Hello all,

So I'm facing a bit of a tough decision.
I recently purchased a new laptop, with the intention of running Linux on it, full time. However I'm struggling with choosing a distro.
I'm more of an 'apt-get' sort of user; hence my decision of going with a Debian, or at very least a Debian-based distro.

So here are my motives behind those two distros:

Kali Pros:-
Over 300 pentesting tools at my disposal, somewhat secure, debian-based, frequently updated, already familiar with the interface and the ins and outs of it (had past experiences).

Kali Cons:-
Lacks the variety that one would come to expect from any OS, lacks stability, lacks cryptographic tools (unlike Tails), a little cheesy.

Debian Pros:-
Exceptional stability, intuitive and easy for downloading/managing repos, has a wide variety of tools and features, has reasonable hardware requirements.

Debian Cons:-
Not the best with updates, doesn't include offensive security's pentesting tools right off the bat, doesn't include cryptographic tools (unlike Tails).

I would appreciate your support in helping me make a decision

PS. No, I am not interested in Mint, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, etc. so please don't recommend anything else.

Cheers,
A.A

Hi...

If you're going to be using a distribution full time for various tasks, I would recommend Debian, in part for it's stability, as you mentioned.

Regards...

Thanks

You're welcome

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

I agree with the above.

Kali is highly specialized and not designed for general purpose computing. If you want to experiment with it, do so in a VM on your Debian box. And don't point it towards the internet, or you will likely attract attention from persons in trench coats and dark glasses and with no sense of humor.

There's a distro called Metasploitable that is designed especially for practicing pentesting skills. Load it and Kali in separate VMs in VirtualBox with "host only" networking on the same computer and practice away.

If you want stability and a challenge try Slackware.
It's a darn good teacher.

http://www.slackware.com/getslack/