[jimras]

This may seem like a REALLY stupid question, but please bear with a Noobie to Linux.

My question is what about security when running Linux?

I wouldn't dream of running under Windows XPpro without a firewall and a GOOD AV program running. What about when running Linux? Do you need these programs running and if so, could you please reccomend some that I should use?

I am just about ready to download some distros and give them a try.....

Gee..will this be like trying to learn DOS was so many years ago??

Thanks for any help you might be willing to offer.

Jim

[shanenin]

you definately do not need an antivirus, your system is pretty much immune to all windows virii, and there are not any linux virus to worry about.

Most popular distros come witha fire wall built in. You will just need to enable it.

[tictoc5150]

Quote

Gee..will this be like trying to learn DOS was so many years ago??

hmmmm, I can't relate to that comparison, as I never learned DOS...Since most window managers (kde, gnome, etc. etc. ) act somewhat like Windows you'll be relatively comfortable doing things in a graphical environment just like in Windows but command line is really where the power is at in linux...so to answer the question....No, it won't be like learning DOS, it'll be like learning linux command line...meaning BETTER...lol

[jimras]

Thanks to both of you for the reply

This sets my mind to rest.

Onwards!!!

[hitest]

jimras, on Apr 1 2005, 01:36 PM, said:

Thanks to both of you for the reply

This sets my mind to rest.

Onwards!!!

Good luck with it:-) Just make sure as shanenin said that you enable your firewall when you install your distro. Without a firewall enabled you can be hacked in Linux.

[Pierce]

You can do really neat tricks with linux cli (command line interface for you newbies) called shell scripting, if you have been in #besttechie im sure you would of heard that crrj's dad is publishing a light reading book (500 odd pages i think) on how to script commands.

So, if you wanted to automate the process of getting email to your local server before you even see the main screen it should be simple enough task, try doing that with windows....

Some basic linux commands for your command line interface,

cd : change directory (same as dos)
ls : list directory (dos dir)
ps ux : list all processes of your logged in user
su - : change to root
passwd : change password
bash/csh/tsh.. : change shell
vi / pico : text editors
kill : kill a pidnumber from ps ux
kill -9 : force kill a process pid number
top : a bit like windows task manager

Pierce

[jcl]

Pierce, on Apr 5 2005, 04:07 AM, said:

So, if you wanted to automate the process of getting email to your local server before you even see the main screen it should be simple enough task

Indeed. One line in your crontab.

This post has been edited by jcl: 05 April 2005 - 08:19 AM

[iccaros]

Pierce, on Apr 5 2005, 12:07 PM, said:

You can do really neat tricks with linux cli (command line interface for you newbies) called shell scripting, if you have been in #besttechie im sure you would of heard that crrj's dad is publishing a light reading book (500 odd pages i think) on how to script commands.

So, if you wanted to automate the process of getting email to your local server before you even see the main screen it should be simple enough task, try doing that with windows....

Some basic linux commands for your command line interface,

cd : change directory (same as dos)
ls : list directory (dos dir)
ps ux : list all processes of your logged in user
su - : change to root
passwd : change password
bash/csh/tsh.. : change shell
vi / pico : text editors
kill : kill a pidnumber from ps ux
kill -9 : force kill a process pid number
top : a bit like windows task manager

Pierce

you for got pkill to kill a process by name

and add -HUP to p/kill it will kill and restart the process with the saem pid so other programs will not know it died..

[jcl]

iccaros, on Apr 5 2005, 02:05 PM, said:

you for got pkill to kill a process by name

Huh. Never noticed pkill on Linux before; I always use killall. Vaguely remember using it on Solaris though.

Quote

and add -HUP to p/kill it will kill and restart the process with the saem pid so other programs will not know it died..

SIGHUP terminates the target process by default. The process has to install an appropriate signal handler to get the reload/restart behavior.

This post has been edited by jcl: 05 April 2005 - 08:34 PM

[shanenin]

iccaros, on Apr 5 2005, 10:05 PM, said:

you for got pkill to kill a process by name

I have always used killall to kill a process by name.

edit added later/

jcl, darn you beat me by 8 hours