Debian GNU/Linux is the result of a volunteer effort to create a free,
high-quality Unix-compatible operating system, complete with a suite of
applications. The idea of a free Unix-like system originates from the
GNU project, and many of the applications that make Debian GNU/Linux so
useful were developed by the GNU project.
Debian is a mature Linux distribution (distro), started by Ian Murdock
in 1993 with an initial stable release subsequently being made
available in October 1995. Its name was derived from its
creator,
Ian Murdock and his (now) wife, Debra. Since 2000, there has been 3
major releases of Debian, with almost two years elapsing between
version 3.1 and the current release, 4.0.
It is widely regarded as one of the most important distributions, in
part because its efforts have spawned other highly popular
distributions such as Ubuntu
and the commercial Xandros,
and also
because of its excellent package management system. It has
continued to
maintain a policy of excluding 'non-free' packages, thereby ensuring
that each release can really be said to be free to use and
redistribute. Nevertheless, Debian 4.0 ships with more than
18,000 different
software packages ready for installation, making it one of the most
comprehensive distributions available.
Debian 4.0 Key
Facts
Developer:
The Debian
Project
consisting of over 1060 volunteers
Price:
Entire
distribution
is available for download free of charge; 3rd party vendors sell CD and
DVDs for nominal sums
Released:
8
April 2007
Installation
Media:
CD (21),
DVD (3),
Business card CD, USB sticks, floppies, and network (via jigdo and
BitTorrent)
Architectures
supported:
Alpha,
AMD64, ARM,
HP PA-RISC,
Intel x86, Intel IA-64, MIPS (big and little endian), PowerPC, IBM
S/390, SPARC
(Support for Motorola 680x0 ('m68k') architecture dropped in 4.0)
Package
Management:
Aptitude
(for
console based management);
Secure APT - featuring strong
cryptography and digital signatures to validate downloaded packages
About Debian