[Wolves] anyone tried XTRA-PC - why charging for linux?

[Chris Ellis]

On Mon, Apr 25, 2022 at 9:52 PM David Goodwin via Wolves
<wolves at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote:
>
>
> On 25/04/2022 20:43, Mark Croft Redditch Linux Mint via Wolves wrote:
> > hi
> >
> > friend pointed me too XTRA-PC usb that being sold for £35. seems a lot
> > for a specialised linux usb pen?
> > https://now.getxtra-pc.io/GSRCH/UK/x-38/?ci=14164451737&ai=125720080979&de=m&dm=&cr=537458919501&ts=g&kw=xtra-pc&ac=4825081799&gclid=CjwKCAjwjZmTBhB4EiwAynRmDyQ80KTRce5CtlCfHWFL8D1XA0sH_i12PPjPoJgHyqP9mJ0YgY6A-RoCIS0QAvD_BwE
> >
> > are they breaking any licences? i guess they maybe so closed source in
> > there that costing £35?
>
> My understanding is ...
>
> They can charge whatever they like for a USB stick with whatever variant
> of Linux on it. As could you.
>
> Whether anyone will buy it, is another matter.
>
> If you purchase it from them, they are required to provide the source
> code to you (thanks to the GPL). At which point you could create Mark's
> ExtraSpecialPCTurboPlusPlus .... and (assuming you don't fall foul of
> trademarks/copyright laws) you could then resell it at a lower cost than
> them or even make it available to others for free.

Free / Open Source does not provide any constraints on how much you
may charge for your combined works.  Red Hat, Canonical, SUSE already
charge widely differently.  GPL is about enforcing freedom of
knowledge, not about cost.

Technically they only have to provide a written offer to provide the
source code and build chain for any GPLed works upon request.

It's unlikely that they would have to provide the source code to their
own works such as the configuration and boot scripts.  So you'd likely
just get a stock Debian (or similar) live stick.

Also decent quality (ie: fast) USB sticks aren't so cheap.

Chris