openwrt is also the wifi chip firmware open source?
On alibaba I asked a couple of companies about the ar9271 chip. I also marked a general inquiry option. Giving any other
company the option messaging me on the matter.
This resulted in a couple of companies messaging me, that they
could sell other brand wifi card chips. I then told them
it is a requirement, that both driver and firmware of
the wifi card is open source. That cut out some of the companies.
Now one company has written me, they can sell openwrt wifi
cards. Are openwrt wifi card fully open source software? Or
is the firmware not open source?
Thank you.
Yes, it is open source, but not all routers are blob-free that have openwrt on them.
Some require blobs. WNDR3800 is an example of that fastest one that is supported by librecmc at this time without any blobs.
I haven't read up on which routers are supported by openwrt and which aren't, but yeah. I think you are better off being careful what you ask for. You want one that can be made libre or doesn't have backdoors. Which usually means, avoid openwrt if you don't know explicitly which have backdoors/which don't. :/
Unless, you don't care of course, but yeah. Be careful.
"Are openwrt wifi card fully open source software? Or
is the firmware not open source?"
It depends on the specific hardware.
That's very concise and accurate.
I hope whatever he does, he doesn't ask for a router with a fully operational backdoor or any backdoor for that matter.
I don't think anyone should have to deal with that personally though.