Debian is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of Debian (0.01) was released on September 15, 1993, and its first stable version (1.1) was released on June 17, 1996. The Debian Stable branch is the most popular edition for personal computers and servers. Debian is also the basis for many other distributions, most notably Ubuntu.
Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kernel. The project is coordinated over the Internet by a team of volunteers guided by the Debian Project Leader and three foundational documents: the Debian Social Contract, the Debian Constitution, and the Debian Free Software Guidelines. New distributions are updated continually, and the next candidate is released after a time-based freeze.
History:
Debian was first announced on August 16, 1993, by Ian Murdock, who initially called the system "the Debian Linux Release". The word "Debian" was formed as a portmanteau of the first name of his then-girlfriend (later ex-wife) Debra Lynn and his own first name. Before Debian's release, the Softlanding Linux System (SLS) had been a popular Linux distribution and the basis for Slackware. The perceived poor maintenance and prevalence of bugs in SLS motivated Murdock to launch a new distribution.
Debian 0.01, released on September 15, 1993, was the first of several internal releases. Version 0.90 was the first public release, providing support through mailing lists hosted at Pixar. The release included the Debian Linux Manifesto, outlining Murdock's view for the new operating system. In it he called for the creation of a distribution to be maintained openly, in the spirit of Linux and GNU.
The Debian project released the 0.9x versions in 1994 and 1995. During this time it was sponsored by the Free Software Foundation for one year. Ian Murdock delegated the base system, the core packages of Debian, to Bruce Perens and Murdock focused on the management of the growing project. The first ports to non-IA-32 architectures began in 1995, and Debian 1.1 was released in 1996. By that time and thanks to Ian Jackson, the dpkg package manager was already an essential part of Debian.
Download:
First, download the Debian 10 ISO file which you can find on the official Debian website.
Installation:
Step 1: Boot System From USB
1. Once you have downloaded the ISO image, create a bootable USB.
2. Boot the system by selecting the medium on which you have stored the ISO file.
3. The system should display Debian’s Main Menu with several installations to choose from. In this tutorial, we will choose the Graphical Debian Installer.
Note: You can also boot the system on a virtual machine if you are using virtualization software.
Step 3: Set Up Language, Location, and Keyboard
1. Start by selecting the language of the installer and the operating system. Find your preferred language and select continue.
2. Next, provide your location. Based on that information, Debian will set up your time zone. In case you cannot find your country listed, select on other for a more extensive list.
3. Continue by selecting the keyboard you will be using.
Step 4: Configure Network
1. Start configuring the network by giving your OS a name. It is how you and other systems will identify it on the network. To simplify the process, we named the network debian-10-buster.
2. Also, part of configuring the network will be setting up a domain name. Most likely, it will be a word or phrase followed by .com, .net, .org, and so on. In case you are configuring the network for personal use at home, feel free to make up any name.
Step 5: Set Up Users and Passwords
1. The next step is to set up users and passwords. Start by creating a root password. Make sure to include letters, numbers, punctuation, and both lower and upper case characters. The more complex your password is, the less likely you are to have security breaches in the future.
2. Then, create a user for non-administrative activities. Type in your full name (or at least your first name) and click Continue.
3. Just like the root, the user accounts require a strong password. Create a password for the new user and re-enter it to verify.
Step 6: Partition Disks For Debian 10
1. To partition disks, you first need to decide whether you want the installer to guide you through partitioning or if you prefer to do it manually. Generally, we recommend choosing the method: Guided – use entire disk.
2. Select the disk which you want to partition. Be aware that all data on the drive will be erased.
3. Then, partition the disk using the scheme you are comfortable using. For new or inexperienced users, it is best to go with the default scheme of all files in one partition.
4. The installer will show you an overview of the disk configuration. Check the settings and click Continue if everything is as you want it.
5. Confirm the changes to disks by selecting Yes and select Continue.
6. The installation will start.
Step 7: Final Configuration
1. To configure the package manager, your system needs to be connected to the internet. If it is connected, select Yes and click Continue to use the network mirror.
2. Then, the installer will prompt you to provide a location and the Debian package repository URL.
3. Select whether you want to participate in a package usage survey. If you select Yes, distribution developers will run automatic submission scripts on your machine. The survey will provide information about the most used packages. Otherwise, choose No to keep that information private.
4. Next, select the software you want to have pre-installed once you power up the system. If you want a Graphical User Interface, select GNOME. Also, it is a good idea to install standard system utilities and any other software you may require. Once you have selected all the software, click Continue.
5. If Debian is the only operating system on your computer, you can safely install the GRUB boot loader on the hard disk, as suggested.
6. The following window will ask you to specify the device on which to install the boot loader. Select /dev/sda unless you want to enter the device manually.
7. You have finished setting up and installing Debian 10, Buster. Select Continue to reboot the system.
Step 8: Start Up Debian 10
1. Navigate to the Bios settings and boot the system from the disk where you have installed Debian Buster.
2. As a result, the GNU GRUB bootloader will open, from where you can select to start up Debian GNU/Linux.
3. The system will prompt you to log in with the user account you have created. Provide the user name and password and sign in.
4. All done! You should now see the Debian desktop screen. This confirms you have successfully installed Debian 10 Buster on your machine.
Features:
X.org 7.3 integration. It used to be setting up your screen in Linux was a real pain-in-the-rump. With X.org 7.3 the X-server behind Linux's most common GUIs (graphical user interfaces), the program automatically take care of setting up your display resolution.
Renewed emphasis on security. In the not-to-distant past, Debian put its foot into it with a major OpenSSL security screw-up. Unlike some groups, say Microsoft, which never seems to learn security lessons, Debian's developers worked hard to improve the distribution's security.
Debian is now Java friendly. The Linux distribution now includes Sun's OpenJDK; the GNU Java compiler and Java bytecode interpreter; and Classpath, an open-source collection of Java libraries. What all this means for users is that you can now use most Java-based programs in Debian. Some of these are already available in Debian's software repositories, so you can quickly use these programs.
Debian makes open-source players and viewers available for some proprietary media formats. It's gotten easier to access proprietary videos and the like on Linux with programs like Moonshine and Moonlight. Since these programs require accepting some proprietary bits, some users don't want a thing to do with them. For these users, Debian's integrated support of Flash video with swfdec or Gnash will be very welcome indeed.
You can run Debian on anything. And, I mean anything. Sure, if you're a developer you can get Linux to run on any system under the sun. For example you can get Linux to run on an iPhone or a Microsoft xBox 360. But, if you're not a programmer and you want to run Linux on a Sun SPARC server, an HP Alpha server, an IBM s/390 mainframe on the big iron side to a lightweight ARM Cortex-powered netbook or a Marvell Orion-powered HP Media Vault mv2120 storage device, Debian will run on it. This is pretty darn handy whether you're upgrading your servers or just want one common interface across your entire office's computer collection.
Advantages:
Debian system is upgraded to new minor sub-release or to new major release.
Debian GNU has been released for four architectures using the Linux-kernel (ia32 (i386), m68k, sparc and alpha) while two more ports are nearly ready for release (powerpc and arm). Four more ports are in progress (mips, mipsel, hppa, s390) as well as different kernels (Hurd and FreeBSD).
Debian packages integrate very well into the entire system. Several tools and gadgets are used to help connecting packages to each other, presenting the user a well maintained and round system.
The maintainers generally have a strong personal interest in each package they maintain, since they normally volunteered to maintain it because they wanted to use it themselves. This results in in high quality work, by highly motivated, and generally technically skillful people, which in turn gives us high quality throughout the whole distribution.
The entire distribution is free according to the DFSG which also means that everybody can improve packages and still distribute them.
A Debian GNU system can fully administered remotely. This includes configuration and package maintenance as well as installation or removal of new packages.
Disadvantages:
In Debian, getting non-free software is as easy as adding the repositories. However, for some users, even that is too much effort. They prefer a Debian derivative like Linux Mint or Ubuntu that makes getting non-free drivers or tools like Flash even easier.
While most users have accepted the introduction of Systemd a few years ago, some continue to fault Debian for using it. They see Systemd as too powerful an administration tool, and suspect it as a ploy by Red Hat to control the desktop. The Debian wiki includes instructions for replacing Systemd with Init, but the process is cumberson, so those who object to Systemd often prefer a derivative distribution like Devuan, which installs without Systemd.
The cost of Debian’s stability is often software that is several versions behind the latest. This cost becomes especially obvious in the kernel and desktop environment; for example, Debian Stable has yet to include the fourth release series of the kernel or the fifth release series of KDE, despite both being available for a couple of years.
Source: Wikipedia
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