is there anything bt can do that ubuntu cannot?

[skrite]

hey all, seems that backtrack is the distro of choice around here, i have an install of ubuntu 11.10 that is working great for me. I suppose my question is. Is there a reason to load bt (based on ubuntu) instead of an ubuntu install? I mean, are the tools in bt available in apt?

thanks for any tips.

[telot]

Not all the tools are available in apt. Many of them are, but not all (metasploit for example). BT is so popular because they've got all the dependencies, done all the tweaking, and worked through all the bugs for you. Its ready to roll, with nearly every tool available.

BT is based on Ubuntu, as you mentioned, so there is certainly nothing stopping you from loading what tools you'd like into Ubuntu. I certainly don't need every tool in backtrack, so I just pick and choose what I'm interested in. That said, I always keep a live disk and Backtrack VM's around just in case.

telot

Edited January 2, 2013 by telot

[skrite]

very good, thanks for the advice.

[vector]

you can add the backtrack repositories to your sources list and then youll be able to easily install most any of the backtrack tools, using apt-get or synaptic or aptitude etc. it takes about 30 sec to do.

[digip]

Its not that they can't both do the same thing, its that BackTrack, is highly customized for you, with dependencies and libraries made to work with the software that is installed in it. Many tools work in a flaky manner to some extent on other distros, but thats the nature of linux in general. Some tools, just do as expected when working with BackTrack and vice versa, where uBuntu does some things better, such as multimedia and general every day use, but I'd say its personal preference. If you want an every day desktop, BackTrack can and will work in most cases, but uBuntu would probably be the more desktop crowd related in general, while BackTrack is specifically meant more for pentesters than an every day native install. There are just some things you will do in BackTrack, that are just going to work, that won't always be as easy to get working in uBuntu. Use what gets the job done for you though, and what your needs are, and that applies to any OS. My main OS of choice is still Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. It does everything I need, and I can always run BT or uBuntu in a VM if I have a need for them.