These pages are in development and do not reflect the position of the GNU project.

What is GNU?

GNU is a free operating system. GNU is an acronym for “GNU's Not Unix”. Unix is another operating system. GNU is Unix-like but it is not Unix. The project that works on GNU is known as the GNU Project.

A Bold GNU Head
GNU is an operating system. The logo of the GNU operating system is a gnu head.

One important part of an operating system is the kernel. The kernel of GNU (called HURD) isn't done yet so most people use GNU with Linux. This system is called GNU/Linux.

Tux
Linux is a kernel. The logo of Linux is a penguin called Tux.

The most simple way to install GNU/Linux on your computer is to download a GNU/Linux distribution.