Better WiFi cards that respect your freedom?

Librem
1

So I refuse to buy a WiFi card that requires proprietary software running on my CPU. Just don’t wanna go backwards u know.

In the Librem 15v3 the wifi card is an Atheros AR9462. I know lots of people here are having WiFi issues, so I was looking for FSF approved wireless cards. I found 2 options.

One is the Atheros AR9382 found here:
https://tehnoetic.com/TET-N300DB

And the other one is the Atheros AR9280 found here:
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/wireless-n-pci-express-dual-band-mini-half-height-card-w-full-height-bracket-option-tpe-nh

Has anyone tried either of these cards? If you bought a freedom respecting card and are unsure type “lshw” in the terminal. It should list all of your hardware.

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2

those cards are both mPCIe form factor and won’t fit in existing Librem laptops, all of which use a m.2 2230 wifi module (antenna connector size differs as well, IIRC).

edit: s/fix/fit

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So is purism working on improving the WiFi? Maybe making a radio that can use BT5.0 802.11ad/ac/n (all of those bands) will make all the difference and make future Librem products (including the L5) better.