The Linux Fraud

The reason all comes down to a single font type.

One of the best things about Linux is that you can customize and theme your desktop experience in almost anyway that you can think of. You can make it look like MacOS and even Windows if you’re into that kind of thing. Or, you can make it look completely different in every way. You can use desktop environments or you can use standalone window managers. Linux truly gives you choice and that’s what many people love about it.

I have themed my desktop ever since I started using Linux. I’ve themed GNOME, KDE Plasma and tiling window managers. Since I can remember, I have always used the Nord color scheme because let’s face it – It’s awesome! Seriously, if you don’t know about the Nord theme – check it out https://nordtheme.com/

Now, applying the Nord theme to GNOME or Plasma is very easy. You just install the theme (or any other theme that you want) from https://gnome-look.org, and then you apply it in your settings. Theming a tiling window manager is a little different, but still relatively easy after you do it once or twice. Also, it doesn’t matter what distribution that you are on because you can apply themes to any distro. Although, there is something that you can’t get on every distribution – at least not in my experience.

There is a font called *joypixels* which enables icons/emoji styled fonts that you can use throughout your system. On Arch it’s very easy to install because the joypixels font is right in the Arch repos. With a simple **sudo pacman -S ttf-joypixels** you’ve got the font installed. This is not possible on a distro, say for example, like Fedora. Both distros are obviously free and open source software but the difference is what software they allow in their repositories. Fedora will not allow any proprietary software in their repos, but Arch has no problem with it. Well, the joypixels font isn’t open source software which means that you can’t just easily install it on something like Fedora. I believe that goes for distros like Debian and Ubuntu as well, but don’t quote me.

Anyway, the reason that Arch has ruined every other distribution for me is because it literally has everything. If a package you need isn’t in the repos, you can easily get it from the AUR and being able to do that means that you never have to worry about *not* having the packages that you want and need. Because it’s so easy to get any package, it makes it tough when you jump to a different distribution and have to jump through so many hoops just to get a single fucking font.

So, thank you, Arch. You have trapped me and I don’t see myself using any other distribution in the future.

Thanks for reading my convoluted blog post.

I am not an ethical hacker by any means or a security researcher and I don’t do any type of threat analysis for a job. I don’t even work in the IT field. I started to become interested in ethical hacking and cybersecurity in general a couple of years ago – that’s actually how I was introduced to Linux. Since then I have realized that I wouldn’t really thrive in an office type workplace and with all of the layoffs in the IT and tech industry recently – I would be battling against some heavyweights. I’ve also realized that my passion is creating videos but that’s not what this post is about.

Then What’s It About?

I recently logged back into Reddit, which I haven’t done since the whole API drama, and I noticed that somebody commented on a post that I made like eight or nine months ago on r/ethicalhacking. I frequented that subreddit a lot in the past and while I was there, I noticed that so many newcomers would always post the same question.

Hey guyz so I really really really want to make ethical hacking my life long career and I have a passion for computers and I’d just love to be an ethical hacker – HOW DO I START?!

Because of this question, which would be asked multiple times a day, I decided to make a post and list a bunch of different resources for beginners, intermediate and even advanced people that want a list of for anything from cybersecurity blog posts and news, creators on youtube that focus on the subject, podcasts and much more. It is of course still over on r/ethicalhacking as it’s pinned to the top of the subreddit – I wanted to create that list somewhere else in case Reddit blows up or some shit and then all of the great content and resources that are on that website disappear or something lol. So that’s what this post is – a backup ;)

Websites:

https://notes.siira.io/ – This is Linux Journey. If you don't know anything about Linux and the command line then start here. Seriously, start here.

TryHackMe.com – this website is great and teaches a lot of those fundamentals that you need. There’s a free tier but I suggest paying 10 bucks a month if you can because it’s well worth it for the extra courses that you can get.

HackTheBox – this is more intermediate. They’re vulnerable boxes that you can practice on. Basically CTF’s (Capture The Flag) they also have an academy site that’s like THM but I think tryhackme is still a better bang for your buck academy wise.

ITPro.Tv – This website has a bunch of courses for everything. Linux, Windows, MacOS, networking, hardware, etc. Literally everything.

Youtube.com – You may think that this isn't as good as the other websites but I swear that there are some really good tutorials on youtube. I'll go into some people to watch below.

Teachers

The Cyber Mentor

This guy is amazing. He has a YouTube channel (search ‘the cyber mentor’) and has tons of good videos. He has a free 15 hour ethical hacking course right on his channel that’s got great information. That’s a portion of a paid course that he has on his website. Go to www.TCM-security.com and there is an Academy tab somewhere near the top. The full course called Practical Ethical Hacking is like 30 bucks I think? Completely worth it. I highly suggest checking out the free 15 hour or so video on YouTube and if you like that – get that PEH course. 30 bucks is nothing in this space and you get it forever. He’s also got other courses on there that are well worth it.

Professor Messer

He's a good guy to watch to learn about networking and all the CompTIA exams. You don't have to get certified but it will help you greatly when it comes to finding a job. Just search him on YouTube and you’ll find him. I can’t stress how important it is to get a good foundation on networking before jumping into the hacking part. I messed up when I first started because it is boring to learn. It’s just dry. Learning about TCP/IP protocols, the OSI Model, etc. at face value it’s boring as fuck. But when you realize that you need this information to be a good pen tester (or just working in IT) it helps. Hell, I’m still working on getting better with networking myself.

HackerSploit

This guy is one of the best on YouTube. He is extremely detailed and I don't think you're going to find someone that is much better than him in my opinion.

John Hammond

He is up there with Hackersploit and The Cyber Mentor. He's got tutorials but he also has a lot of in depth videos about malware and a lot of different cybersecurity related topics.

Mental Outlaw

Good youtuber to check out to learn about security news as well as Linux topics.

David Bombal

Great information as well as very good interviews with cybersecurity and IT professionals.

Network Chuck

The most mainstream youtuber of this whole list, but he still know's what he is talking about for the most part. His videos are a great starting point if you don't know who any of the other people in this list. Some people may find him a bit too overzealous and annoying but the information he provides is pretty solid.

Podcasts To Listen To

  • Darknet Diaries
  • The Cyberwire
  • Hacking Humans
  • Down the Security Rabbithole
  • Defensive Security Podcast
  • Malicious Life
  • Defensive Security Podcast
  • Hackable?
  • Brakeing Down Security

News/Articles/Blogs

Hello and welcome to the blog of The Linux Fraud. This is basically just a place where I can post my thoughts and ideas. I run a little YouTube channel called “The Linux Fraud” where we cover topics including Linux, privacy, security and just tech in general. While I love those topics, I also enjoy other things such as photography, film and history. While tech, history and film don't really mix well in the sense of a YouTube channel – I can talk about any and all topics here on this blog. That's the idea – a potluck of letters and words strung together in anyway to form sentences that my scattered ass brain puts together.

I hope you enjoy your time here <3

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