[sf-lug] SF-LUG meets Sunday 3 September 2017

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bobbie Sellers (bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com):

> I see that Black Lab Linux is downloadable via the
> Distrowatch torrent site and will be getting a copy.
> BLL is "special" Linux with lots of stuff to make it
> legal for the USA and any nation with similar
> copyright laws so the full version with all of the
> legal software to access commercial DVDs and
> the like costs about $50.

ITYM the sponsoring company, PC/Open Systems LLC, offers (among other
things) a Linux distro called Black Lab Enterprise Linux.  This is _not_
two 'versions' under different licensing terms but rather just one,
based on the MATE desktop environment (DE).  It is also available in
several alternate respins to feature DEs other than MATE:  PC/Open
Systems LLC itself offers these respins:  GNOME3, XFCE, Cinnamon.
Additionally, a third party intends to soon offer an LXDE respin.

The Black Lab distro (yet another Ubuntu variant, BTW) is freely
downloadable and can be used without any additional license permissions.
PC/Open Systems LLC _also_ offers optional support subscriptions for an
annual fee, to benefit enterprises and other users who feel they need
same.

> I can only imagine that the downloadable version does not have the
> licensed software to access protected material.

No.  Black Lab Enterprise Linux includes the usual open source
codebases, plus a number of proprietary (_but redistributable_ without
fee) hardware drivers, firmware BLOBs, and A/V codecs the company deems
popular with desktop users.

This has nothing particularly to do with the copyright laws of the USA.