Blob Added To Linux-Firmware For The New MwlWiFi Driver

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Blob Added To Linux-Firmware For The New MwlWiFi Driver

The two firmware binary blobs for the mwlwifi driver (88W8864 and 88W8897) have been added to the linux-firmware Git tree. The mwlwifi driver is used by the WRT1900AC router, the device inspired by the WRT54G...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Mwlwifi-Blob-Linux-Firmware

[Middling]

Anyone thinking of buying a WRT1900AC should probably hold off and buy a Turris Omnia instead.

Cheaper, far better specced hardware with more features and, since it has miniPCIe slots, you can choose whatever wifi cards you want (including some nice blob-free ath9k-compatible cards).

[Calinou]

Is there any free software-compatible (read: no proprietary blobs required, works in Linux-libre) Wi-Fi 802.11ac hardware?

[Prescience500]

How is the wireless (802.11ac) driver landscape these days? Are all the major WNIC cards working out of the box on the major distros or do you have to take extra steps to install it? It's kind of a big deal because a lot of people may not have ethernet cables on hand to cable their computers to download wireless drivers.

[Gusar]

How is the wireless (802.11ac) driver landscape these days? Are all the major WNIC cards working out of the box on the major distros or do you have to take extra steps to install it?

Intel is covered, Realtek is ok on the PCIe side (on the USB side there's open source drivers, but they're not suitable for kernel inclusion), Atheros is covered. The only problem is Broadcom, for some of their chipsets there's just the proprietary wl driver.

[stiiixy]

Anyone thinking of buying a WRT1900AC should probably hold off and buy a Turris Omnia instead.

Cheaper, far better specced hardware with more features and, since it has miniPCIe slots, you can choose whatever wifi cards you want (including some nice blob-free ath9k-compatible cards).

Seems to me a lot of useful (and open-source) electronic gear coming from east-Euro nations like Czechia and Bulgaria. And of course Arduino from Italy.

[droidhacker]

Anyone thinking of buying a WRT1900AC should probably hold off and buy a Turris Omnia instead.

Cheaper, far better specced hardware with more features and, since it has miniPCIe slots, you can choose whatever wifi cards you want (including some nice blob-free ath9k-compatible cards).

That looks cute, but OpenWRT (what they are working from) really isn't geared for things like that. Not that OpenWRT isn't great, because it is, but its niche is adding flexibility under severe resource constraint, which really doesn't apply to a dual core arm with a GB of RAM.

It would be nice to see more details about that device though, maybe it can be set up with something a little more useful... if they actually get off the ground.

[spike411]

That looks cute, but OpenWRT (what they are working from) really isn't geared for things like that. Not that OpenWRT isn't great, because it is, but its niche is adding flexibility under severe resource constraint, which really doesn't apply to a dual core arm with a GB of RAM.

It would be nice to see more details about that device though, maybe it can be set up with something a little more useful... if they actually get off the ground.

Having more resources just means you could get better throughput, more VPN clients, more SMB/CIFS connections? not sure why (heavily modified and tailored) OpenWrt would be a problem or a bad choice here.
Or do you have anything ?more useful? specifically in mind?

Anyways, you can pre-order one now:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/t...-source-router

https://omnia.turris.cz/en