Linux 4 Box (Not Security)

[Info Tech Geek]

Which flavor of linux would be best suitable for a PII 266 w/ 64MB RAM? or should I go BSD?

[MrLinus]

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.

[Phat_Penguin]

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.

[cheyenne1212]

I've been kinda leaning towards Gentoo lately. I haven't had much time to use it yet, but I really like it.

[Info Tech Geek]

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.

[MrLinus]

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).

[Info Tech Geek]

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.

[MrLinus]

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).

[Info Tech Geek]

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.

[MrLinus]

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.