Wireless Mini USB Trisquel
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Anyone knows if there is any _mini_ wireless usb adapters that works
with Trisquel? Such adapters as:
http://www.amazon.com/AirLink101-AWLL5088-Wireless-Ultra-Adapter/dp/B003X26PMO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328631044&sr=8-1
The "what Other items do customers buy after viewing this item" shows a
lot of them, some of them being NetGear...
Thanks for any tip on these,
If I were you, I would stick with the devices listed in the "Shop/ Wireless networking" section of http://libre.thinkpenguin.com (they ship worldwide).
The point is: it usually is hard (if not impossible) to know what is going to be the actual chipset the device is equipped with. The manufacturers sell under the same brand devices with different chipsets. Some of them work with Linux-libre, others don't. On the contrary, ThinkPenguin guarantees it will work with Trisquel.
Moreover, by clicking on the link above (and not by accessing the site without the "libre" in the URL), Trisquel receives 25% of the profits ThinkPenguin makes on your purchase.
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It won't work. There are very few cards currently available with a chipset supported by free software. The device in question above is probably using a the RTL8188CUS chipset. That isn't supported by Trisquel.
It indeed uses the Realtek RTL8188CUS chipset.
Contacted the company behind them previously about it.
Sent some emails to a few companies regarding the chipsets used in some "mini wifi adapters", when I get a reply I'll post back here.
Edit 1:
[nevermind]
Edit 2:
Disregard my previous edit.. they required non-free firmware...
@Tedious: if they require non-free firmware, posting it here could help others to know about it.
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As I said. I know at least one version of the device is dependent on non-free firmware. There could be other chipsets used. However there is only one N USB chipset supported by Trisquel. We helped make that happen. Adapters with these chipsets aren't something you can readily find on the market today. All the major manufacturers have switched to other chipsets as Atheros is no longer supporting it. That is largely irrelevant with free drivers/firmware though. The free drivers/firmware are actually only now at a point that they work well.
We are currently figuring out the financials to have more manufactured. It isn't cheap. There is a little stock left with the AR9170 chipset anywhere and the prices are skyrocketing. We got a hold of a small quantity recently to head off the ever increasing price of these adapters. There were maybe 800 adapters a few months ago from one of our suppliers. Last month there were maybe 200. We bought most of them. Now there are none left. There are a few other sources although the prices are going to skyrocket everywhere. They have already doubled in price. We are already seeing companies taking advantage of this scarcity with $120+ USD price points.
We will be getting more directly from factories in China. It requires a significant investment as the minimum order quantity is much higher.
We actually already ran out of one of the two N USB adapters we sell. We will be getting more once we have figured out the financing. At the earliest we are looking at probably a month or two before shipping commences again and things return to normal.
Just to be clear we DO still have the one N USB wifi adapter that is listed in the catalog. The one that you won't be able to get for a while isn't listed any more.
On 02/08/2012 10:21 PM, name at domain wrote:
>
> We are currently figuring out the financials to have more
> manufactured. It isn't cheap. There is a little stock left with the
> AR9170 chipset anywhere and the prices are skyrocketing. We got a hold
> of a small quantity recently to head off the ever increasing price of
> these adapters. There were maybe 800 adapters a few months ago from
> one of our suppliers. Last month there were maybe 200. We bought most
> of them. Now there are none left. There are a few other sources
> although the prices are going to skyrocket everywhere. They have
> already doubled in price. We are already seeing companies taking
> advantage of this scarcity with $120+ USD price points.
Sounds difficult! Hopefully there will be more wireless adapters with
free firmware/drivers in the future (how can we help that happen?). I
have a laptop with Intel Centrino Wireless N 6150 which of course
requires a non-free blob. The license in there mentions that you can't
reverse engineer it etc... Does it make it illegal to make a free
alternative? Surely there must be some way to figure out how it has been
done, but if figuring 'it' out is illegal then we're stuck. Just
curious, why do manufacturers do that? What are they afraid of? What
advantage does it give them? Is competition their only worry? What can
we do to increase the pressure on those manufacturers? Emailing?
Loic J. Duros,
I don't know if these restrictions are there only because of developers', manufacturers' or vendors' fear of competition. I see this sort of things not only as economically motivated, but framed in a political scenery where "citizens" have their power decreased more and more -- it happens each time a government (or an association of governments) take (or try to take) measures to increase its control of society.
It's just a frame of the frame, of course; but the more the individuals reject power over their own things (their computers, for example), the more easily will others put them away from the "power centers".
I think it's a matter of power too. License to everybody a copy of your software, put in the license the "it's copy is not sold, only licensed for some uses -- and we can use it as we want" thing, stimulate this people to say that is "their" software, and you'll get they all lying to themselves. It's to hypnotize a whole population. Here in Brazil, everybody I know say "my Windows" as they say, in an affectionate manner, "my pet". They are fascinated by the invisible duce, the führer disguised as an innocent ballerina. It's Stalin unnamed. It's Mao undrugged. It's a macabre and poisoned apple.
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It has to do with regulation of the airwaves. Companies can't release computers or chips that can be used illegally. The question is what do the regulation require. The FCC says free firmware is ok. Other governments may not and if that occurs and a chipset manufacturer is targeting that particular market it ruins it for everybody.
Your business matters to us because it sustains us. While your purchases won't convince Atheros or any other company to release their firmware under a free software license our influence can change that. We impact sales of devices with Atheros's chipsets. We have to convey a financial importance to Atheros. Showing them the numbers will make the difference. When we refuse to ship devices with non-free firmware our customers shop elsewhere. They buy non-atheros chipsets. For one USB chipset Atheros has lost sales in the hundreds of thousands in the past several months. More than enough dough to make an argument for funding a developer to work on free software drivers and firmware full time.
What you can do is buy our stuff. Let others know the hardware they buy matters.
I am a member!
It has to do with regulation of the airwaves. Companies can't release
computers or chips that can be used illegally. The question is what do the
regulation require. The FCC says free firmware is ok. Other governments may
not and if that occurs and a chipset manufacturer is targeting that
particular market it ruins it for everybody.
Your business matters to us because it sustains us. While your purchases
won't convince Atheros or any other company to release their firmware under a
free software license our influence can change that. We impact sales of
devices with Atheros's chipsets. We have to convey a financial importance to
Atheros. Showing them the numbers will make the difference. When we refuse to
ship devices with non-free firmware our customers shop elsewhere. They buy
non-atheros chipsets. For one USB chipset Atheros has lost sales in the
hundreds of thousands in the past several months. More than enough dough to
make an argument for funding a developer to work on free software drivers and
firmware full time.
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