While this might not be of interest to most here (given it's a fairly boring
topic) it is a very exciting development for us @ ThinkPenguin. We have been
working on this for maybe a year and a half.
All the approvals needed within Qualcomm Atheros to release the source code
for the firmware on a newer USB N chipset have gone through. We will thus be
manufacturing a new USB N adapter with the AR9271 chipset.
While that much I have posted before the new development is we actually have
a few dozen samples to test. It'll still be 3 ½ – 4 months once we
initiate the manufacture for the first batch although the fact we finally
have something to test is a step forward! Combine that with the approvals
from Atheros and it is two steps forward!
What makes this so executing is there are no good USB N chipsets for use in a
USB adapter that targets GNU/Linux users. What we currently have available is
an earlier chipset that some routers don't like. While this older chipset is
still ideal for some use cases over the newer chipset it's not great for the
majority of users. In fact we usually recommend an older USB G
chipset/adapter for most users at the moment because it is least likely that
users will run into a problem.
While there aren't that many USB adapters on the market which are using the
same driver/firmware many of those which are will never be ideally suited for
free software enthusiasts. The ethical problem is while users are not
dependent on any non-free software in GNU/Linux these other adapters are
shipping with non-free Microsoft Windows drivers embedded on the cards.
I have about 20 samples for testing. Currently the GPL licensed firmware is
NOT yet available even though the approval to release it is all signed off
on. The code is currently being cleaned up and will be released under the GPL
when it is complete. So.. the adapters don't yet work on Trisquel. They
should however be supported once this code is officially released under the
appropriate license. They do work in Ubuntu given a recent enough kernel as
the distribution is including the firmware under a non-free license.
If there are any users interested in helping us test these adapters under a
broader array of conditions please contact me. We have a few dozen available.
I'm not 100% sure when we are going to finalize the production of the first
large batch although I'm thinking of doing this within the next 3 to 4 weeks.
That should give people who are interested in testing them a chance to get
one from us and provide feedback. After which it'll be another 3 ½ - -4
months before they go on sale.
Even though we have taken a very strict stance and refuse to use chipsets or
otherwise ship hardware dependent on non-free software (where it is at all
avoidable-) we have not gotten any of our products certified by the FSF.
While many of them could be this will be the first that actually is.
- [Trisquel-users] :) New free software friendly USB N adapter ... chris
-
