selling ubuntu machines

[MikeDX]

Apologies if this has been asked a million times - and also if this is in the wrong forum.

I work at a small pc store, and have convinced the owners to put ubuntu on a couple of machines and see if they sell.

What I need to know is,

What are our legal obligations to be able to sell machines preinstalled with ubuntu?

Can we get stickers to put on the cases (ubuntu inside?)

Can we get certified in some way?

Are there any promotional materials we can get (pdf download/print?)

Anything else we need to know before we put one on the shelf?

With baited breath..

Mike ;)

[Mikey_MW]

I don't see any problems with it legally as long as you make it clear the level of support and that Ubuntu is installed _not_ windows. I have two local computer stores - one sells X/K/Ubuntu machines exclusively and the other sells both Ubuntu/Debian and Windows machines...

From what I can see, both stores make up their own advertising material, by gimp-ing logos and whatnot from the examples folder. As for stickers, I'm pretty sure that if you contact admin, they should be happy to supply you stickers for a resonable price - hope this helps

[madmetal]

Apologies if this has been asked a million times - and also if this is in the wrong forum.

I work at a small pc store, and have convinced the owners to put ubuntu on a couple of machines and see if they sell.

maybe have a ubuntu pc on store for customers to have a look..


What I need to know is,

What are our legal obligations to be able to sell machines preinstalled with ubuntu?

Can we get stickers to put on the cases (ubuntu inside?)

Can we get certified in some way?

send an e-mail to canonical they are willing to help and reply your questions..
for certification i think its not going to be so easy..
for stickers its easier ;) i can send you 10 stickers if you want (thats all i have..)
Are there any promotional materials we can get (pdf download/print?)


Anything else we need to know before we put one on the shelf?


you are goint to install OEM version right?

well i hope the best :D and inform us about results..

[tronica]

The only problem I see is, if the customer is new to linux in general, they are going to ask questions often, and most likely they are going to be calling your store for support. And that could become a problem. But maybe not.

[madmetal]

The only problem I see is, if the customer is new to linux in general, they are going to ask questions often, and most likely they are going to be calling your store for support. And that could become a problem. But maybe not.

make a leaflet with links.. ;)
automatix , ubuntuforums , and also maybe give a copy of full circle magazine ;)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=89491

[earobinson]

What are our legal obligations to be able to sell machines preinstalled with ubuntu?Nothing really, you should read the GPL so that you understand that you must provide source for all the sw you distribute, but that is all ready done for you so really nothing.

Can we get stickers to put on the cases (ubuntu inside?)System 76 has some, you could contact them and see if they could sell u a bunch

Can we get certified in some way?Yup http://www.canonical.com/partners

[MikeDX]

A lot of excellent replies there, thankyou.

Yes I would like those stickers! Let me know via pm how much and I can paypal you.

We are going to have a machine running ubuntu, with some eye candy (beryl) and have some kind of showcase. Speaking of which, is there any such thing that will run as a screensaver or something that can show the OS off? One of the big selling points for us at the shop is going to be "NO VIRUSES" well, maybe not NO viruses, but certainly 99% fewer than the leading competitor.

As for support, we will probably sell support on a 1 to 1 basis and as has been suggested, have a quick start guide on getting started with linux.

Thanks again for the replies

[hardyn]

One of the big selling points for us at the shop is going to be "NO VIRUSES" well, maybe not NO viruses, but certainly 99% fewer than the leading competitor.


I am not the first to mention this... but you are going to have to make sure that the customer understands that ubunutu, or any linux distro in general is not a free version of windows that does not get viruses. be really careful how you do your marketing, it may come back to bite you in the bottom; linux certainly isn't for everybody.

[shen-an-doah]

I suggest you get some "Powered by Ubuntu" stickers from Sysrtem 76:

http://system76.com/index.php/cPath/53_64

Also, get some official Ubuntu CDs, as they come in nice packaging etc:

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

[madmetal]

I suggest you get some "Powered by Ubuntu" stickers from Sysrtem 76:

http://system76.com/index.php/cPath/53_64

Also, get some official Ubuntu CDs, as they come in nice packaging etc:

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

yeap :)
if you communicate with canonical they also provide ubuntu stickers..
i think since you are going to sell ubuntu systems its better to buy ubuntu cds and pay them with the computer for 1-2 pounds.. sound better for the costumer ;)

[blacksadness]

A lot of excellent replies there, thankyou.

Speaking of which, is there any such thing that will run as a screensaver or something that can show the OS off?
svn version of beryl has a screensaver plugin that would start rotating the cube i guess with a skydom setup, the rain effect, the transparency and some other features that don't need interaction you could setup a good show off.. now what's left would be installing svn.. or getting the plugin running on current version..
good luck

[lyceum]

I sell Ubuntu boxes, I always do 3 things:

1. Add ubuntuforums.org to their bookmark toolbar.
2. I make my own disks to give out, just be sure to make them look nice.
3. I print out the free Ubuntu book https://help.ubuntu.com/6.10/

[Feba]

I wouldn't beat people over the head with it not being windows. Say it's linux, of course, but there's no reason you could get in trouble for not saying "OH MY GOD IT ISN'T WINDOWS", anymore than honda should say "JUST SO YOU KNOW THESE AREN'T GM PARTS."

You can get official CDs and stickers by using the shipit service, for free.