Very good price for USB Wireless (Wi-Fi) Adapter)
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Hello everyone.
Saw on Amazon USB Wireless (Wi-Fi) Adapter for $11
This USB adapter has an AR9271 chip, which means it's the same USB as the seller "Thinkpenguin", but 4-5 times cheaper and will work with all FSF distro.
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-n150usb
Let us have a closer look at the reviews:
"Don't buy if you want atheros chip."
"It is not a AR9271 chip, its compatible with some distros, but not with FSF compliant ones."
"This is not an Atheros chipset. It is a Realtek."
It looks like you are advertising a scam.
I appreciate the effort, but it appears prospero is correct, so I have voted '-1' on the post.
I don't think it's your fault that the listing is bad. I'm not sure you could have known without the reviews, though the 600Mbps claim is a bit suspicious.
I am a translator!
Wifi AC is also suspicious: this is not supported by this chipset.
This used to be available for us based customers, in fact I have 3 of these.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/284456529102
They are average quality, but they do work.
They use exactly what your amazon link doesn't use
AR9271
Hi Zoma.
Thanks for your answer.
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I also use this (Wi-Fi) Adapter and it works with all FSF distros!
Not sure why this got thumbed down, that wifi adapter does work.
The only flaw it has, is that I think it doesn't support 5G and I don't know if it works with wpa2.
Hi prospero.
Before you speak so loudly and accuse me of fraud and advertising, you need to look at this link and its contents! (this is the first)
https://www.amazon.com/atheros-ar9271/s?k=atheros+ar9271
Further, I personally think that buying a USB Wireless (Wi-Fi) Adapter from the Chinese for $5 and selling hundreds of these adapters to users for $50 is 100% fraud!
I WILL NOT buy from this FSF seller https://www.thinkpenguin.com/ and I do not advise anyone because this is a scam that is covered up by donations and everything like that. I would understand if this seller bought for $10 and sold to us for $20 (100% plus) but 500% is a scam!
> and selling hundreds of these adapters to users for $50 is 100% fraud!
What do you think the corporation like cisco, d-link, netgear and co do ?
At least with thinkpenguin the money goes to people who 1:support software freedom and 2: maintain the software, 3: Freedom Ain't Free.
There's was a blog listing the advantages of going with thinkpenguin instead of random Chinese vendors on amazon and the like and that they check the chips. You know you're getting the proper controller and not something else.
>but 500% is a scam!
Ok, Do the numbers then. You need a salary of 2k a month to live. How much hardware you need to sell to live from that ? Depending on your location you also need to include taxes, in France that would give you a number like 4k a month to make 2k. And lets not forget VAT and other taxes.
You need to elaborate you business plan to finance not only your life but also the tools you're dependent on.
In the case of commerce you either sell or provide services.
In the case of a non lucrative either you can get patrons and/or grants.
That's the main difference with Free/libre over Open Source, one is leeching by allowing closing possibilities to help/provide/service people while the other is the opposite.
Value is a subjective, ordinal ranking of goods based on preference. Market value is the equilibrium of the personal value judgements of the buyers and the sellers.
Hello,
I would also like to inform you about this cheap (10 euro) usb wifi stick I'm using with Trisquel.
Edimax EW-7811Un
It is also a Realtek (RTL8188CUS)
Two products based on the RTL8188CUS chipset are indeed listed on h-node as working with free software:
https://h-node.org/wifi/view/en/604/Edimax-Technology-Co--Ltd-EW-7811Un-802-11n-Wireless-Adapter--Realtek-RTL8188CUS-
https://h-node.org/wifi/view/en/1938/Hercules-HWNUp-150-802-11n-Wireless-N-Pico--Realtek-RTL8188CUS-/1/1/undef/undef/undef/USB/wifi-works/realtek
> It is also a Realtek
This has to be checked for each specific chipset. Several Realtek chipsets will not work with free software, and scammers seem to be keen on playing on the confusion. This includes Edimax USB wifi adaptors based on Realtek chips, with very similar names.
Here is an example of an Edimax adapter with a very similar name to the one mentioned above - the final "V2" makes all the difference:
https://h-node.org/wifi/view/en/2216/Edimax-EW-7811Un-V2-dongle-nano-USB-Wi-Fi-4-150-Mbit-s-wireless-IEEE802-11b-g-n
And here is what Amazon has to tell us about it: "**UPDATED VERSION** Featuring new generation of N150 Wi-Fi 4 adapter powered by RTL8188EUS". It also says "Linux: Ubuntu/Mint Plug-n-Play for Kernel 5.15 and Above", but completely fails to mention that this "updated" version requires non-free firmware to work, coming with RTL8188EUS instead of RTL8188CUS - an easy thing to miss, looking like a typo. So let us be extra cautious and avoid confusion if we actually want to help other users making informed choices and avoiding the actual rip-offs.
EDIT: added emphasis on the chipset names.
Hello diopon.
Thank you for the photo and information.
Your variant of the Edimax EW-7811Un is even better, it is more compact.
I've seen another variant of the Edimax EW-7811Un V2 that supports WPA3, but I haven't yet figured out if it will work with Trisquel or not...
I am a translator!
Is there any USB wifi adapter that works with free software only and supports the 5 GHz band?
That would be news to me.
Not to my knowledge, the situation is quite dire when it comes to radio communications.
See https://freewifi.missionlibre.org/
Here is a link to all 74 Wi-Fi adapters that support the RTL8188CUS chip!
For example, there is a compact version of Belkin F7D1102 https://techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Belkin_F7D1102
or
D-Link DWA-121 rev A1 https://techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/D-Link_DWA-121_rev_A1
There https://h-node.org/ only 4 options on the website.
As for the Edimax EW-7811Un V2 (RTL8188CUS chip) I don't see any chip information on the box, so the situation could be complicated unfortunately...
> Edimax EW-7811Un V2
Now we can clearly see the problem with trusting random sellers. Why would a vendor not publish complete specifications for their product is a mystery to me. As it happens, that product has been tested and found to depend on non-free firmware to work, being based on the RTL8188EUS chip and not on the RLT8188CUS chip as the previous version was. The change in the name is so small that the OP failed to notice it, even after having been warned about it.
In case of doubt, always look at the drivers. That way, we cannot miss the "E" in the autoconf.h file or in the Makefile:
#define DRV_NAME "rtl8188eu" CONFIG_RTL8188E = y
The driver for the previous version (EW-7822Un with RTL8188CUS) is the rtl8188C driver wrapped into a zip file.