Running Kali on Pinepfone. Kali specific apps not available

[christians86]

Hi,

I have the pinefone pro. This is what I did:

1. Installed the img via balena etcher onto a micro sd
2. Booted the phone and have since been running kali on the phone

The problem is that the apps I can find on the phone is standard debian apps, like phone, maps,firefox etc. There are no "kali specific" apps. Which leads me to think I might have to run some commands to get them installed?

However, if I run:

sudo apt upgrade I only get that 0 need to be upgraded

while if I run sudo apt update it show two repos (Defect reported here, is that right(?) - Image dosen't contain Kali linux specific apps. It only holds basic debian software. Problem with release file not being valid yet on repor.mobian.org? (#5) ? Issues ? Kali Linux / NetHunter / build-scripts / kali-nethunter-pro ? GitLab ) and their release file not yet being valid. Is this my problem?


Thanks, br

[Fred Sheehan]

nethunter runs its kali tools directly in a shell, open a terminal and try it..

[christians86]

nethunter runs its kali tools directly in a shell, open a terminal and try it..

Hi, given that current doc dosen't mention any commands, should I assume the doc for kali arm will help or is there another place to find the commands to rund things in shell?
The link on kali.org links to nethunter for andriod, and not for nethunter pro

[JoSSte]

I just installed nethunter pro image for Pinephone and had the same experience as many others. a beautiful phosh setup skinned with kali.

From the documentation and screenshots on https://www.kali.org/get-kali/#kali-mobile I expected at least the nethunter store, and standard tools like sqlmap and burp, and the nethunter terminal.

but they are missing sadly.
20230131_225439.jpg
20230131_225444.jpg 20230131_225501.jpg20230131_225421_crop.jpg

I even scanned the predefined links in firefox and found nothing usable.

thinking that I may have done something wrong, i fired up another pc than the one i initially downloaded the image, redownloaded the image (https://kali.download/nethunterpro-i...e-phosh.img.xz) verified the signature, wrote it to another sd and booted. The experience is the same...

I even went to https://store.nethunter.com and clicked the link thinking that it might have something different, but I only got the .apk for android (which works fine on an unrooted S7 edge aka hero2lte running lineageos 20230131_230708.jpg)

Could someone who can actually update the image verify that this is what they expect? and then maybe update the website to reflect that. (at the moment it feels like those Ferrari branded laptops: the colors and the sounds are there, but its not a Ferrari (or a kali))

[christians86]

Hi,

I have the pinefone pro. This is what I did:

1. Installed the img via balena etcher onto a micro sd
2. Booted the phone and have since been running kali on the phone

The problem is that the apps I can find on the phone is standard debian apps, like phone, maps,firefox etc. There are no "kali specific" apps. Which leads me to think I might have to run some commands to get them installed?

However, if I run:

sudo apt upgrade I only get that 0 need to be upgraded

while if I run sudo apt update it show two repos (Defect reported here, is that right(?) - Image dosen't contain Kali linux specific apps. It only holds basic debian software. Problem with release file not being valid yet on repor.mobian.org? (#5) ? Issues ? Kali Linux / NetHunter / build-scripts / kali-nethunter-pro ? GitLab ) and their release file not yet being valid. Is this my problem?


Thanks, br

Afte some discussions on discord it seems that the image is loaded with date set not to automatically update, which then caused the scripts not to work. However now the image is unstable and I can't use any of the apps as they crash upon startup

[glaucobonomo]

i am having a similar issue, just got the PinePhone Pro, installed tow-boot, on the sd card i used dd to write the nethunter PinePhone Pro Phosh img, it boots up correctly, but when i log it i have different issues:
1: no nethunter app only a terminal that let me enter Kali.
2: no desktop, when i log in i have the apps shown like when you open the drop-up menu, but i have no idle screen.
i tried apt update and upgrade but nothing changes...
does the app and the idle screen works only on android? do i have to erase the base emmc system that the phone comes with?

[Fred Sheehan]

from a terminal most of Kali's tools are still there, the terminal commands are the same as when you use a tool from Kali on a PC..

[JoSSte]

If "most" means only netcat I agree, otherwise our definition of most is not the same...

[Osetpyota]

"sudo apt search nethunter" and choose from there.

[danielktdoranie]

Is there a repo one can add to the sources.list file get all the usual Kali NetHunter toys?

[readonly]

Re: nethunterpro-2023.1-pinephonepro-phosh.tar.xz

I had the same experience unboxing Kali on the PinePhone Pro: mobile UI, Kali branding, no Kali tools, not even `nmap` at the terminal.

Weird.

The type of thing that ends up with the device back in its original box.

Not that anyone reasonable would expect open-source to be all things to all people without having to contribute, it's just that a quick search engine query shows a lot of press touting Kali on the PinePhone Pro, and apparently no one actually tried it before posting.

Having used Phosh before (it's a GNOME-ish mobile-oriented desktop environment), I figured it was a matter of the UI showing only mobile apps, with Kali hidden somewhere. Nope, not even `nmap` on the $PATH.

Reviewing:
https://www.kali.org/docs/general-use/metapackages/

Running `apt install kali-linux-nethunter` (with wifi connected, as sudo, after apt update, of course) in the terminal app will get Kali tools in place.

This will take some time and drain the battery about 40-50%. Power failure can generally be fixed with the familiar Debian flow of `apt install -f` (which may point to `dpkg-reconfigure` as a remedy).

Reboot, and you'll be presented with a desktop-scaled login screen. A hardware keyboard is helpful here, and USB-A to USB-C adapters should work, plugging into the phone's one and only USB-C port. The stick figure (accessibility shortcuts) in the system tray has an option for on-screen keyboard. With some patience and a steady hand, you can get the keyboard displayed (which is scaled awkardly) and type in the credentials. Password is the same as mobile PIN, default: 1234.

By default, the Xsession is desktop-scaled. At the very least, this desktop will be familiar to anyone who's booted desktop with a Kali iso.

Open the terminal: `sudo systemctl disable lightdm; sudo systemctl enable phosh`. Reboot.

Success. The original mobile PIN entry, the original launcher.

Scroll down on the app launcher to turn on/off a filter for mobile-friendly apps. Check the Mobile Settings app compositor override if display issues come up with any application. Note that most Kali apps launch a terminal with a --help doc. The terminal app has a font scale setting (in the hamburger menu) and generally things will be more readable in landscape orientation.

Revel in having Kali on a mobile phone.
Appreciate that the distro is full of packages.
Say "oh right, most of the Kali menu just opens a terminal."
Then go to the PINE64 shop for a keyboard case hoping that it "just works." :-)

[LexAV]

Hi.
I still have a problem with the desktop and Kali-nethunter tools - they are not available.

When running the command:
'sudo apt install kali-linux-nethunter',
the terminal displays the message:
'Unable to locate package kali-linux-nethunter'.

Maybe there are ideas?

The OS is started from the SD-card by pressing the "power" + "volume down" buttons.

[readonly]

Did you run `sudo apt update` first?

(Replying solely from an `apt` perspective. A package not located could mean that that package lists haven't been downloaded from sources, which is done on apt update.)

[ILP]

On my case, to have access to all the needed packages, I had to edit the `/etc/apt/sources.list` and add `non-free non-free-firmware` to the `deb` line for Kali repository.