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| DistroWatch + TuxReports | October 4, 2002 | |
by , 31 January, 2002
Something I forgot to mention in part 1. In addition to the precautions listed, you may wish to consider some Microsoft alternatives, for your software. Especially some of the known offenders, such as Outlook Express and Internet Explorer.
Instead of Outlook Express, I went with Eudora, and have been pleased with the results. Eudora has support for PGP if you want to use that. I did myself.
For how to setup PGP or the open alternative GnuPG in Linux, and then use them in KMail, see Laurence's past PGP, and GnuPG Linuxdot columns.
Laurence: I haven't tried Eudora, but I have tried Pegasus Mail, and can recommend you avoid. Both myself and Stewart (another Linuxdot staff member) both were in agreement it sucked big-time. I'm sure on technical merit it's fine, but its unintuitive, ugly looking frontend did anything but impress.
Opera is a good alternative for Internet Explorer. It allows you a lot more control over your browsing environment than either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, and it is far smaller. You can select what to identify your browser as to a web site, yes, even as Internet Explorer. Best of all to my mind of course, is that it has versions for Linux.
In part 1 I made mention of a number of recommended security sites. Here are some more:
Linux is designed from the ground up to be a true multi-user/multi-tasking operating system, being based on Unix. This presents many challenges not to be found on a Windows desktop operating system. It has always amazed me how many people insist upon trying to compare installation and configuration of Linux--a server-ready OS in every sense of the word--with one of the Microsoft desktop operating systems.
More properly it should be compared to an installation of Windows NT or Windows 2000. With the full-load of IIS, and a full-on development environment, such as Visual Studio Professional. Let's not forget Microsoft Office, the version that allows someone to do database development. If you don't do that, you are not making a fair comparison. You may also faint when you see the final licensing fees total.
Linux, of course, has Apache for a Web server; it usually includes an FTP server, although the exact one included will vary by distribution. Usually there is a top-line SQL database included. The two most popular being PostgreSQL and MySQL. There will be office applications included and again this varies by distribution. GCC, Perl, Python, and a host of other programming languages, are included as a matter of course, as well as GUI development tools like Glade and KDevelop. I'm actually being kind, to allow Visual Studio Professional as a comparison.
I am not trying to scare you away from Linux. I am simply trying to be completely honest. Linux installation and configuration is something that can turn into a nightmare, easily enough, if approached the wrong way. And if you don't know what you're doing, the complexity of Unix design can leave you with a varying insecure network or standalone. Consider that most people who would install and configure the equivalent Microsoft operating systems I've mentioned above, have a little piece of paper they call an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer).
Having said that, in the next edition of this column, I will show you how to do a Linux install and configuration that you don't need a degree in Computer Science to understand or do. At the end of the trail you'll have an installation of Linux that is as secure as you can reasonably expect.
If you've not already done so, I suggest you download the Newbie's Linux Manual. Then print it out. It can be a real life saver, especially when that initial "after install" boot prompt appears, and you're wondering, "What do I do now?"
There is a truly excellent book on Linux security you might want to pick up. , 2nd Edition, published on July 2nd, 2001, so fairly recent. Related to this book are the titles, , 3rd Edition (covering Windows, Unix, Novell, and Macintosh), and .
One thing to bear in mind about Linux. Do your research. Be prepared to do a lot of reading because you will surely need to. And be prepared to "make mistakes". Because as surely as night follows day they will happen.
The payoff? A stable, secure operating system. One that you can make anything you want.
Until next time.
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