Which flavor of linux would be best suitable for a PII 266 w/ 64MB RAM? or should I go BSD?
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Which flavor of linux would be best suitable for a PII 266 w/ 64MB RAM? or should I go BSD?
Any *nix distro would work on that box. The question is what do you want to do? If you've never used a BSD-based system then consider exploring FreeBSD or OpenBSD as alternatives.
If you'd prefer a Linux distro but not one of the "newbie" distros (that's what I call them -- Suse and RH) try gentoo or slackware.
It all depends on what you want.
Slackware ....... but I am biased :)
Seriously though, any of them will do, but I would be looking at using a lightweight window manager like fluxbox or IceWM if you are going to do the GUI thing. KDE or Gnome would really grind to a walking pace on that configuration - not saying they wont work, just slowly.
What ever you choose, have fun.
I've been kinda leaning towards Gentoo lately. I haven't had much time to use it yet, but I really like it.
Phat, you got the point I was trying to make. I want this to be a productive box. I understand anything will work, but I would like this to atleast handle E-Mail, Web Browsing, and maybe a couple pieces of software such as Star Office. I don't want to waste my day waiting for an application to run. I just want something small and productive.
Unless someone has a good idea on maybe a project I can create out of this box. I just want to make it productive instead of junking it.
Project ideas:
- honeypot
- IDS
- user help database (using a front end of php)
- "abuse" box
Personally, I've got FreeBSD on my old P100/64Ram (use it as an abuse/IDS box right now with some PHP/MySQL play).
I thought about a Honey Pot, but after the comments Bland made on Radio Freek America (www.oldskoolphreak.com) and the article he wrote for the Winter 2002-2003 edition of 2600 Magazine. It seems like honey pots are no longer effective. Everyone seems to know what they are and if you run into a dead end port, than you know your wasting your time on a honey pot.
Ah.. that depends on the complexity of the honeypot. You could run a "live" system as a honeypot where it forwards info back to a logging box. Setup a firewall in front of the box so it limits/mitigates any outbound attacks.
The type of honeypot you are referring to is a "pre-fab" one. Those ones run on a specific port (one of the issues I had with that article in 2600 -- it was right if the honeypot was something like Back Officer Friendly which is a program that runs and "simulates" services but incorrectly implied that all honeypots are like this).
Well, I like the idea of a full system playing the role of the honey pot logging the information onto another system. I am the person that likes to watch and counter rather than attempt to go out an gain access. Do you have any sites where I can get some information on setting up a honey pot and what to look for and methods of securing the honey pot to make it harder for script kiddies to access so I don't waste my time on simple attacks.
The HoneyNet Project by far is the place, IMHO, to learn about honeypots. Lance Spitzner's book Honeypots is also a good reference. Amazon has it here with a "Look Inside" option.
:D
Sounds good, thanx again...
(I am going to look into the Honey Pot and may as well go for it. However, if anyone has any other suggestions for a great project. In case I get bored with the honey pot or come across another machine. I am always open to suggestions. Thanks again.)
Info Tech Geek: I'm currently planning out a similar project for a honeypot.
My hardware (at first) will only be a dual pII 266 with 128mb memory. Since I don't have any production boxes to mirror, I'm just going to create one that looks like it has some useful info on it. Fake web page, but update it often enough, ftp server with useless "tasty" info, fake documents, make fake email, fake user activity, and whatever else I can dream up.
I'm going to have to brush up on some scripting though... as there is no way I can do all this manually.
I got the book that MsM is talking about along with the "Know your enemy" book that amazon recommends too.
They are both GREAT books, and I'm learning a lot. I still have a lot to learn though.
I'm going to start with just the one box and then add to it as I go along making the project bigger everytime.
I have quite a few low end boxes (all betweek 200-500mhz) to work with, so a variety of OS's and etc.
I know that they require a lot of planning and attention... so I'm going to work small until this summer, when I'll have more time to devote to it.
I just wish that I had other people around me to work on it too. Its kind of hard taking on a project like this yourself... as they will require attention all the time... :( I might have to place a little bulletin at school to see if others are interested in something like this...
Good luck! Let me know what kind of ideas you come up with and I'll do the same if you'd like. Its nice to have other people to exchange ideas/info with when doing projects that you are new to. I'm already excited about it, I just have to find the time to devote to it. (damn school and work!)