technoethical/thinkpenguin wifi adapters
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After looking for a wifi adapter with free firmware, came across both vendors of said libre hardware. But after some looking around, found out these adapters are extremely overpriced.
For example, the Technoethical N150 HGA Wi-Fi USB Adapter, https://tehnoetic.com/adapters/tet-n150hga, is priced 65€. After some further searching, found out this an tp link wn722n , https://www.amazon.de/TP-Link-TL-WN722N-High-Gain-Antenne-WLAN-Empfang-unterst%C3%BCtzt/dp/B002SZEOLG?th=1 , priced at 8.99€ on amazon.
Another example is the Technoethical N150 Mini Wi-Fi USB Adapter, https://tehnoetic.com/adapters/tehnoetic-wireless-adapter-gnu-linux-libre-tet-n150, priced at 50€. Found this, not entirely sure it's the same adapter, but pretty sure, https://www.lazada.com.my/products/ar9271-usb-mini-wireless-network-card-linux-kali-uebuntu-raspberry-pie-electronic-organ-generation-wna11-i3352560653-s18002624298.html?sp... , priced at RM16.76, which is about 3.29€.
I don't understand why this vendor is being promoted? They describe themselves as an 'ethical' business, but what are they providing to charge such extreme prices(+600%)?
Is this helping the movement of free software?
The reason we have free firmware for ath9k_htc is because of ThinkPenguin. It used to be proprietary. "Much credit also goes to Christopher Waid of ThinkPenguin for his central role in making this collaboration successful." https://www.fsf.org/news/ryf-certification-thinkpenguin-usb-with-atheros-chip
ThinkPenguin also supports the development of libreCMC, which is free software to run on routers.
It's helpful to support companies that are trying to do the right thing.
I am a translator!
I ordered one from Technoethical, which I received, but I have no new from Technoethical two years after my next order.
I ordered several items from ThinkPenguin (wireless adapters, router), it is fully reliable.
One thing that I've read is that the adapter makers frequently change the chips they are using, so when you buy one from Amazon or eBay you can't be certain you are getting the same Atheros chips you thought you were buying. Technoethical, on the other hand, is supposed to be very diligent about making the same product with the same chips and characteristics consistently.
Probably the main reason for the price difference is that it's super cheap to make millions of devices at a time using low-cost global factories, but to refurbish each device or manufacture each device individually and test each one to ensure quality is probably far more expensive. I doubt that there's any excessive amount of profit being made on these devices.
If you just want the cheapest one then you can buy the cheapest one and you get all the problems associated with buying the cheapest one. I have an $11 TPLink device that I bought at a discount electronics store some years ago - it still works sometimes, except when it doesn't. If it gets hot then it just stops working and I have to wait until it feels like working again, which can be anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours.
Yes, jxself is right, if you have the opportunity and desire, you can buy from Mr. Christopher Waid of ThinkPenguin 600% more expensive to support or buy an adapter with the same chip yourself for $10-15
Every GNU user should have a choice; not all users from Latin America or schoolchildren can buy a usb adapter for $50.
I bought this one on ebay https://www.amazon.com/langchen-Adapter-Atheros-Wireless-Adapters/dp/B094NLLHS7/ref=sr_1_33?keywords=atheros+ar9271&qid=1692545093&sr=8-33, downloaded the drivers from the Trisquel repository and everything works fine.
>"not all users from Latin America or schoolchildren can buy a usb adapter for $50"
Also, our available $$$ can change over time.
At the time that I bought my $11 TPLink adapter from the discount electronics store, I did not have an extra $50 to spend on a wifi dongle and I really needed that $11 adapter to work. There have been other times in my life when I've been able to afford the extra $50 or to make donations to free software projects like Trisquel.
Not so sure about the "600%". Even if it is reasonable to assume that the development costs have recouped over the past 10 years (that's the date of the post Jason mentioned) - if you ever bought these in bulk from an anonymous Chinese seller what you get (if you get something at all) *can* be okay. However, more often than not it's a bunch of steaming horsedung. So these losses need to be priced in. You also need to keep in mind that when you're in the U.S. and order at Thinkpenguin it won't take 4 weeks to arrive as opposed to ordering something from China if you're somewhere in the West.
Our sweet spot for these adapters is roughly EUR 30, so we can still make 3 EUR on them :-) Still I want to offer these adapters, because having an order in the mailbox after 3 days also is a service many people appreciate.
https://shop.vikings.net/?s=Atheros&post_type=product
I am attaching a photo so that other users understand what the KEY means
photo source www.thinkpenguin.com
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