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FSF Certifies Atheros-Based ThinkPenguin 802.11 N USB Adapter
gnujoshua writes "You may recall that last Fall, the LulzBot AO-100 3D printer was awarded the use of the Free Software Foundation's Respects Your Freedom certification mark. Today, the FSF announced certification of the ThinkPenguin TPE-N150USB, Wireless N USB Adapter, which uses the Atheros ARAR9271 chip. The FSF's RYF certification requirements are focused on the software (not the hardware designs) of a product, which in this case was primarily the device firmware and ath9k-htc module in the Linux-libre kernel. (Disclosure: I work for the FSF.) There's also a cool story that is within this story... which is that the firmware for the Atheros AR9271 chipset was released as a result of a small device seller (ThinkPenguin) striking a deal with a large electronic device manufacturer (Qualcomm Atheros) to build a WLAN USB adapter that shipped with 100% free software firmware. This deal was possible largely because two motivated Qualcomm Atheros employees, Adrian Chadd and Luis Rodriguez, made the internal-push to get the firmware released as free software."
Looks like the price of freedom is pretty steep.
It's not like we are starved for wifi dongles that "just work" on Linux without NDISWrapper. We're not in 2003.
eg: http://dx.com/p/802-11n-150mbps-wifi-wlan-wireless-network-usb-adapter-53538 $10 bucks including shipping, and there are TONS cheaper than this. I just looked for one that specifically said "Linux compatible".
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
one thing i noticed last week on ThinkPenguin is that their adapters generally support Master Mode making it easy to build access points. i don't think this can be said for most adapters requiring ndiswrapper.
USB 1x1, 2.4GHz only? That's five bucks on eBay. Couldn't it at least be a dual-band radio?
Apparently the cost of freedom is not being able to connect to my network, I'm in a highrise and there are 40 APs fighting over three channels that I can see from where I sit, 5GHz is the ONLY way to get things done.
And, hey, why not fight for a 802.11ac radio? 802.11n is last year's tech, and these guys are going to have to go another ten rounds with Atheros if they want to be able to make another model. What was the rationale behind starting off with something that is soon to be obsolete?
Good to see a wifi device with free firmware. Freaking finally. The long-term implications of this are probably greater than even I imagine.
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Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
It doesn't appear to accept my Gmail address as valid, and thinks I have a space at the end of my user name. Cant even buy it on my lunch break.
I have used free software starting with inews on the extra tape archive on the SunOS (not Solaris) 1.X and 2.X 1/4" QIC cartridge boot tapes.
The FSF with its devotion to making everything it touches be free of copyright restrictions and to require you to publish any code that touches the FSF code has relegated itself to irrelevance. A $54 USB WIFI adaptor. Whoopdedo.
I have moved on. Most of the open source software i use has a far less restrictive Berkeley or Apache style license.
Was it the Chadd? No, the Chadd was great! Kudos dude.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
So you insult a hardware vendor who respects your freedom and implicitely advertise closed/proprietary hardware, right?
Does it hurt?
In the USA,the FCC has very strict rules on transmit power, ...... Mess with one of these, get a complaint, and you risk losing you adapter, and getting a large fine, So if you can afford a 10k fine, go mess with the firmware, otherwise just study it. and leave it alone.
Buy the way, any change you make would have to be certified by the FCC as being compliant and that can be expensive.
1) get a HAM liscense.
2) Learn the rules on EMI and transmitter power, side band emmision, interferance.
3) purchase the equipment to measure it,( this will cost a lot of money)
4)make sure that after your test, that the default firmware is loaded and you use it
5) be very careful. Changing the transmitter or receiver characteristics could be illegal in any country, Some countries will be less amused than others.
6) use the firmware to study, and learn about the are of radio. Make changes at your own risk of a fine of Jail time, depending on country.
from a ham who wants to keep his ham liscense
73's
Too bad Atheros makes the lowest end garbage pile of chips, especially wireless ones. They're in all the cheapest laptops. They fail all the time, generate 1990's era hardware errors, and have the worst driver support imaginable.
I picked up a Think Penguin wifi adapter for my machine and am happy to support the cause because it is a worthy goal. It is not about "purity" as some put it, rather for technology as a whole to advance in a stable, more beneficial direction for all. Patent laws were originally used to encourage inventors to share ideas without fear of loss of credit. Those patent laws were subsequently perverted by corporations so they can litigate people out of their inventions and claim benefits for their own interests. A great article, "Land of Wizards" by Tom Wolfe describes how inventors are constantly swindled out of their creations and how the patent system is flawed. I read this after Stallman's excellent "Free Software, Free Society" and realized that the current rules hinder creativity and inventiveness. The FOSS ideals return the benefits of inventiveness back to the populace rather than just corporate cabals. I also picked up the Thinkpenguin ogg player. While the quality of that unit may not be up to snuff compared to its proprietary cousins, I hope my support will lead to better players down the road. I heard that development of the ogg format currently stalled, which would be a shame. Hopefully my small purchases and posts encourage development. I am tremendously heartened to see companies like Thinkpenguin making this stuff available and that great quality distros like Trisquel (which I use) exist. I hope other Libre distros pick up traction and get more developers to encourage the spirit of creativity and inventiveness for all.
"SO we bide our time, waiting for a purer kick to bloom and the future is still bleak, uncertain and beautiful" -GSYBE
You're trying way too hard.
This was not really trying hard. I didn't even link to the FSF website.
Your a jackass, die, you piece of shit.
I'm glad my $46.80 is going to ThinkPenguin because they've got one of the best track records on bringing *good* hardware and support to market. It is such a pain to order hardware from overseas only to find out the chipset has changed, or it's total crap, or I can't get support, etc. The company contributes a substantial amount of money to free software and if your not willing to throw in a few extra dollars toward that goal fine. But don't go criticizing the company or the rest of us here who are.
I applaud the idea and implementation of the RYF certification; its nice to know that the software/firmware/drivers etc... needed to run a given piece of hardware are "verified" FOSS meaning that it is going to work just about everywhere (sometimes by default, like merged into Linux kernels, sometimes with a little work such as if someone wants to modify the damn thing to work in a special capacity). I'm even willing to a pay a reasonable amount more for RYF certified software/hardware. In an age where everything is obfuscated for the purpose of attempting to mine as much money and personal information from the populace as possible, we need principled, open entities out there certifying everything from respecting one's software freedom to respecting one's privacy (ie I'd like to see EFF, pirate parties, TOR etc...and other privacy advocates get together and certify the implementation of software and services as respecting one's privacy, being transparent with the "costs" associated etc..).
However, I have to say that for a large percentage of less hardcore uses, the fact that the first device certified via RYF is based on what is now older technology (combined with the extremely high price of the item in relation to others) it is going to appear that the FSF (and perhaps, Linux users as a whole) are glossing over the real-world usability and performance in favor of licensing. This 802.11N adapter for instance is based on 2x2, ~150mb max bandwidth, which is amongst the eldest of the now-old-hat 802.11N standard. On top of this, it is being sold for ~$50 USD! When one considers that a user could easily find a $5-10 similar USB adapter out there (that in many cases, will end up working on Linux) it is going to be hard to justify to all but the most fervent Free Software aficionados who have the skill and desire to put together a product that specifically benefits from RYF certification.
Considering that these days there are a variety of chipsets where the source is available (Intel, Atheros, Broadcoms) etc.. would there have been a better debut? I realize that it may be a bit much to ask as of yet for there to be a RYF 802.11AC chipset vetted (though, it would be awesome if the in the Asus RT-AC66U, could be RYF - given that the firmware is based on WRT etc...)would it be really difficult to find one of the most recent 802.11N 3x3 5ghz+2.4ghz Dual Band 450mb+450mb (or even 450+300? 300+300?) adapters instead? Those would be be more likely to be useful for typical wireless connectivity duties today (ie connecting to a share/streaming HD content...), and are relatively affordable ($15-45 or so depending. There are even some 802.11AC adapter that are even faster and are only in the $40-60 range!). Asking a user to purchase generations-older tech variants, for a high price, that may not have any directly visible benefit to said user, is going to be a hard sell indeed. It just seems like that there were likely a number of alternatives that could have been vetted instead and that the RYF certification, combined with a reasonable price, would actually inspire the community to seek out RYF certified parts and thus bring attention to RYF, FOSS, and eventually inspire manufacturers to see the market finds these feature desirable Was this truly the best/only piece of hardware to debut the RYF label?
As an ideal the RYF certification sounds great, but really hope its implementation isn't going to turn into something that is only interested to most license-savvy FSF follower instead of showing the benefits of Free software to the masses and thus, inspire future developments in FOSS and RYF certified hardware.
You fail it, Paul. Your skill is not enough.