Welcome to my Mini Linux Lessons post! (updated randomly)
While learning Linux you’ll learn a lot! So I’m making an unordered list of mini Linux lessons I’ve learnt while following videos, courses or other content.
If it’s small enough, i.e. it can be summed up in a short paragraph or two, then it won’t get its own blog post, rather it’ll be thrown in here.
Without further ado, here are’s a random collection of Linux lessons!
Using ifconfig
A basic networking toolset in Linux is called Net Tools which has one of the most used commands, ifconfig
.
Let’s learn how to use it, but first, we’ll install it and run the command:
sudo apt install net-tools
ifconfig
Now let’s stop, check and start up your network adapter
sudo ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig # notice it's missing
sudo ifconfig eth0 up
ifconfig # notice it's back up!
How easy is that? You’re now able to easily make changes to your network adapter card if needed.
You’ll find other networking tools that are installed alongside ifconfig
like arp
which may be useful in the future, it’s worth noting they exist.
Checking md5 and sha1 hashes
To test, download Mr Robot from VulnHubs… I should’ve picked a smaller file.
Check the hash for each md5 and sha1:

Now let’s verify the integrity of your downloaded file.
We’ll be using Kali Linux via WSL but any distro should do the trick.
First, cd
to the downloaded area:
cd /mnt/c/Users/Ashley/Downloads/ && ls
md5sum mrRobot.ova
bc02c42815eac4e872d753e1fd12ddc8 mrRobot.ova
sha1sum mrRobot.ova
dc0eb84da4c62284c688590ee092868ce84a09ab mrRobot.ova
This post is a much better look into this entire process.
Install Deskop GUI on Ubuntu Server
I find I’m using Ubuntu Server more and more, but I’m still not 100% comfortable in the CLI world all the time.
Let’s install the classic Ubuntu Desktop Graphical User Interface (GUI) on your Ubuntu Server.
It’s a simple process, just use the following commands:
sudo apt install tasksel
sudo tasksel install ubuntu-desktop
reboot now
Thanks for reading my random learning journey of Linux, I hope you’re having fun on yours!
If you have any feedback, please send me a message @mrashleyball.
This is Day 12 and 15 of #100DaysOfHacking, subscribe to my newsletter to see the journey!
Happy Hacking.