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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.
The FSF decided to investigate this AR9271 part. I'm not sure why.
The AR7010+AR9280 NICs are dual-band. There's AR7010+AR9283 NICs that are 2x2 2.4ghz only. The AR7010+AR9287 NICs are also 2x2 2.4GHz only but support a few newer things (like short-GI in 20MHz mode, and generally better behaviour all around.)
Hopefully the FSF certifies the AR7010 based firmware devices too. But, they've chosen this one and I'm glad they saw it through.
I don't know if there's a hardware list that shows the dual-band ath9k_htc hardware. But it's out there, somewhere.
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.
Unfortunately, at the moment, the manufacturers perceive the proprietariness of their products as a value. You see how much this costs as is?
But it's real. Every bit is there, driver, firmware, documentation. This thing will be supported as long as there is one old hacker that has one and doesnt like to replace a working part.
And honestly, I know, I like having the latest and greatest when I can too, but can you please quit shitting on those less fortunate? USB 1.1 is 12mbps and there are a lot of people trying to work on less than that. I have the best service available in my area and it would not be a bottleneck in my system. (Not that I run critical systems on wireless anyway, it's ethernet, but if I needed to run something wireless the USB 1.1 throughput limit wouldnt slow me down.)
Last years tech fully and truly available is infinitely better than this years tech locked away where I can never see it, even if I did supposedly buy the hardware. And hopefully this will lead to the manufacturers starting to figure this stuff out and doing more of it.
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Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
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.
Uh, you misread part of the complaint.
USB 1x1 isn't the same as USB 1.1. The latter is a spec. The former refers to the antenna configuration. The poster was taking issue with the lack of MIMO and single-band radio, not speed of the USB bus.
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/2009/110909wireless2.html
I'm not disputing your points, just correcting your error.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
.. you mean, how the firmware is clearbsd licenced?
Except for the Tensilica runtime, that's MIT licenced?
Except for two GPLv2 files from ECoS? Which state that only those two files fall under GPL, not the rest of the stuff it's compiled with?
I'm pretty sure it's free like you wish. You can create a closed source derivative of the firmware if you so choose.
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
Atheros make high end and low end chips. It's up to the manufacturers as to what they choose. They choose price. Sad, but true.
You can buy the higher-end 2x2 and 3x3 devices. The unit prices are more than the low end chips.
Driver support? It's up to the company you bought the laptop from, not Atheros. Atheros only makes the chips. We don't make the NICs or the rest of the device. Especially in the windows world, vendors have a habit of doing 'strange ass shit' here and there. Please don't blame QCA for the weird, cheap-ass, cost-cutting crap that goes on elsewhere.