History of free and open-source software like Unix, Torvalds' kernel attracted attention from volunteer programmers. Until this point, the GNU project's lack of a kernel meant that no complete free software operating systems existed. The development of Torvalds' kernel closed that last gap. The combination of the almost-finished GNU operating system and the Linux kernel made the first complete free software operating system. Among Linux distributions, Debian GNU/Linux, begun by Ian Murdock in 1993, is noteworthy for being explicitly committed to the GNU and FSF principles of free software. The Debian developers' principles are expressed in the Debian Social Contract. Since its inception, the Debian project
GEOS (8-bit operating system) GEOS (8-bit operating system) GEOS ("Graphic Environment Operating System") is a discontinued operating system from Berkeley Softworks (later GeoWorks). Originally designed for the Commodore 64 and released in 1986, it provides a graphical user interface for this popular 8-bit computer. GEOS closely resembles early versions of the classic Mac OS and includes a graphical word processor (geoWrite) and paint program (geoPaint). A December 1987 survey by the Commodore-dedicated magazine "Compute!'s Gazette" found that nearly half of its readers used GEOS. For many years, Commodore bundled GEOS with its redesigned and cost-reduced C64, the C64C. At its peak, GEOS was the