Debian is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux.
Debian GNU/Linux provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 25000 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine.
Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.6 was released September 4th, 2010. The release included many major changes, described in our press release and the Release Notes.
To obtain and install Debian GNU/Linux, see the installation information page and the Installation Guide. To upgrade from an older Debian release, see the instructions in the Release Notes.
