Free Software Foundation Endorses First Product Of 2020: A $59~79 USD 802.11n WiFi Card

We've seen a lot of odd products pick up the Free Software Foundation's "Respect Your Freedom" endorsement like a USB microphone, various re-branded motherboards, and even last year certified a USB to parallel printer cable. The latest product they are endorsing -- and their first endorsement of 2020 -- is a USD 802.11 a/b/g/n PCIe half-mini card starting out at $59 USD but going up to $79 for this outdated wireless adapter.

The Free Software Foundation announced today that the Libiquity Wi-Fri ND2H has been FSF-certified for respecting user freedoms. This WiFi card is the LiteOn WN6503AH that is then re-branded by Libiquity for their freedom-respecting products. This card uses the once common Atheros AR9382 WiFi chipset. The AR9382 works out-of-the-box on distributions going back to late Linux 2.6 kernels.

Besides being a tough sell for an 802.11n wireless adapter in 2020, the price of this card alone is $59 USD. This nearly $60 USD WiFi adapter is backed by a six-month warranty or can go up to $79 USD if opting for a three-year warranty.

Meanwhile if buying a LiteOn WN6503AH itself from the Internet retailers still selling the card is around $20 USD. It's also possible to find other PCIe half-mini cards with the Atheros AR9382 chipset for as low as $9 USD... While still using the same free software stack as this Libiquity Wi-Fri ND2H. That is, should you still just care about 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity and not any newer WiFi standards with better speed, security, and reliability. The 802.11n standard has been out now for over a decade.

This 802.11n WiFi adapter could also pair with FSF's previously endorsed 802.11n WiFi router (the first FSF RYF 802.11n endorsed router) from September 2019 that retails for $64 USD for offering basic 300Mbps WiFi coverage and 10/100Mbps LAN.

More details on this new Free Software Foundation RYF endorsement at FSF.org.