Giving Away Trisquel?
Hello, I need some advice please. Work for a charitable org and over the past few months we gave away some 20,000 copies of Linux Mint, Ubuntu which were given out to people in poverty areas of some poorer countries we operate in. These people were using old computers with Windows XP and had no money to upgrade, so after myself becoming a Linux convert only some six months ago it was a big help to do the giveway. We budgeted to give away 100,000 copies, but I have put a hold on everything as I would like now to make some changes. After doing a lot of research I found Trisquel which may be ideal for what im seeking, so thought I eould post and hope someone can please advice. We would like to make a more local version of the Linux we are distributing that would include changing the name to a local name, such as the local region, and changing the wallpaper image to local images, adding links to local search engine and charities, etc and probably several other changes that would create a local friendly version of what we are giving away. I should point out we are giving the disks away for FREE, not selling anything. So, could anyone advice if Im ok in using the Trisquel distro and making the above changes and if so, what other things would I need do to comply with Linux guidlines, etc.
any advice much appreciated,
Thankyou.
Trisquel is free software, so of course you can modify it and give away copies.
For complying with the FSDG, all you have to do is release all of your modifications under a free license
Hello! You're allowed to make all those changes and even sell it as Trisquel consists entirely of free software.
What is required of you as you distribute the result is that you follow the license terms of the packages that constitute Trisquel. The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) under which much of the packages are requires that you make the source code available. (Version 2 of the license gives you less options how to provide the source than version 3 so linking to v2.)
https://trisquel.info/en/faq
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html#section2
There might be other requirements.
I do not think (s)he plans to distribute the software by himself/herself but rather to use Trisquel's (mirrored) repositories that already allow to download the source code in a convenient way (through APT). If I guess right, there is nothing to worry about.
Something that may be worth worrying about is the old hardware that will run Trisquel. A simple "policy" would be:
- 1 GB of RAM or more: Trisquel (GNOME Edition);
- Less than 1 GB of RAM: Trisquel Mini.
@luckygrl: would you please understand and tell Trisquel's future users that they will receive "GNU/Linux" (rather than only "Linux", a kernel). It is the correct name for the whole operating system and important for them to discover they deserve and will have freedom in their computing life: https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html
I wish a lot of success to this admirable endeavor.
Sorry for the slow response to this thread I started but have only now got time to again work on this project. Im only planning on giving away the disks, I have no plan to set up a website and offer downloads. And yes I will be using Trisquel's (mirrored) repositories.
So if im only just giving away the disks do I need to publish any sort of source code, etc? Sorry, im a social worker not a computer person so excuse my lack of knowledge on this. I also wont be doing this until the new Trisquel 7 is released.
Also, how exactly can I remove the trisquel branding and replace it with what we are planning?
thankyou.
See this faq: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DistributeWithSourceOnInternet.
You don't have to publish any source code because all of it is in Trisquel's repos. However, if someone would prefer source on a physical disk, you have to give it to them. On the other hand, if the people you're giving it away to are unlikely to have good Internet access, it might be better to give away a source DVD.
Thankyou, where do I actually download the source code for Trisquel?
>where do I actually download the source code for Trisquel?
Here for the all of it, select the sources DVD at https://trisquel.info/en/download
Or if you want the source for one package only, you can use the apt-get source $PACKAGENAME command to get it.
Thankyou, I will most certainly place "GNU/Linux" on the cover of the disk.
For modifying the wallpaper, search engines, etc. you could start with a fresh installation and make the customizations and then copy the dotfiles onto the squashfs image on the cd.