# Kali Linux

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Kali Linux and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free Linux distribution that people run in virtual machines, on portable hardware, and remember fondly from their university and gaming days.

## Why people recommend it

- Fond memories of using it (2 comments): "I remember booting Kali Linux in my university library and feeling like such a badass." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48742777)) "I spent an entire summer playing Warcraft 2 on Kali" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49194096))
- Runs in VMs and portable hardware (2 comments): "Kali/UTM with an mcp server pointed at my LMstudio" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48749561)) "For Kali, I sport a GPD Pocket 2" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46805471))

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Kali Linux", https://hackerapproved.com/p/kali/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).