Linux in the Office

D'Agger

Hi all,

Working as a sysadmin, looking to swapover to a linux device as my main day-to-day

Just looking for recommendations on distro, remote desktop software & one query is whether you can use skype for business on Linux - not sure it can be configured with pidgin. Any other helpful softwares would be appreciated but for now I'm able to handle most issues via browser. RDP is a must though.

I'm using Linux Kali as it stands - was going to move to Mint or ArchLinux but wasn't able to install via unetbootin last night so ploughing on with Kali for the moment until I get some recommendations.

GreenWolfe

I can't comment on the software you need but Rufus is so much nicer for installing Linux from a USB stick.

Johnboy1951

Never used Skype for Business but this might be of interest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNeWV5XAqeM

Tom Dunne

Fedora and CentOS are the distributions most related to Red Hat, the corporate distro of choice.

D'Agger

Thanks all,

Running Rufus as I type to install OpenSuse on Gnome

Ran suse beofre on a desktop & liked it - I think I'll look to mess around with a few - not a huge fan of CentOS & only dabbled briefly with fedora but liked it I must say.

Will absolutely check out the skype for business for linux Johnboy, thanks for that

syklops

D'Agger wrote: »

Hi all,

Working as a sysadmin, looking to swapover to a linux device as my main day-to-day

Just looking for recommendations on distro, remote desktop software & one query is whether you can use skype for business on Linux - not sure it can be configured with pidgin. Any other helpful softwares would be appreciated but for now I'm able to handle most issues via browser. RDP is a must though.

I'm using Linux Kali as it stands - was going to move to Mint or ArchLinux but wasn't able to install via unetbootin last night so ploughing on with Kali for the moment until I get some recommendations.

I have been using Linux as my work Operating System for almost 6 years.

I'd recommend CentOS as it is very stable and has an excellent community behind it. I use Fedora on my laptop which is the cutting edge equivalent, but it involves lots of upgrading.

Skype has a native linux client, there is no need to configure pidgin to do anything.

I ude the K Desktop Environment(KDE) and it comes with KRDP which I find fast, stable and reliable.

Now, this will sound a little hypocritical of me, considering I am sat here in a Kali Linux T-shirt. In my defence I bought it from Hackers For Charity, so half of what I paid went to help the school in Africa, and it is a cool looking shirt, but, I'm not really a fan of Kali. I don't think it gets QA'ed as well as other distros. A few times I went to use it for something and had issues, and I found the issues were related to the underlying distribution not the software I wanted to use. Cue lots of lost time.

Don't get me wrong, that happens on many Distros. There was war the day a release candidate of Fedora wouldn't boot on ThinkPads, but it seems every time I've gone to use it I had problems and the advice i was given on the forums was to download a different version and install again.

Your work machine needs to be stable and reliable, so I would advise going with one of the more common distros. Here is the Top 10 list

Let us know if you need any help!

L.Jenkins

I would recommend Fedora also. As for Skype http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-computer/

D'Agger

Looking at Fedora & CentOS latest offerings - Fedora seems quite nice & gave little trouble installing, unlike CentOS so will probably tip away with that for a while.

On my Skype question - I'm not talking about Skype - rather, Skype for Business i.e. Lync the IM client

Perhaps I can sign into my work account using Skype but I doubt that as it's part of an Office365 solution

Khannie

D'Agger wrote: »

Just looking for recommendations on distro, remote desktop software & one query is whether you can use skype for business on Linux

Been using Linux day to day in the office for over 10 years now.

- I'd suggest you use whatever distro you're comfortiable with.
- For remote desktoping to your desktop (from home for example) I'd recommend NX (nomachine.com). This works over SSH for bonus points.
- For remote desktop to other machines there is rdesktop for connecting to windows boxes. Works a treat.
- Skype works perfectly. Don't bother with the pidgin implementation as it requires skype to be installed anyway (iirc). (edit: I don't understand the difference between skype and skype for business, can you elaborate?)

Good luck!

syklops

D'Agger wrote: »

Looking at Fedora & CentOS latest offerings - Fedora seems quite nice & gave little trouble installing, unlike CentOS so will probably tip away with that for a while.

On my Skype question - I'm not talking about Skype - rather, Skype for Business i.e. Lync the IM client

Perhaps I can sign into my work account using Skype but I doubt that as it's part of an Office365 solution

This might be of use

Khannie

syklops wrote: »

Now, this will sound a little hypocritical of me, considering I am sat here in a Kali Linux T-shirt. In my defence I bought it from Hackers For Charity, so half of what I paid went to help the school in Africa, and it is a cool looking shirt, but, I'm not really a fan of Kali. I don't think it gets QA'ed as well as other distros. A few times I went to use it for something and had issues, and I found the issues were related to the underlying distribution not the software I wanted to use. Cue lots of lost time.

A big plus 1 on this. Pain in the arse I had with it when attempting to do anything other than pentesting.

Johnboy1951

syklops wrote: »

This might be of use

This

Important distinction here: If you’re running Lync Server 2010, you will need Silverlight to run the Lync Web App. Silverlight is Windows-only. But there is a Linux version of Silverlight, called Moonlight.

makes me wonder if this is in any way viable.
Moonlight has not been developed for some time ... years IIRC.