Re: Open source Atheros wifi? (ath10k)
On Sat, 16 Jan 2021 20:52:25 +0300
Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> wrote:
> Hi.
>
> On Sat, Jan 16, 2021 at 12:25:10PM -0500, Steven Mainor wrote:
> > I have a laptop with a QCA9377 Atheros AC wifi card. When I install
> > debian 10.7 amd64 I get a warning about missing non-free firmware and
> > the wifi doesn't work. It was my understanding that ath10k was open
> > source and included in linux. Is this not the case?
>
> The driver is free software. The firmware it requires is not.
> Thank US FCC for that - [1].
I think you're conflating two senses of wireless 'firmware' - the kind
that runs on the wireless chipset itself (i.e., the stuff that Debian
ships in its free and non-free 'firmware' packages), and the kind that
runs on the system containing wireless hardware (e.g., WiFi OEM's stock
firmware, OpenWrt, etc.).
The article you link to was a scare about the latter, which never
really materialized:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/fcc-forces-tp-link-to-support-open-source-firmware-on-routers/
The fact that the former is usually closed source these days is
apparently due to a variety of reasons, including manufacturers' desire
to keep their hardware IP secret. There are other computer parts that
also require firmware and don't have open source firmware available,
including GPUS and even Ethernet adapters.
> > If not is there any wireless AC card that doesn't require binary
> > drivers?
>
> To the best of my knowledge - there are none. Again, [1].
>
>
> > And barring that, what is the best wifi(N?) card I can buy
> > that doesn't require closed source drivers/firmware?
>
> Anything that's ath9k supports does not require any firmware at all.
> Ath9k is limited to 802.1n though. See [2] for an example list.
>
> Reco
>
> [1] https://hackaday.com/2016/02/26/fcc-locks-down-router-firmware
> [2] https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/ath9k/products/external
Celejar
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