installation frustrations

[1mn0tjack]

Hello all.
just venting a little, i just spent the last 3 hours trying to verify the iso after download because i thought it was necessary to turn it into an ISO that i can boot my VM from. then i discovered...
   (after figuring out how to use openssl to verify the darn thing)
   (this was my first time doing anything with openssl and first time messing with bzip2 formats, i knew it was a zip
    file but couldnt simply extract it so i thought that whole thing was needed)
...that all i had to do was open with a package manager and drag it to nautilus or whatever popos uses for files. (im accustom to ubuntu) 
1. i feel stupid that it wasnt clear to me
2. i feel stupid that the months ive been TRYING to learn ANYTHING about SSL has left me with NOTHING! WHY IS THIS SO COMPLICATED?!?! Why is this NOT coming to me?! why is this NOT second nature at this point?
I need to know this stuff for work and i know nothing. i feel so incompetent!

Does anyone have advise for how i can go forward learning about ssl encryption in a way that sticks? or have a favorite learning method that helped them "get it"? I understand the basics of what and why but how is the real question im asking. how do i work with it, how do i use it, is there a standard way of using it? (because it seems every implimentation seems to have its own way interacting with them. the commands are similar but NEVER identical. its difficult to really apply myself to something that seems so random in a way that leaves a lasting impression. i just dont understand how its not a standard procedure and i end up spending HOURS just to figure out how to run 2 commands successfully EVERY TIME i need to work with it. im just so tired and im (already/only) 30yo.... (newborn baby doest help at all but still)

[bartjsmit]

The SSL book I always turned to before the commands became almost muscle memory is the O'Reilly 'Network Security with OpenSSL' which gives history and context necessary to absorb the software.

Ivan Ristić at Feisty Duck has a great newsletter to keep abreast of the crypto developments and also publishes books: https://www.feistyduck.com/books/openssl-cookbook/

For a deeper journey into cryptography turn to the master: https://www.schneier.com/books/applied-cryptography/ who also has a monthly newsletter more geared towards a wider crypto context.

Things will get better once babies sleep through the night. You'll get some respite until the teething starts 

Bart...