Question From A Noob

[Gizmo02]

Hey everyone,

Well let me start by saying I'm pretty new around here and to hacking in general, but I'm ready to learn and highly motivated. I've learned the basics of python and java from some courses at college and plan on taking more advanced CS courses and finish up my minor. But as for now, I am looking to get a laptop or netbook to test any of my new acquired skills on, and I'd like to keep it under $1000.

Also I'm really interested in starting to use Linux, does any1 have links to guides or tutorials?

Thanks for everything

[Morfir]

1- Google (Everything Else)

2- Security/Where to Begin Sticky (Hacking)

3- Questions/Distros to check out (Linux Os's)

For the computer you might want to look into building a desktop. I just recently built my first desktop and I found it to be very rewarding, however if you need the mobility of a laptop then I would suggest finding something that is compatible with Linux distributions you would like to get into, check out the hardware and see if it is supported. Good Luck

[Jamo]

If you want to get a desktop PC you should definitely build it yourself. And it you do the research you can get it cheap too.

And if your going to buy a laptop, DON'T get a netbook, University Im studying gave us cheap netbooks, and it can barely run chrome + java development environment (Netbeans).

[Remotesh]

If you want to get a desktop PC you should definitely build it yourself. And it you do the research you can get it cheap too.

And if your going to buy a laptop, DON'T get a netbook, University Im studying gave us cheap netbooks, and it can barely run chrome + java development environment (Netbeans).

Rule of thumb is to not buy a netbook without researching, My Asus 1201n that I got used for 200$ has been excellent,

though I researched for two months to find a netbook with a dual core processor and larger than average netbook screen.

To OP

If you want to get into Linux one of the must have skills is google-fu, if you don't have that... well any basic problem that comes up could become increasingly difficult.

Its great that you want to get into it but instead of giving you specific models try searching for one that you like and can go to a store to try it out.

A good series of laptops you could look into are the TimelineX series by Acer, the Republic Of Gamers Series (Nice CPU and GPU, Who doesnt want to game alittle?) by Asus, or Thinkpads by Lenovo. I dont have much experience with other series although I won't touch HP's or Compaq's due to previous experience.

But that was years ago, so I digress.

Hope I helped.

-Remotesh

[CPU_Jazz]

In that budget you can get a lot of laptop these days, Darren and Shannon use Acer's TimelineX. If you want a desktop (more bang for buck) then do as other say and build one yourself. You can find deals on bundles of parts or start getting your Google-fu together and check out hardware sites. If you're going to be running Linux then you can use less expensive hardware and get two or more computers so you can setup a small test-lab. These days everything is done over networks so good to have a network to test on.

Getting your search skills together is as valuable as your hack skills there is a lot of info available, but you need to learn how to get search engine to do what you want. There is ton's of info at all levels once you learn how to search it out. Remember the doing is the real teacher making mistakes and fixing them teacher more real world skills than reading a stack of books.

"Whenever you want information on the 'net, don't ask a question; just post a wrong answer." --Cancer Omega