| Chapter 1: Foundations of Kali Linux

ments. Kali supports the popular ones from their repository without needing to add
any additional repositories. If the desktop environment that is installed by default
doesn’t suit you, replacing it is easy. Because you’ll likely be spending a lot of time in
the environment, you really want to be not only comfortable but also productive.
This means finding the right environment and toolsets for you.
GNOME Desktop
The default environment provided in Kali Linux is based on the GNOME desktop.
This desktop environment was part of the GNU (GNU’s Not Unix, which is referred
to as a recursive acronym) Project. Currently, RedHat is the primary contributor and
uses the GNOME desktop as its primary interface, as does Ubuntu and others. In
Figure 1-2
, you can see the desktop environment with the main menu expanded.
Figure 1-2. GNOME desktop for Kali Linux
Just as with Windows, if that’s what you are mostly familiar with, you get an applica‐
tion menu with shortcuts to the programs that have been installed. Rather than being
broken into groups by software vendor or program name, Kali presents the programs
in groups based on functionality. The categories presented, and ones covered over the
course of this book, are as follows:
Desktops | 9

• Information Gathering
• Vulnerability Analysis
• Web Application Analysis
• Database Assessment
• Password Attacks
• Wireless Attacks
• Reverse Engineering
• Exploitation Tools
• Sniffing & Spoofing
• Post Exploitation
• Forensics
• Reporting Tools
• Social Engineering Tools
Alongside the Applications menu is a Places menu, providing shortcuts to locations
you may want to get to quickly. This includes your Home directory, Desktop direc‐
tory, Computer, and Network. Next to the Places menu is a menu associated with the
application with a focus on the desktop. If no program is running, there is no menu
there. Essentially, it’s similar to the taskbar in Windows, except that running applica‐
tions don’t line up in the menu bar at the top of the screen. The only one you will see
there is the application in the foreground.
As in other modern operating systems, you’ll have a little collection of icons in the far
right of the menu bar, which GNOME calls a 
panel
, including a pull-down that brings
up a small dialog box providing quick access to customizations, logout, power func‐
tions, sound, and network settings. 
Figure 1-3
 shows this dialog box and the features
supported through it. Mostly, it provides quick access to system functions if you want
to use menu actions to perform them.

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