Documentation of Operating Systems and Developers

Debian GNU/Linux

The Debian GNU /Linux Project team is a special one under the distributors since it does not pursue any commercial targets. Since the foundation by Ian Murdock on 16th August 1993 Debian is cared by voluntary developers and supported by the FSF. Ian Murdock conducted the team to 1996. The name Debian gets together from Deb for Ian Murdock's Wife Debra and his first name together. Only software which was published completely under the GPL flows into the Debian distribution. Developed in Germany the main area lies more in Europe. Specified versions exist for Intel x86 and ARM systems. As unusual feature a format of one's own is used for the installation by software packages (Deb), just like the packet format RPM it resolves the dependences automatically, though according after another principle. The GUI Gnomes become preferred as standard. Up till now only a simple text mode for the installation is available. Debian has got synonymous for quality and stability. The code names as of release 1.1 are from figures from the digital cartoon film Toy Story.

Ian Murdock set up a new company with Bruce Perens named Progeny Linux Systems in 2001. It is target to develop a network solution based on Debian GNU/Linux named Linux NOW (Network of Workstations). Linux NOW shall merge the advantages of efficient, flexible and scalable workstation with centralized solutions that are simply to be administered.
The networked systems then form one single, smooth system with the advantages of those two worlds. A software product that uses this technique is the web-based Linux Platform Manager which accelerates the construction, administration and the test of distributions.

Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 supports altogether 11 processor architectures, the software KDE 3.5.5 a, gnomes 2.14 and Xfce 4.4 were updated. The graphic interface for the installation was replaced and is available in 58 languages. At the installation also cryptographic software can be selected from more than 18,000 programmes. The compatibility with the FHS 2.3 and the LSB 3.1 is granted to.

Ian Murdock changed to the company Sun in March 2007 and ended the business activity of Progeny Linux Systems to the end of 2007-04-30. His new work area is the coordination and strategic orientation of the business for Solaris to keep pace with Linux.

The next stable release was Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (Lenny) of 14 February 2009. For the first time, there is a graphical Debian installer. The hardware detection has been further improved. The configuration-free X-Server is included in version 7.3. Gnome is installed as standard desktop. The network setup is even easier with the Network Manager.

A distribution based on Debian is Knoppix (Knoppers UNIX) from Klaus Knopper. It is a directly bootable live system from CD-ROM or DVD media. Knoppix is installable also on a fixed disk, e.g. it is suitable for a productive desktop system or also as a Rescue system. Knoppix 4.0 bases on Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 and was released on the event "Linux Tag 2005" on 06-22-2005. As a user surface KDE 3.4.1 and gnomes 2.8 can be chosen. By the cloop data compression over 9 gigabytes of software on a single layer DVD and to 2 GByte on a CD-ROM are possible. Knoppix based distributions are Freeduc, Kanotix, Quantian, Paipix, SymphonyOS und DSL (Damn Small Linux). Knoppix 5.1.0 was released on 2006-12-30.

Ubuntu Linux is a well-known Debian distribution, on 20th October 2004 was the first release of Ubuntu 4.10. More about Ubuntu Linux.

BeatriX is based on Ubuntu, and therefore also supports Debian and Ubuntu packages. This distribution by Steven Watsky has been discontinued in 2005. More about BeatriX.

Debian 3.0, startup screen of the installation DVD	Debian 3.0, selection of the used language	Debian 3.0, notice to the project	Debian 3.0, install of the base system
Debian 3.0, notice about the install process	Debian 3.0, setup of the operating system with tasksel	Debian 3.0, Debian Task Installer, selection of profiles	Debian 4.0, startup screen of the installation DVD
Debian 4.0, selection of the used language	Debian 4.0, partition tool for the hard disk	Debian 4.0, install of the base system	Debian 4.0, selection of profiles
Debian 4.0, install of the additional software	Debian 4.0, startup screen from the hard disk	Debian 4.0, login screen	Debian 4.0, gnome desktop with file managr and terminal
Debian 4.0, query for the root password to run the update manager	Debian 4.0, software management with Synaptic Package Manager	Debian 4.0, playing of DivX Video	Debian 4.0, internet browser of the gnome desktop
Debian 4.0, system monitor with CPU and memory usage	Debian 5.03, Installer boot menu	Debian 5.03, Language selection	Debian 5.03, Select the keyboard layout
Debian 5.03, Installation is prepared	Debian 5.03, Hostname for the system	Debian 5.03, Partition disks	Debian 5.03, Selected for partitioning
Debian 5.03, Overview of currently configured partitions	Debian 5.03, Install the base system	Debian 5.03, Set up root password	Debian 5.03, Configure the package manager
Debian 5.03, Network mirror	Debian 5.03, Configuring popularity contest	Debian 5.03, Predefined collections of software	Debian 5.03, Software is retrieved
Debian 5.03, Install the GRUB boot loader	Debian 5.03, Finish the installation	Debian 5.03, Login screen	Debian 5.03, Gnome Desktop
Debian 5.03, Internet browser and shell	Ubuntu 6.10, Live system running from DVD media, GNOME 2.16	BeatriX, Gnome desktop

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