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I was seeing few YouTube videos in which people where demonstrating the installation procedure for modified Raspbian image on orange pi pc. I could also see the icons of pre-installed Mathematica on them (although I couldn't see them open it).

Now, from what I know Raspbian has a few licensed software packages such as Minecraft and Mathematica which are only allowed to run on a Raspberry Pi for non-commercial usage (which is the reason why Raspbian for PC and Mac doesn't have them). I wonder why usage of Raspbian and hence Mathematica on non-licensed devices is not questioned by anyone.

Is this legal? Or am I missing some agreements? I have an Orange Pi and would like to clear things up before I use Raspbian (although 2 years old and not updated) and hence Mathematica that comes pre-installed in it.

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    From the License Agreement it doesn't like it's strictly legal to install Raspbian with Mathematica on the Raspberry Pi 3 either.... Perhaps Wolfram should update their license agreement... in any case, if you are planning on using the no-cost version for a commercial application, you are definitely violating the EULA. ... I generally remove Mathematica packages and use the Free Software alternatives instead...
    – RubberStamp
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:14
  • @RubberStamp No, not for commercial usage. Isn't it ambiguous in that(non-commercial) case too?. I wonder how can big companies like wolfram mess this up.
    – paulplusx
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:18
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    I don't think they are worried about numerous individuals trying out their software on low resource SBC boards... If you look through the Wolfram website, you'll notice that the Free Cost distributed version is basically a test run of their attempt to get into the IOT web programming space. But if you are truly concerned, just remove the package.
    – RubberStamp
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:23

1 Answer 1

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It is not legal to use the Raspbian bundled Mathematica on anything but a Raspberry Pi.

Permitted Uses and Installations

Subject to the terms of this Agreement and Your acceptance thereof, WRI grants You a non-exclusive license to use the Product solely for personal or educational purposes on a Model A or Model B Raspberry Pi computer. You are also authorized to:

http://www.wolfram.com/legal/agreements/wolfram-mathematica-raspberry-pi.html

So there is no problem installing Raspbian as long as you don't use Mathematica.

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    What about the RPi3 ? I think they need to update that agreement documentation.
    – RubberStamp
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:23
  • @RubberStamp Not my problem.
    – joan
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:25
  • @RubberStamp I suppose by "Raspberry Pi" they include all the versions of the device.
    – paulplusx
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:28
  • @paulplusx ... The agreement as written says, "Model A or Model B". The Raspberry Pi 3 is neither of these.. nor is the Pi Zero either A or B. Therefore, the downloaded image file available from raspbian.org is technically in violation of said agreement. There should at least two versions of the image file to accommodate the Wolfram agreement. ... But, IANAL.
    – RubberStamp
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:32
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    @paulplusx ... but Raspberry Pi platform has now expanded beyond Model A and Model B... So, technically, what's the difference? A Violation of the Agreement has occurred in either case. But, the question should probably be answered by Wolfram directly instead of people posting on StackExchange.
    – RubberStamp
    Sep 21, 2018 at 16:40

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