ThinkPenguin USB Wifi

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malberts

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Joined: 04/19/2011

I got my USB Wifi stick in the mail today.

Just a really quick, mini review so far:
Test machine: Thinkpad T61 with built-in Intel 4965AGN wireless

I disabled my on-board Wifi in the BIOS, booted, plugged the stick in, enabled the hardware wireless switch, and then I could select my connection. Absolutely no problems.

Compared to the built-in wireless with Debian iwlagn driver, I get the exact same distance and speed inside the house (furthest point from the router) and outside. The signal in both cases is good.

The stick gets quite hot. I'm not sure if this is normal, but my mobile broadband stick gets hot as well. I suppose wireless chips on USB emit some heat.

The stick itself is unbranded and a semi-transparent blue and it looks like the photo on the page. There is no cap to cover the USB plug.

Delivery was quoted at 6 - 10 days. It took ~15 days to go from USA to my street in South Africa and it happened over a time of the year when the post office isn't exactly the fastest. Other things I've ordered from there took roughly the same time or longer, so I'm happy.

All in all, I just want to say thanks and well done to Chris and ThinkPenguin. Once I get my personal website up I'll definitely post this review there. I'll write it a neater way and add a photo or two. Which gives me an idea. Perhaps everyone here (or if you know someone elsewhere) who has bought from them so far can do a mini review/writeup that Chris could possibly use in the future, either on his own site or just to get more traffic pointing to him.

FitzLT
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Joined: 12/31/2011

I received my Atheros USB wireless adapter two days ago and it works beautifully! I don't have the issue of it heating up, but it does have some kind of energy conservation feature where if I don't use it after a certain amount of time, it disconnects from the network. It's easy to turn it back on though.

I would also like to send out a thank you to Chris and the ThinkPenguin people as well. Great products, and fast shipping(2-3 days in the US).

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

Trisquel is still using the ar9170usb driver for the 802.11N USB card. The newer carl9170 firmware is actually better for the 802.11N USB card. Fewer compatibility issues. Unfortunately 802.11N does not always work as well with some devices (different standards and implementations). The newer firmware works around some issues with some routers and devices though. We recommend the PCI and PCIe if at all possible. Then the USB 802.11G card. Followed by the 802.11N USB.

As far as heat goes there are settings that will keep it running cooler. We haven't actually looked into it as it isn't an issue under normal conditions. It may be worthwhile if you are going to try and transfer large amounts of data continually and max out the connection. If it was a significant issue we would be seeing more warranty repairs/replacements. I use one of the 802.11G wifi cards to stream video to an entertainment PC that is hooked up to a television. Even in that circumstance where lots of data is continually streamed it hasn't been an issue.

The delivery time is 6-10 days on average to most major destinations world wide. This is more or less directly taken from the postal services estimated delivery time frame. It is not a guaranteed service. I can confirm that most people do receive it within that time frame. Where I suspect this might not happen is rural area or countries without a modern road/postal service. There may also be issues in some countries like Italy where customs are strict (we haven't experienced an issue though as others have, this may be due to where the stuff is shipping from, US vs China). I would have thought South Africa would have been within 6-10 days usually although maybe not. Most of Africa I suspect is going to take a little longer. I thought South Africa was one of the few countries in Africa that was actually doing well (modern roads, good economically, etc)

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

Interesting. We haven't seen long shipping times for Italy before although that may be coincidental. I would be interested in finding out how long it takes for the second package to arrive. You guys are providing some great feedback. We have always known Italy has some strict customs enforcement procedures although haven't actually seen it. Has anybody here actually recieved anything in the 6-10 days roughly (if you have ordered outside the US)?

We changed the shipping a little and I'm wondering if that has impacted shipping times. According to USPS there is no difference between methods so I wouldn't expect there to be longer shipping times than before. This was a fairly recent change for us.

Basically there is something called priority mail and first class mail with USPS (united states postal service). Anything over 13 onces goes priority automatically. Anything under 13 onces goes first class. We could ship something priority that can go first class. The thing is it isn't suppose to be any faster. There is little to no difference between the two shipping methods. The next fastest method is express mail. This is 3-5 days approxamately. It is significantly more exspensive.

We have looked into setting up operations in Europe to help speed up deliveries. We need to build up a bit more though. Despite having about 50% of business from Australia, Europe, and Canada it would be a not insignificant additional exspense to take on.

malberts

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Joined: 04/19/2011

Same as tius, I wasn't bothered about the time it took. It was meant more as a guideline in case anybody else orders from SA.

If it's worth anything, I ordered a book from somebody (not a company) in the US at the end of 2010 and it was sent as priority mail. The book took more than 2 months to eventually get here, but he sent me a replacement (again as priority) in the meantime that took about the same time as yours did. He said that the first delay could have been because of snow.

Anyway, I ordered yours just before Christmas so if it arrived in SA in the specified time it was most likely delayed due to holidays and/or less people working at the post office here. Also, I had it sent to my street address by accident so that would have added further delay.

Batman_of_Earth-2
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Joined: 12/12/2011

This is exactly what I need for my main desktop and my "MacTop" project I'm working on. (I am taking an old Macintosh Classic II, stripping the Apple logos and using nothing but Trisquel and Free Software on this portable CLI machine)

Cyberhawk

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Joined: 07/27/2010

You will install Trisquel on a 16Mhz M68K? How well does that work?