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43 \begin{multicols}{3} % 3 columns
47 \includegraphics[width=0.5\columnwidth]{openlogo}
48 %\includegraphics[width=0.5\columnwidth]{openlogo-vsop}
50 \url{http://www.debian.org}
51 %\section*{Debian GNU/Linux}
53 \section*{The Universal Operating System}
59 was founded by Ian Murdock in August 1993 with the goal
60 to create an easy to install and maintain non-commercial GNU/Linux
61 distribution that would be able to effectively compete in the
62 commercial market. Since then Debian established itself as an
63 independent and unique project driven by more than 3000
64 enthusiastic contributors all around the globe.
65 Principles of \emph{do-ocracy} and democracy backed up by evolving transparent
66 standards allowed Debian to deliver the most comprehensive operating system -- not
67 only by amount of integrated software, but also by
68 number of the supported hardware architectures.
69 % Current installer of Debian has been translated more that to 60 languages.
70 % (12 ??? officially supported architectures).
72 Widely acknowledged quality and openness of Debian made it the foundation of choice for
73 more than 120 derivative GNU/Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu and
76 \subsection*{Debian is}
77 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=0.8em]
78 \item[V\textnormal{ersatile}]\hfill\url{http://packages.debian.org}\\
79 Over 15000 software packages maintained by experts to provide
80 a stable system for \textit{any} field of application.
81 \item[S\textnormal{ecure}]\hfill\url{http://www.debian.org/security}\\
82 Security updates guarantee safe operation.
84 % \item[S\textnormal{imple}]\blank\\
85 % Single command is enough to install or upgrade single
86 % software or the entire system at once
87 \item[O\textnormal{pen}]\hfill\url{http://www.debian.org/social_contract}\\
88 All software is free and open-source (FOSS).\\
89 Debian is governed by public democratic processes.
90 \item[P\textnormal{opular}]\hfill\url{http://www.debian.org/users}\\
91 Used by governments, companies, educational institutions
95 Original: Very Special Old Pale
98 Very (Special|Stable) Operating Platform
101 %\section*{Understand Debian}
103 \subsection*{Three Debian suites}
105 % Debian distribution comes in 3 major flavors
107 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc,topsep=1em]
109 %\item[Unstable] \emph{Constantly changing distribution}\\
110 \item[Development]\hfill\emph{Unstable} (always \emph{sid})\\
111 Never \emph{released}, constantly evolving platform to integrate new
112 versions of software in Debian.\\
113 %entry point for the software to appear in Debian.\\
114 Despite its name, \emph{Unstable} is a good platform for those
115 requiring the most recent versions of software
117 %\item[Testing] \emph{Constantly changing future release candidate}\\
118 \item[``Always-ready-to-release'']\hfill\emph{Testing} (now \emph{squeeze})\\
119 % What to become a next \emph{Stable} release candidate.\\
120 Software versions known to be secure and of good quality.
121 % Software migrated from \emph{Unstable} which is known to be of good
122 % quality. Immediate updates are provided only
123 % to assure secure and robust performance. \\
124 \emph{Testing} provides a good balance between stability and recency
127 %\item[Stable] \emph{Official release}\\
128 \item[Official release]\hfill\emph{Stable} (now \emph{lenny})\\
129 % Software verified to be well tested and secure,
130 % Very stable (hence the name) and secure
131 % but might be lacking the most recent versions.\\% of the software.\\
132 % of not the most recent versions. \\
133 \emph{Stable} is released ``when it is ready'', \emph{i.e.} when
134 \emph{Testing} is assured to be robust. %, on average bi-yearly.
135 Complementary updates keep the
137 \emph{Stable} is the choice where stability and security are of
142 \subsection*{It has names}
144 The code names of Debian releases are names of characters from the Toy
145 Story animation, e.g. sid, squeeze, lenny. \emph{Unstable}
146 flavor always called \emph{sid}, while a new name chosen for every
147 upcoming release and assigned to \emph{Testing} to become a code name
148 of the release when it becomes \emph{Stable}.\\ At the moment
149 \emph{squeeze} is \emph{Testing}, and \emph{lenny} is \emph{Stable}.
150 As soon as \emph{squeeze} gets released, \emph{Testing} will be given
151 a new name -- \emph{wheezy}.
154 \subsection*{Three Debian components}
156 % Debian distribution comes in 3 major flavors
157 %Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)\\
158 %\url{http://www.debian.org/social_contract}
160 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc,topsep=1em]
161 \item[Free as in freedom]\hfill\emph{main}\\
162 % This is the actual Debian with full support.\\
163 All software in \emph{main} is distributed under FOSS licenses
164 compliant with Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) to assure
165 complete freedom to use, modify, and (re-)distribute
166 \item[Wanna-be free]\hfill\emph{contrib}\\
167 FOSS depending on \emph{non-free} 3rd party software
168 % Software which, despite being free itself, depends on
169 % \emph{non-free} 3rd party software, rendering it useless without
170 \item[Somewhat free]\hfill\emph{non-free}\\
171 Software under restrictive licenses available at no charge
172 % removing some freedoms
173 % (\emph{e.g.} non-commercial use only), but which is allowed to be
174 % used for free and re-distributed (\emph{e.g. NVidia drivers})
178 \subsection*{Debian is driven by enthusiastic experts}
179 % could be simply 'Debian People' or 'Debian Community'
181 Debian is the only major operating system developed
182 solely by volunteer individuals that collaborate via the Internet.
183 Debian developers, teams or individual contributors improve the operating
184 system not by writing new applications (in most cases), but by
185 \begin{itemize}[nolistsep,topsep=0em,leftmargin=1pc]
186 \item integrating existing software into Debian
187 \item fixing and communicating bug reports to original developers
188 \item assuring overall quality of the distribution
189 \item improving documentation and translations
190 \item providing user support
193 Packaged software in Debian have individual maintainers which are
194 often also users of a particular software, and are therefore interested in its
195 reliable operation. Certain field of applications have dedicated maintainer
196 teams, such as Debian-Science or Debian-Med.
199 \subsection*{How to get Debian}
201 %\subsubsection*{Stable}
202 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc,style=nextline]
203 \item[Install on a hard-drive] \url{http://get.debian.net/}
204 \item[Boot from CD/USB] \url{http://get.debian.net/live/}
205 \item[Run in a Virtual Machine] \url{http://neuro.debian.net/vm.html}
206 \item[More options (e.g. buy pre-installed machine)] \url{http://debian.org/distrib}
207 \item[Testing/Unstable version] \url{http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer}
210 % \subsection*{Get \emph{Testing/Unstable} Debian}
212 % Install on a hard-drive or in a Virtual Machine\\
213 % \url{http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer}
216 \subsection*{How to install software}
218 GUI (Synaptic): \textit{Select and click ``Apply''}\\
219 \includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{shots/synaptic-fslview}
221 Command line: \texttt{apt-get install <packagename>}
225 \subsection*{How to upgrade the entire system}
229 \quad\textit{Click ``Mark All Upgrades'', ``Apply''}\\
232 \quad\texttt{apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade}
234 \subsection*{How to get support}
236 \url{http://www.debian.org/support}
238 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc,style=nextline]
240 % Use \emph{Synaptic Package Manager}
242 \texttt{reportbug <packagename>}
243 \item[Community support]
244 %\begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc]
245 %\item[Mailing lists]
246 \url{http://www.debian.org/MailingLists}\\
247 \url{http://forums.debian.net}\\
248 \url{http://ask.debian.net}
250 \item[Commercial support]
251 \url{http://www.debian.org/consultants}
255 \section*{Reasons to choose Debian}
256 \paragraph{It is maintained by its users}
258 If something needs to be fixed or improved, we just do it.
260 \paragraph{Unparalleled support}
262 Mail sent to the mailing lists often gets answers within 15 minutes (or less),
263 for free, and by the people who developed it. Compare that to typical phone
264 support: hours spent on the phone, for money, only to get someone who doesn't
265 know the system well enough to even understand your question.
267 \paragraph{You wouldn't be alone in your choice}
269 A wide range of organizations and individuals use Debian. See our Who's Using
270 Debian? page for a description of some high-profile sites which use Debian, and
271 have chosen to submit a short description of how they use Debian and why.
273 \paragraph{The best packaging system in the world.}
275 Tired of old files from software three versions old cluttering your system? Or
276 installing a piece of software only to find it causes your system to crash
277 because of software conflicts? Dpkg, Debian's endured packaging system, takes
278 care of these issues for you.
280 \paragraph{Easy installation}
282 If you have heard that GNU/Linux is difficult to install, then you haven't
283 tried Debian lately. We are constantly improving the installation process. You
284 can do the installation directly from CD, DOS, floppies or even over the
287 \paragraph{Incredible amounts of software}
289 Debian comes with over 25000 different pieces of software. Every bit of it is
290 free. If you have proprietary software that runs under GNU/Linux, you can still
291 use it - in fact, there may even be an installer in Debian that will
292 automatically install and set up everything for you.
294 \paragraph{Packages well integrated}
296 Debian surpasses all other distributions in how well its packages are
297 integrated. Since all software is packaged by a coherent group, not only can
298 all packages be found at a single site, but you can be assured that we have
299 already worked out all issues regarding complicated dependencies. While we feel
300 that the deb format has some advantages over the rpm format, it is the
301 integration between the packages that makes a Debian system more robust.
303 \paragraph{Source code}
305 If you are a software developer, you will appreciate the fact that there are
306 hundreds of development tools and languages, plus millions of lines of source
307 code in the base system. All of the software in the main distribution meets the
308 criteria of the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). This means that you can
309 freely use this code to study from, or to incorporate into new free software
310 projects. There are also plenty of tools and code suitable for use in
311 proprietary projects.
313 \paragraph{Easy upgrades}
315 Due to our packaging system, upgrading to a new version of Debian is a snap.
316 Just run apt-get update ; apt-get dist-upgrade (or aptitude update; aptitude
317 dist-upgrade in newer releases) and you can upgrade from a CD in a matter of
318 minutes or point apt at one of the over 300 Debian mirrors and upgrade over the
321 \rotatebox{90}{\includegraphics[height=.9\columnwidth]{distro-dev}}
322 \rotatebox{90}{Description}
324 \paragraph{Multiple architectures and kernels}
326 Currently Debian supports an impressive number of CPU architectures: alpha,
327 amd64, armel, hppa, i386, ia64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, and sparc. It also
328 runs on GNU Hurd and FreeBSD kernels besides Linux, and with the debootstrap
329 utility you will be hard-pressed to find a device that can't run Debian.
331 \paragraph{Bug tracking system}
333 Debian's bug tracking system is publicly available. We don't try to hide the
334 fact that software doesn't always work the way users want. Users are encouraged
335 to submit bug reports and are notified when and why the bug was closed. This
336 system allows Debian to respond to problems quickly and honestly.
339 \section*{Acknowledgements}
349 \begin{multicols}{3} % 3 columns
354 \includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{logo_tuned/label}
356 \url{http://neuro.debian.net}
357 %\section*{NeuroDebian Project:}
358 \section*{The Universal Research Platform}
363 \section*{NeuroDebian is}
365 a Debian project aiming to provide the Neuroscience community with a
366 stable and versatile research platform -- the Debian OS.
367 Since 2005, NeuroDebian integrates neuroscience software into the Debian
368 operating system to allow neuroscientists to benefit from the advantages of
369 the universal operating system in their day-to-day research activities.
370 The NeuroDebian repository
371 (\url{http://neuro.debian.net}) offers the latest research software for
372 all Debian suites (and various releases of Ubuntu).
373 The combination of a stable generic
374 operating system, Debian, and a variety of conveniently accessible research
375 software creates a versatile research platform for neuroscience that offers the
376 latest methodologies of the field for everyone, for free.
377 These advantages make NeuroDebian increasingly popular among
378 neuroscientists and scientific software developers.
381 \subsection*{NeuroDebian is NOT}
383 yet another Debian GNU/Linux derivative distribution. All work done
384 by the NeuroDebian project targets the official Debian operating system. This
385 approach helps to increase the longevity of the project by relying on the
386 efforts of thousands of Debian contributors.
389 \subsection*{Benefits from Debian integration}
391 \begin{itemize}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc]
393 % rephrase to outline the benefit, not burden
394 \item Debian standards and policies guarantee quality and robustness
396 \item Debian centralized bug tracking system provides a unified
397 single-point of entry for bug reporting and troubleshooting for any
400 \item Debian makes software available through a world-wide distribution
401 network, thus offloading bandwidth demands
403 \item Other Debian enthusiasts take care about large-scale aspects of
404 deployment, quality assurance, porting and integration at the level
405 of the entire distribution:
407 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc]
408 \item[Porting] Software sources get built for 11 hardware
409 architectures and 3 kernels (Linux, HURD, kFreeBSD). Porter teams
410 maintain build infrastructure and help making the code
412 \item[QA] Whole-archive rebuilds assure robustness of packaging and
413 warn about upcoming problems (core libraries upgrades) beforehand.
414 \item[Internationalization (I18n)] Translator teams help localizing
415 software for more than 60 languages
418 \item Neuroscience software becomes 1st-class citizen within Debian
419 project, which guarantees its availability, longevity, smooth
420 installation and upgrades
422 \item Participation in the Debian community helps to assure Debian's
423 aptness for the neuroscientific software demands
428 \subsection*{NeuroDebian software coverage}
431 \url{http://neuro.debian.net/pkgs.html}
434 \textit{Electrophysiology:} BioSig, Sigviewer, Brian, \ldots\\
435 \textit{Machine Learning:} PyMVPA, scikits.learn, \ldots\\
436 \textit{Medical Imaging:} AFNI, FSL, Mricron, NiPy, Voxbo, \ldots\\
437 \textit{Psychophysics:} PsychoPy, PyEPL, PyOptical\\
443 \subsection*{How to get NeuroDebian}
444 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc]
445 \item[Debian/Ubuntu]\url{neuro.debian.net} repository
446 \item[Others] NeuroDebian Virtual Machine
447 % Here place a left-top corner of OSX with seamless mode
450 \subsection*{Developers oriented information}
454 \subsection*{Who is using NeuroDebian}
457 %\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{usage_worldmap}
459 buga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga dugabuga duga
462 \def\blank{\hspace{0em}\vspace{-1em}}
464 \subsection*{Work-in-progress}
466 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc,topsep=1em,style=nextline]
468 \item[Expanded coverage]\blank
469 \begin{description}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc,topsep=0em,style=nextline]
470 \item[Electrophysiology] BioSig, Brian, NEURON, \ldots
471 \item[Matlab/Octave toolboxes] SPM, EEGLAB, \ldots
474 \epigraph{Having FreeSurfer integrated into the Debian operating system by the NeuroDebian team would have enormous benefits for us, and for the thousands of users of FreeSurfer across the world.}{Prof. Bruce Fischl}{Director, Computational Core at Martinos Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA}
475 \item[Improved quality assurance]
476 Extended integration and regression testing
477 \item[Available snapshotting service]
478 % Entire NeuroDebian repository for any given past moment
479 All versions of packages readily available
480 \item[Data as the 1st class citizen]
481 \url{http://neuro.debian.net/datasets.html}
482 \item[Universal availability]\blank
483 % \begin{itemize}[nolistsep,leftmargin=1pc,topsep=0em]
484 % \item Virtual Appliance enhancements
492 \subsection*{Testimonials}
495 \url{http://neuro.debian.net/testimonials.html}
500 \epigraph{The approach taken with NeuroDebian is plainly the most appropriate
501 approach to software distribution for the dominant platform in brain
502 image analysis, and I have great confidence that this project will be
503 a major asset to the neuroscience community in facilitating the
504 distribution of stable software, improving the reliability and
505 replicability of analyses, and in helping to improve software
506 development practices.}{Prof. Daniel Y. Kimberg}{Director, Data
507 Processing Facility, Center for Functional Neuroimaging, University of
508 Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA}
510 \subsection*{Acknowledgements}
512 NeuroDebian is grateful to all Debian developers and contributors for the
513 development of Debian OS, and to Prof. James V. Haxby (PBS Department,
514 Dartmouth College) for his continued support and endless supply of
515 Italian espresso (\url{http://neuro.debian.net/coffeeart.html}).
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