Very inexperienced, need a little advice.

[[Dami3n]]

Ok thanks, I guess my introductory post was a little misleading. I don't want to be a "1337 hax0r" or anything like that, I'm just interested in learning as much as possible and hopefully getting a decent job doing what I love. I've realised I was trying to learn too much too quickly so I'm going to take it a little bit slower from now on. I should have my little network up in the next 2 weeks and am going to play around with linux and learn a little bit of programming. I'm likely to be asking you all quite a few questions but I'll not forget google. I'm unemployed at the moment so I have quite a bit of free time to spend learning and certainly wont be wasting it.

[D0pp139an93r]

Learning how to "hack" is not necessarily a bad thing. The main thing that you need to learn is how computers and software works. Reading on the internet that Windows XP has a security hole (who would've thought) that can be exploited with a buffer overflow allowing you access to something is nice, but you need to learn exactly why the buffer overflow allows you access. When you understand how the software really works, you will not need to learn these minor exploits. Learn some languages (C++, Perl, anything), learn different OS's (RedHat Linux, Windows XP Pro, Windows 98SE, whatever you can get your hands on), and start reading books. Stay away from stuff like "Hacking Exposed" and anything with the name Carolyn Meinel on it. Read technical books from O'Reilly. "Linux in a Nutshell", "Linux Device Drivers", "PC Hardware in a Nutshell". Once you've worked for the knowledge, "Hacking" just won't seem important. AntiOnline will probably be one of the best resources you have. Just don't be a script kiddie. Last but not least, don't try to be 31337. Nobody cares, and 1337speak is a good way to get negged. Ask intelligent questions, and always try to learn it on your own first.

[xero7x]

i think it would be awsome to learn how to hack. Not so i can do bad things though.
i want to try and network my house. but i am completly new to this, what kind of hardware
or software would i ned to accomplish this