Debian is a free, or Open Source, operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. At the core of an operating system is the kernel. The kernel is the most fundamental program on the computer and does all the basic housekeeping and lets you start other programs. Debian uses the Linux kernel, a completely free piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by (probably over 1000) programmers worldwide. A large part of the basic tools that fill out the operating system come from GNU, which are also free. Of course, the thing that people want is software. Tools to help them get what they want to do done, from editing documents to running a business to playing games to writing more software. Debian comes with over 2500 packages (precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine) — all of it free.
It's a bit like a tower. At the base is Linux. On top of that are all the basic tools. Next is all the software that you run on the computer. At the top of the tower is Debian — carefully organizing and fitting everything together so it all works together.
You may be wondering: why would people spend hours of their own time to write software, carefully package it, and then give it all away? The answers are as varied as the people who contribute. Some people like to help others. Many write programs to learn more about computers. More and more people are looking for ways to avoid the inflated price of commercial software. A growing crowd contribute as a thank you for all the great free software they've received from others. Many in academia create free software to help get the results of their research into wider use. Businesses help maintain free software so they can have a say in how it develops -- there's no quicker way to get a new feature than to implement it yourself! Of course, a lot of us just find it great fun.
Debian is so committed to free software that we thought it would be useful if it was formalized in a document of some sort. Thus, our Social Contract was born.
Although Debian believes in free software, there are cases where people want or need to put commercial software on their machine. Whenever possible Debian will support this. There are even a growing number of packages whose sole job is to install commercial software into a Debian system.
You might be asking: If the software is free, then why do I have to pay for a CD? First, you don't have to buy a CD. If you can download off the net, then you can get Debian for no cost. Second, when buying a disk you are paying for someone's time, capital outlay to make the disks, and risk (in case they don't sell them all). Third, free is used in the sense of freedom not free of cost (although this generally brings the price down to the cost of the media). For more information take a look at Debian's Free Software Guidelines or the Free Software Foundation's site.
A better question is how do software companies get away with charging so much? Software is not like making a car. Once you've made one copy of your software, the production costs to make a million more are tiny (there's a good reason Microsoft has so many billions in the bank).
Look at it another way: if you had an endless supply of sand in your backyard, you might be willing to give sand away. It would be foolish, though, to pay for a truck to take it to others. You would make them come and get it themselves (equivalent to downloading off the net) or they can pay someone else to deliver it to their door (equivalent to buying a CD). This is exactly how Debian operates and why most of the CDs are so cheap (less than $5 U.S. for 2 CDs).
Although Debian is non-profit, we do have expenses. Please buy from one of the CD manufacturers that donate a portion of your purchase to Debian.
Almost all common hardware is supported. If you would like to be sure that everything you have is supported, check out the Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO.
There are a few companies that make support difficult by not releasing specifications for their hardware. Even if you have a commercial driver, you can run into problems if the company later goes out of business or stops support of the hardware you have. To ensure that you don't run into such problems, check out our Open Hardware Specification.
Currently, we have public releases for 80x86 based machines (386, 486, Pentium, etc) and m68k based machines (amiga, atari, macs using this chipset). It is expected that sparc and alpha based machines will be supported with the release of Debian 2.1. For more information on ports to other platforms, see our release information.
You may want to check out our FAQ.
Not to worry. As hard disk space has become cheap, most people have at least 500MB of extra space. Debian can be easily installed on this extra space and can coexist with your existing OS. If you need more space, you can simply delete one of the OSes (and after you see the power of Linux, we are sure it won't be Debian).
As trying a new operating systems will take some of your valuable time, it is understandable that you may have reservations. For this reason we compiled a list of pros and cons of Debian. This should help you decide whether you think it's worth it. We Hope you'll appreciate our honesty and frankness.
Either buy a CD or download it using ftp. Then check out our install documentation. If you haven't yet, you may want to first look at the Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO. Don't forget to take a look through the packages we offer (hopefully you won't be intimidated by the sheer number).
Well if you really need to pay someone, there are businesses that will install and/or maintain your machine for you. If you are willing to do a little reading, though, you can do everything yourself. Should something you can't figure out come up, simply try our mailing lists, in particular debian-user. Fast, friendly, free answers. You can't get better service than that.
For users of IRC, there is a channel, #debian, dedicated to Debian, at irc.debian.org .
Debian is produced by roughly 300 developers spread around the world who volunteer in their spare time. Few of the developers have actually met in person. Communication is done primarily through e-mail and the #debian IRC channel on irc.debian.org.
You can find a detailed history of Debian here.
Since many people have asked, Debian is pronounced 'deb ee n'. It comes from the names of the creator of Debian, Ian Murdock, and his wife, Debra.