Debian is distributed freely over Internet. You can download all of it from any of the Debian mirrors. The Debian Installation Manual contains detailed instructions.
A small installation image can be downloaded quickly and should be recorded onto a CD or USB stick. To use this, you will need a machine with an Internet connection.
A larger complete installation image contains more packages, making it easier to install machines without an Internet connection.
The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This operating system that we have created is called Debian.
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 systems officially support the Linux kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide.
A large part of the basic tools that fill out the operating system come from the GNU project; hence the names: GNU/Linux, GNU/kFreeBSD, and GNU/Hurd. These tools are also free.
Of course, the thing that people want is application software: programs 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 51000 packages, a package manager (APT), and other utilities that make it possible to manage thousands of packages on thousands of computers as easily as installing a single application. All of it free.
It's a bit like a tower. At the base is the kernel. 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 so it all works together.
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