Are Pentest distros just a collection of tools?

I'm a noob whos recently got intrested in netsec and pen testing. Is there any point in running a specialised distro like Kali and Black Arch. Arent these just Regualer distros with a bunch of preinstalled tools( I know Kali runs everything as root but I dont see typing sudo being a chore)? I Black Arch has over 2000 tools and I cant see someone actually using 2000+ tools to learn about this stuff. Would it not just make more sense to install Arch and then add the tools I want?

from my limited understanding of kali and not knowing what black arch is yeah. basically. Go get regular Arch and install the tools you need to get soykaf done. I really just used kali on a USB just so I could get access to a computer in college. (lol. lmao.) It's a good swiss army knife if you are out in the field.

>>23217 You can add BlackArch Pacman repository to Arch Linux. >Black Arch has over 2000 tools and I cant see someone actually using 2000+ tools to learn about this stuff. It's the Slackware philosophy; include every type of software for every situation so you'll have it when you need it. It's convenient if you're taking it someplace with limited internet access.

>>23217 From what I know people use parrot os or something. You can use systems with preinstalled tools like kali for convinience but it's probably better to just get those tools on debian/arch yourself. Also kali requires more computer resources than debian for example 2gb ram for kali and less than 1gb ram for debian etc.

Does anyone else find kali and parrot freezing a lot when running in a VM? What's the lowest resource pentesting distro a person can reasonably use?

>>23302 Instead of in a vm try booting from a drive - the faster the better. I personally use a portable ssd and it works really well on an old laptop

>>23217 >Are Pentest distros just a collection of tools? Yes. Also, you should not use Kali Linux or whatever as your daily driver (it was never designed for that and it's a bad idea). Just install Arch Linux or Debian/Devuan.