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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."
The master mode operation in firmware right now is limited to a handful (4? 8?) clients.
Whatever the max is before it runs out of RAM.
I think it just refuses to take on new associations.
This thing will be supported as long as there is one old hacker that has one and doesnt like to replace a working part.
First, a USB device is designed to be easily replaceable. Second, imagine that we have open sourced design of Pentium II. How much interest would that generate? In just a year or two it might be hard to find a hacker who'd want to deal with obsolete stuff - and WiFi stuff gets obsolete faster than you can put the credit card back into the wallet.
It is certainly possible that someone, somewhere, buys a COTS consumer-level part, sticks it into the server, and then 10 years later is unwilling to replace the whole module when it fails. But that's what people deal with every single day in the industry and elsewhere - things fail and they need replacement. I would be far more concerned that the hardware of this dongle fails 10 years later - where would you get a replacement then?
This whole approach appeals to too few people. Most are pragmatists. A pragmatic approach means that when the thing fails, there will be money and resources to replace whatever needs replacement. If no money is available, then I guess the project is not that important, after all.
I do not know what business would be attracted by this specific dongle just on the basis that it is documented. This whole concept is way above the pay grade of pretty much everyone who works in IT. It is not even feasible, in most cases, for an IT guy to start a science project to debug a problematic device. This is handled by simple replacement of what doesn't work. This method offers fixed and predictable duration of repair. Hacking a driver, on a live system ... well, there are crazier things to do, but not too many.
There is only one useful function that is directly fulfilled by this product - and that is creation of completely free computing systems. Days are coming (perhaps not tomorrow, but who knows?) when RMS's dark prophecy materializes in laws and COTS hardware like WinRT, that denies you, the owner, the right to use the equipment as you see fit. There are F/OSS designs of the CPU and other key blocks already. This is another addition to the collection. Perhaps the hardware will be obsoleted and not available anymore (quite soon, actually, considering that every new IC has about 6 to 9 months on the market before it is obsoleted and replaced with something else.) But the principles of operation may be useful if one wants to build a free computing system.
This function - a free computer - is very important. However, just as nearly all things that are good for the society (and the soul,) there is very little financial reward for doing good deeds. I understand pretty well how much labor went into development of the hardware, MCU software, and the PC software to make the thing work. I do some of that, now and then, for living. This is a good thing to do; but expect no monetary reward. The cost of the device is high, and only a handful of devotees will invest. (There are many devotees, but not too many will support F/OSS by buying the device.) I, for one, simply have no need for such a product - all my computers have built-in WiFi, not that I use it much anyway. Cable is more reliable, and has no interference from neighbors, and nosy Google cannot intercept it easily.