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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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would it be illegal to download Ubuntu on a Chromebook? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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what if I, for example, had a job in Google and I liked Linux so much I install Ubuntu on my Chromebook, would that be illegal/send me to prison?? Or, if I had the job, would I be kicked?? I like Chromebooks because they are so smol and nice. But I don't know if it's legal to install a Linux distro on it. Thank you!!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Installing Ubuntu isn't breaking any DRM or any anti-piracy measures.

Unless your country is really strict about using devices exclusively as the manufacturer intended, but that'd be countries that also want to monitor everything you do. Hard to tell without knowing what country that is.

That said, I'm pretty sure Google is perfectly okay with people doing that. Even on the Pixel phones, they openly let you unlock the bootloader, and even allows you to add your own keys so you can relock the bootloader with a custom OS. They only care about security and people not getting a device from eBay full of malware. That's why there's a message during boot that's either orange or yellow warning, to tell the users the device has been tampered with. But everything works fine otherwise.