we are planning to create a commercial product. The product consists of come MCUs and a small computer (we are developping on a raspberry pi at the moment).

The computer needs an operating system as we would like keep things like WLAN and booting as simple as possible. We create some software running on this computer (node.js application).

The most operating systems like Arch Linux are licenced under the GPL.

The product we would sell contains the computer with preinstalled OS and software. This system operates as a central access point to MCU devices and is able to control them.

We use other's software in our product. We do not modify their source code. The product (the computer part) consists of a computer, an OS and software we create.

1. How does the use of an OS affect our own code (licence)?
2. Is there a possibility of avoiding GPL for our own code? eg. shipping the software seperated?
3. Are there any effects to other components of our product, eg. the MCU part?
4. The node.js application delivers a WebApp to the client where it is executed. Are there any effects (As we would like to sell parts of the code as an additional App on the App Stores)?

I know we make use of the work of the community and i respect this. The problem is: The software alone is kind of useless without the MCU devices. I do not expect a legal advice.