Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: medicineman684 on August 09, 2013, 10:15 pm
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A few months I got a new laptop with Windows 8. What a fucking terrible operating system! Just terrible....I was OK with Windows 7 and now this supposed "upgrade"... what a joke. Well it finally got me motivated to make the leap to linux. But what flavor to get?
I have been leaning towards linux mint as I am not a super techie, but since so much of my work on my computer is let's say stuff I wish to keep very private it seems like Tails is the better security choice. I am just concerned that Tails will not be as flexible and expandable as Linux Mint. I will need to run Wine for a few important windows programs and generally like to tinker around with apps. Would anyone knowledgable in these areas care to share their opinion?
I want security and a good all around operating system. Can I lock down linux mint reasonably tight (use TOR, Claws etc) or just suck it up with the limitations of Tails?
thanks,
mm
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Linux mint mate and cinnamon editions are both nice, I would download linux mint 13 maya because it is a stable LTS release supported until 2017.
The newer versions of distros usually still have a lot of bugs and are not supported for as long as the LTS releases.
Linux mint is the most similar to windows.
EDIT*
Also make sure to choose the right iso image for your architecture, In windows right click on my computer or go into the device manager and find out if your CPU is 32 bit (i386) or 64bit (amd64).
Even if you are using an intel CPU you will still need the "amd64" iso if your CPU is 64bit.
Hoe this helps.
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What's the consensus on the security of Ubuntu?
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What's the consensus on the security of Ubuntu?
Neither Ubuntu nor Mint is "free" software (as in freedom). I say this because both contain proprietary (source code not available to the public) software. I believe this makes it easier for the developers to provide features but it has its drawbacks in not being as potentially secure.
Both are much better then Windows or OSX but not true freedom. They are a good stepping stone into Linux but if security is your number one concern you might as well take it a bit further once you are ready. If you are making the transition because it is important for you to use an open source OS then they aren't complete solutions.
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Archlinux probably has the best useful documentation, ubuntu you have to sort through a million shitposts and bad manuals/bad books. Debian is a good all around install, if you install Wheezy it will pretty much "just work" and has pretty solid documentation, being that most other distros are just a Debian customized clone.
Whatever you do don't just blindly copy in shell commands or run everything in root. Check the shell commands using manpages or just google them and verify the options are doing what they say they are supposed to be doing. Never cut + paste any shell commands from a webpage to your shell either, always manually enter them even if they look safe. This is why:
http://thejh.net/misc/website-terminal-copy-paste
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/08/hand-of-thief-banking-trojan-doesnt-do-windows-but-it-does-linux/
Hand of Thief linux trojan requires the same sort of social engineering/trick to get a user to run shell commands to download and activate it. Now they go around and infect every Ubuntu site that exists to change the instructions and some of these sites are long since not maintained, probably nobody looking at the logs. Could also just go drop obfuscated shell commands on help forums to trick people into running it. Lot's of commands have subtle options differences or dependent on caps. example: -x and -X are probably totally different things. If you don't know that and blindly paste in commands you could be self pwning.
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What's the consensus on the security of Ubuntu?
Neither Ubuntu nor Mint is "free" software (as in freedom). I say this because both contain proprietary (source code not available to the public) software. I believe this makes it easier for the developers to provide features but it has its drawbacks in not being as potentially secure.
Both are much better then Windows or OSX but not true freedom. They are a good stepping stone into Linux but if security is your number one concern you might as well take it a bit further once you are ready. If you are making the transition because it is important for you to use an open source OS then they aren't complete solutions.
Unfortunately since most people use laptops now days proprietary drivers are a must, The laptops out there now won't even function properly without the correct drivers installed, I ran debian on a laptop once and tried to do without the proprietary graphics drivers, BIG MISTAKE, The chipset overheated, melted and bricked the laptop .
Unless you can get your hands on the laptop that stallman himself uses (Yeelong) then you are most likely going to have to use at least a proprietary graphics or wifi driver.
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Proprietary stuff? Ugh. That's really fucked up.
I do use a laptop. A generic graphics driver won't work usually?
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Proprietary stuff? Ugh. That's really fucked up.
I do use a laptop. A generic graphics driver won't work usually?
You can try it and see,If it dont work then after you install it click on "additional drivers" and see if there are any proprietary drivers available.
It's still better than windows though because everything is closed source in windows lol
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Oh just wanted to add that there are no proprietary driver in use on my laptop and everything works fine so it really just depends on what kind of hardware your laptop has.
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Thanks for all the useful information everyone. I had no idea mint had proprietary code. Will check out the other suggestions too...
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Linux mint mate and cinnamon editions are both nice, I would download linux mint 13 maya because it is a stable LTS release supported until 2017.
The newer versions of distros usually still have a lot of bugs and are not supported for as long as the LTS releases.
One good thing about the most recent version of Linux Mint (15) is that there's an option for full disk encryption in the installer. It's the first version to include this option. If someone is thinking of switching to Linux, I highly recommend going ahead and setting up FDE.