I'm starting a business and this is part of what I'm going to be offering. I'm almost complete with my certification in Linux Administration, but I don't know all of the ins and outs of the law Linux is under...
It depends. Ubuntu is free software (beyond some redistributable binary blobs), but if you're using it for commercial purposes there are trademark restrictions.
Permission from us is necessary to use any of the Trademarks under any circumstances other than those specifically permitted above. These include:
- Any commercial use. OEM services. [...]
- Use for merchandising purposes, e.g. on t-shirts and the like.
- Use of a name which includes the letters BUNTU in relation to computer hardware or software.
Source: Ubuntu Trademark Policy
If you remove all branding, trademarks, and references to Ubuntu, you are legally okay to sell systems with it installed. Of course, you must provide the source code of all GPL components to customers that request it.
To use the Ubuntu trademark, you must secure the Canonical's OEM services team's permission. You can contact them to see if what you're doing is okay. This should not be too difficult, as several small vendors like System76 and ZaReason have secured an agreement.
