Free computer systems software for linux

Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 RC1 brings about a free yet useful operating system for your computer which offers over 25000 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine. It 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.

Enhancements:

• This release candidate includes the new SpaceFun artwork for Squeeze. You can preview this artwork on the wiki page and watch a video of it in action.
• This release candidate adds support for the Lao and Sinhala languages. The keyboard support for Finnish has been fixed. In total 70 languages are activated in the installer for Squeeze and for at least 57 of these the whole installation process is translated.
• The Linux kernel used by the installer has been updated to the latest version of 2.6.32 available in Squeeze. The handling of non-free firmware has had some usability issues fixed.
• This release candidate adds support for three extra computer systems: YDL PowerStation (PowerPC), QNAP TS-119P+ and TS-219P+ (ARM). This release candidate has also seen several improvements on PowerPC machines, including fan control improvements, IDE support for Efika 5200B, network support for IBM Power 6 and later System P boards and use of unique filesystem identifiers and labels for more reliable booting.
• Major improvements of the Squeeze installer over the Debian 5.0 \"Lenny\" installer include the automatic installation of recommended packages, a rewrite of the \"localechooser\" component (which language, timezone and mirror settings are based on), btrfs and ext4 file system support (while ext3 remains the default file system), and easier usage of partitions for software RAID, LVM and crypto setups. Besides supporting more hardware, the Debian Installer can now also be used to install a system based upon the FreeBSD kernel, which also supports the ZFS file system.
• Using an isohybrid technique, it is now easier to prepare USB or hard disk based installations, as the netboot and business card ISO images can now just be raw-copied to such a device.
• More changes are available in the Debian Installer team\'s announcement to the Debian community.
• There are some known issues with the installer that do not need to be reported, but the Debian installer team do need your help to find more bugs and further improve the installer, so please try it. Installer CDs, other media and everything else you will need are available at the web site.