Can I sell a computer with linux
 

Hey,

My Question is simple enough.

I want to sell a computer to a second hand dealer, cause i cant be bothered dealing with a private deal. But they wont buy it with no software.

I would also need to give them the cd if i sell it with windows, cause of the whole legal thing. but i need it for my new comp

so anyway, seeing as the shop dealers know nothing, can any of you answer the question.

Would there be any issues if the shop wanted to sell a computer with linux, or are some of the distro's free to sell.

Ive got a copy of knoppix, but if i need to i can get another one.

Hopefully i can, otherwise id have to hunt for someone selling win98 for 5 bucks or something

As far as I know, it is legal to sell an installation or source of software (that is GPL licensed) for any price you wish, under certain conditions among which are:
- You must supply the source of all software.
- You may not impose any other license on that software.

Some distro's build their own software and do not license it under the GPL (SuSe is an example), but many distro's are free to sell/give away/modify/etc.

For more info see the GPL license: FSF License page
Ensure that any software you want to sell, is under a free (as in speech) license that allows you to.


P.S. I believe the BSD license allows you to sell aswell under easier conditions.
P.P.S. IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer)

Furthermore you're selling the computer, not Linux. So in my opinion that makes it even less of a potential issue.

No, if you have software on that computer, you must be allowed to sell it/give it away/copy it or it is illegal. Luckily many free (as in speech) software allows you to do that. Microsoft Windows' license however does not as far as I know. And still, if it does you will need to hand over all rights to that software cd/manual/etc and not keep a copy for yourself as the original poster has pointed out.

thanks for your help, ill check out the GPL page and see what i can do, Then ive got the next problem of explaining what linux is to the shop dude,

Damnit, it's looking like its going to be more hassle than privately, damnit damnit

Here's an idea. Why don't you give the dealer the original Windows CD (provided it's not XP) and leave for yourself the backup copy that you burned but accidentally forgot to destroy:D .

unfortunatly it is xp, but oh well