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Kali Linux vs Ubuntu: What are the differences?
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# Key Differences between Kali Linux and Ubuntu
1. **Objective**: Kali Linux is specifically designed for digital forensics and penetration testing, with built-in tools for these purposes. On the other hand, Ubuntu is a more general-purpose operating system with a focus on ease of use for average users.
2. **Default Applications**: In Kali Linux, the default applications installed are geared towards security testing, such as Wireshark, Aircrack-ng, and Metasploit, while Ubuntu comes with more mainstream applications like LibreOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird.
3. **Security Focus**: Kali Linux places a higher priority on security out of the box, with features such as a non-root user model and network services disabled by default. Ubuntu, while still secure, may require additional configuration for enterprise-level security requirements.
4. **Release Cycle**: Ubuntu follows a regular release schedule with new versions every 6 months, focusing on stability and long-term support (LTS) versions every 2 years. In contrast, Kali Linux has rolling releases, meaning users always have the latest tools and updates without the need for major version upgrades.
5. **Community Support**: Ubuntu has a larger user base and community support compared to Kali Linux, making it easier to find solutions to common issues or receive help from other users. Kali Linux, being more specialized, has a smaller but dedicated community focused on security testing.
6. **User Interface**: Ubuntu comes with the GNOME desktop environment by default, providing a modern and user-friendly interface, while Kali Linux uses the lightweight Xfce desktop environment for performance and resource efficiency, catering to its target audience of security professionals.
In Summary, Kali Linux and Ubuntu have distinct differences in their focus, default applications, security measures, release cycles, community support, and user interfaces.
Ubuntu is much more faster over Windows and helps to get software and other utilities easier and within a short span of time compared to Windows.
Ubuntu helps to get robustness and resiliency over Windows. Ubuntu runs faster than Windows on every computer that I have ever tested. LibreOffice (Ubuntu's default office suite) runs much faster than Microsoft Office on every computer that I have ever tested.
Global familiarity, free, widely used, and as a debian distro feels more comfortable when rapidly switching between local macOS and remote command lines.
CentOS does boast quite a few security/stability improvements, however as a RHEL-based distro, differs quite significantly in the command line and suffers from slightly less frequent package updates. (Could be a good or bad thing depending on your use-case and if it is public facing)
At the moment of the decision, my desktop was the primary place I did work. Due to this, I can't have it blow up on me while I work. While Arch is interesting and powerful, Ubuntu offers (at least for me) a lot more stability and lets me focus on other things than maintaining my own OS installation.
Pros of Kali Linux
- Penetration testing tools are pre-installed8
- Has many penetration testing tools8
- Runs on both x86 and ARM platforms5
- Its just debian so it has better support3
- There's no restrictions1
Pros of Ubuntu
- Free to use230
- Easy setup for testing discord bot96
- Gateway Linux Distro57
- Simple interface54
- Don't need driver installation in most cases9
- Open Source6
- Many active communities6
- Software Availability3
- Easy to custom3
- Many flavors/distros based on ubuntu2
- Lightweight container base OS1
- Great OotB Linux Shell Experience1
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Cons of Kali Linux
- Wireless driver issues on some systems3
- Packages are too large in size as compare to alpine3
- Outdated versions of common packages3
- Root GUI setup is a potential security hole2
Cons of Ubuntu
- Demanding system requirements5
- Adds overhead and unnecessary complexity over Debian4
- Snapd installed by default2
- Systemd1