Managing Backtrack, or any Linux distro for that matter

[HTSPilot]

It seems a lot of us have hardware installs of Backtrack, and unfortunatly, managing Linux isnt all that easy.

I figured I'd start this thread so we can all share tips, tricks, and commands to keep Backtrack healthy on our laptops, desktops, cardashboards, wherever we have it.

I've mentioned a few things here and I've more to add. On my laptop (Inspiron 6000) the screen shuts off when the lid is closed. To turn it back on, pressing Ctrl+Alt+F8 then Ctrl+Alt+F7 will bring it back on. Weird I know, but it works. Does anyone have an explanation for this?

Currently, I have an uptime of 1 day and 14 hours. This I found via the top command. Backtrack started (once in X) using just under 200MB of RAM, according to leetmode, and now sits at a hungry 465MB. Im guessing I've got processes running I shouldnt need. Again, top reports 64 tasks, and ps -ef shows that list in full.

If there's a process you need to kill, I tend to use kill -s 9 PID. Replacing PID with the Process Identification of the process you want to kill. Usually a 4 digit number.

Sound. I disabled all sounds for now, by going into settings -> Control Center -> Sound & Multimedia -> System Sound, and unchecking Enable the sound system. I very much dislike the boot up sound once X is started and all the sound controls on my laptop are software so I've no way of adjusting it. Which brings me to the next question, has anyone gotten software sound control to work on a Dell laptop? or any laptop?

Post your questions, tips and tricks if you please.

Pilot

[tparnet]

I was having problems with sound on my laptop (actually, i was trying to run kismet covertly, but the sound kept giving me away ) so i searched through all the forums to try and figure out how to stop or control the sound. So first off, in kismet, you can just type the letter "m" for mute, and it will turn off all the sounds generated by kismet. Press "m" again and it will restore it.

Now if you want to control the sound volume, from a shell, you can just type "alsamixer", and a graphical shell will pop up and allow you to control the overall volume, among other things. I use my up/down/left/right arrows to navigate and adjust the controls.

I read all this information somewhere in these forums, so I am not trying to take credit for someone else's hardwork, but merely trying to pass the information I learned on. Thanks and I hope this helps others out as much as it did me.

BTW, I am using a dell x1 laptop.

[HTSPilot]

That mixer is rather nice. Cheers. I knew about the 'm' for Kismet, but Im sad because the 6000 comes with audio controls on the front (google some pics) but I also have the Fn functions, and none of them, save the wireless radio and screen brightness work. So I've no control over sound which is the biggest concern. I've yet to try my stand-by and hybernate buttons. *pause* Ok I just did and they dont work. The Fn number keypad doesnt work either. I'm lucky I have an LED battery indicator which flashes when the battery gets low else I wouldnt know when my battery's out of juice.

[armedpilot]

Just to add on to the kistmet "m" for mute option, if you type in a "?", question mark, it will list out all the keyboard shortcuts, and more.

[HTSPilot]

Just to keep this going, I've added softlinks to ~/.kde/Autostart for both leetmode and yakuake.

I've changed the image of /boot/splash.bmp and reloaded lilo with lilo -v Love my new crossbones image

[xatar]

hi all,

great topic to cover all the aspects of configuring Back|Track to your liking.

HTSPilot: Can you attach your splash.bmp image, I like the sound of a skull & cross bones!

Something I'd like to add to this thread is that i have created a slax module available at http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.p...c+Wink+install.

which will install a program called 'Wink' onto your Back|Track. It places it under the /pentest/Video Capture/ directory and will enable to you make shockwave video captures of your screen. Very handy for producing video tutorials. Here is one tutorial (basic windows password cracking with BT) http://www.daveyj.com/stuff/backtrac..._win_crack.swf that I made with wink, so you can see what it's like. It's not the only tool out there to use, I just made it available in a module.

Hope it helps in some way.
xatar.

[xatar]

Hi,

I know that lots of this stuff has been posted, but I thought that I would bring it together here.

This is how I have configured my Back|Track full HDD installation. All text in bold is done from the bash prompt.

If you do not like the command line logon and want the KDE desktop to start automatically.

nano /etc/inittab

change the following line:

id:3:initdefault:

to

id:4:initdefault:


If you want leetmode to start automatically.

cd /root/.kde/Autostart

ln -s /usr/bin/leetmode leetmode

That will create a link to leetmode in your autostart directory.


If you want to stop your CDROM from ejecting on reboots and shutdowns, you need to alter the shutdown script.

cd /etc/rc.d

nano rc.6

Find the relevant piece of code and alter it to look like the following

# eject cdrom devices
. ./usr/lib/liblinuxlive
#echo "Ejecting all CDROMs..."
#list_cdrom_devices | while read DEVICE; do
# cdrecord dev=$DEVICE -eject >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
# can't use eject because it's not working with our kernel
# eject -s $DEVICE >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
#done
echo "========================================"
echo "It's safe to switch the computer off now"
echo -ne "Press Enter to $command "
read junk


I also placed a shortcut to Konqueror on my shortcut panel menu (the bottom left shortcut icons).

I did this by right clicking on any of the shortcut icons,
Panel Menu, Add to Panel, Application, Internet, Web Browser (Konqueror)

You will now see a new shortcut next to the /pentest shortcut, this will start Konqueror.


I hope this helps by bringing some of these actions into one thread, thanks to all that have posted this information in other threads.

Edit:

Thanks HTSPilot for reminding me! To autostart YaKuake, which will give you a terminal (bash) window at the press of a button.

cd /root/.kde/Autostart

ln -s /opt/kde/bin/yakuake yakuake

Now when you restart the KDE, just press F12 to start a bash prompt.

l8r

[werd1284]

Earlier I tried the inittab modification, however when I changed the 3 to 4, my BT wouldn't load up after that. I forgot what happened exactly, but I believe my splash would freeze and BT would stop loading. I ended up having to boot from the CD and altering the file back to 3. Weird, everyone else isn't having problems yet mine totally freezes when changing it. Otherwise my BT boots fine off the HDD at 3.

[xatar]

did you install BT as a full installation or as a live cd install?

I don't think it works as a live cd install.

I don't know why it crashes tho!

[HTSPilot]

I also added a softlink to yakuake to the Autostart directory... And now I will reboot seeing as my keyboard went wako on me and the keys got messed up.

Question though. How can I update my liveCD with all this. The Autostart shortcuts, the Atheros fix (svn, Kismet, Aircrack, madwifi), my modified etc.issue and other files. I looked up building modules, but it was rather confusing for me.