Can we have this as a sticky in Linux-Newbie please? Apparently one isn't enough.

It will best too remain here.

Agreed, it likely wouldn't do any good anyways.

I've been thinking though, what whould happen if LQ had a Kali subforum? We could dump the posts from Newbie, General, etc into it and exclude the entire subforum from showing up in our latest posts, etc.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy

I wouldn't consider LQ to be a "newbies first" community. Newbies can't help much, old gurus can. There are excuses to use Kali and discuss about it here. Some people even do pentesting for a living. (But I don't think they'd need their own distribution for that.)

I hope you don't mind me saying so, but there almost seems to be a Pavlov's Dog reaction to threads about Kali on here.

In one thread that I remember, the first and immediate reply was a disparaging one telling the OP to use another distro "because Kali". I asked the OP for further info, and between us we worked out a resolution to the problem. It turned out that the OP was smart, willing to learn, and able to take on board the issues involved.

I think that the minimum we should be doing is seeking further information from the OP about what they are trying to do and, if it turns out that Kali may not be the best choice for them, suggesting they use another distro in a calm, respectful way, rather than in the "attack dog" way that is sometimes employed.

4 members found this post helpful.

All too often, it's obvious from the question what they are trying to do. They want to play games on steam or watch Youtube. They want, in short, to use Kali like a normal distro. Almost any other distro would serve them better.

4 members found this post helpful.

i don't disagree.
but the "because kali" explanation is justified - if op can take it, one can then continue to troubleshoot the problem in a sane manner.

however......this is very often the case.

i also have the suspicion that some kali newbs expect to be "mistreated" (at least that's how they define it for themselves) and are ready to snarl and bite at the first hint of "do you really need kali".

not seldom claiming that they have years of linux pentesting experience - an obvious lie considering the uninformed questions originally asked.

maybe in some other communities it's considered a sort of sport to go to the boring-old-farts LQ and start a kali thread.

or they get a sort of weird negative satisfaction that really society is against all those values promoted by mr robot, and they truly are the victims & revolutionaries, and we "just don't understand"...
"i have a right to be an ethical hacker (even if i don't have the slightest clue about the softwares involved), and you are trying to take that away from me!"...

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi,

Some of this can be likened to the modern use of something new and I am attempting to use it because it's cool. It's like someone jumping into a 'Indy car' because it has 4 wheels so they are sure they can drive it. Not knowing that it does take some skill to operate. Shiny toy and they wish to abuse it and when they get into trouble then the posts are unwittingly posted.

When kali was backtrack we got the same type of posts but not as much. Users that were not prepared to manage their way with that tool. I can see where someone would like to become aware of the use but that same user should be prepared to do the required work to prepare their time with any distribution then move to the challenge.
Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi,

I came back to this thread and realized that my contribution may have come of as harsh towards new Kali users. Not my intentions. My twenty five years with Slackware Gnu/Linux has provided the means to work with what I choose. Not including my years with UNIX, you need to learn in order to move through and understand any endeavor. You cannot take a instant course or program to learn to achieve but you must put some time and effort in order to learn so you may move to the proper usage. No mix of a learning program can achieve the necessary understanding to move through any useful work. Time and effort to learn good techniques therefore leading to one's experience to be used for the achievement for the required end results.

The above quote is very applicable to anything! Learn, question and apply!
Eventually your investment will pay off.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

1 members found this post helpful.

I have to admit that I hate those questions. Usually I don't read or answer them. I don't let rattlesnakes run around outside the house either.

Even in the kali forums they won't entertain questions about the tools. Strictly OS

There's a good one about KALI here ....

https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...people-help-me

And :
-

2 members found this post helpful.

If you install a pentesting distribution to a USB drive, as is the suggested way to do it, you shouldn't expect to be able to stock it full of games and what have you as well. As someone who does information security consulting for a living (family owned media company and such) I can count on one hand the number of times I've even seriously needed Kali, and when utilities like OpenVAS are available on Ubuntu it already meets my needs.

There's an old saying about not reinventing the wheel.

1 members found this post helpful.

I eventually understood that there's something about the internet that makes people feel free to say what they wouldn't necessarily say to someone's face: it's because we are pixels on a screen to each other. But I've given up trying to understand why people on internet discussion forums never deal with "newbie" posts by simply not responding to them.

...I don't want to bother looking at what was said to the Kali newbies, having seen the behavior in most of the forums I've visited ever since I discovered internet discussion forums a little over twenty years ago; but I feel obligated to, if I would participate in this thread...