Hello,
I am selling Lenovo X200s laptops in the Netherlands and I would like to replace the Intel 5300 wifi with an Atheros AR5B95, AR9285 chipset.
But, I would like to have some advice which one. Is it all the same, or are there differences?
I need a PCI Express Mini Card, see this picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#/media/File:MiniPCI_and_MiniPCI_Exp...
I see them e.g. from e.g. Azurewave, Anatel, and used from many laptops like ASUS X5DAB.
Is here somebody who knows more?
With regards, Paul van der Vlis.
Some links: http://www.ebay.nl/itm/WIFI-Wireless-Laptop-Card-Mini-PCI-Atheros-AR5B95-/23... http://www.ebay.nl/itm/WiFi-Wireless-Laptop-Card-Mini-PCI-Atheros-AR5B95-802... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atheros-AR9285-AR5B95-Mini-pci-e-802-11-n-Wireless-C...
Op 15-04-15 om 09:55 schreef Paul van der Vlis:
Hello,
I am selling Lenovo X200s laptops in the Netherlands and I would like to replace the Intel 5300 wifi with an Atheros AR5B95, AR9285 chipset.
But, I would like to have some advice which one. Is it all the same, or are there differences?
I need a PCI Express Mini Card, see this picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#/media/File:MiniPCI_and_MiniPCI_Exp...
I see them e.g. from e.g. Azurewave, Anatel, and used from many laptops like ASUS X5DAB.
Is
here somebody who knows more?
Somebody wrote me in private e-mails, and I have learned a lot:
I thought you could use the open source firmware with these cards, but that's not true! The closed source firmware is on the card, so you don't have to load it, so you can build a FSF-free laptop with it, because "it's a circuit". Ahum, not really what I wanted...
You can use the AR9281, AR9285, AR9287 (sometimes called AR9278X), it's not a big difference and they are all good and all are using the ath9k driver (maybe some of them have bluetooth).
Only the AR9280 is really different because it's dual-band, so you can use the more quiet 5 Ghz band.
AR5B95 is only a marketing name.
He learned me that there are long and short types of this card. I have the long type, but in a Lenovo X200(s) you can also use the half long type.
The open source ath9k firmware is only for the USB stick, and the quality of the connection with that USB stick is not really good. This is not only with the open source firmware, but with the closed source firmware too.
With regards, Paul van der Vlis.
To add to the discussion:
the upgraded (with freedom) X200 by GluGlu uses the AR5B95, AR9285 wireless chipset and received the 'respects your freedom' certification: http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/
I have personal experience with the USB-dongle as I bought it from TechnoEthic (Tiberiu C. Turbureanu) at T-Dose last year. Eventually I came to the conclusion that my mobile habits required a more powerful dongle as my connection was sloppy if I was far removed from the wifi router. My built-in wifi-card had further reach, so I returned to that, even though it lacks the FSF-approval. https://tehnoetic.com/tehnoetic-wireless-adapter-gnu-linux-libre-tet-n150
Kind regards, Nico Rikken
Op 16-04-15 om 21:21 schreef Nico Rikken:
To add to the discussion:
the upgraded (with freedom) X200 by GluGlu uses the AR5B95, AR9285 wireless chipset and received the 'respects your freedom' certification: http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/
I know. I first thought this card uses the open source ath9k firmware [1]. Then I thought it uses build-in closed source firmware, what makes the laptop FSF-free, but I prefer a really open source wifi firmware.
Now I am confused. At the github site I see that the AR9280 and AR9287 are supported! So maybe the other cards of the AR928x family too.
I have personal experience with the USB-dongle as I bought it from TechnoEthic (Tiberiu C. Turbureanu) at T-Dose last year. Eventually I came to the conclusion that my mobile habits required a more powerful dongle as my connection was sloppy if I was far removed from the wifi router. My built-in wifi-card had further reach, so I returned to that, even though it lacks the FSF-approval. https://tehnoetic.com/tehnoetic-wireless-adapter-gnu-linux-libre-tet-n150
I've ordered it from Romania and did tests with it. I had problems with playing HTML5 video. Sometimes there was no sound, sometimes there was no video. No problems when using flash, but I don't like flash. I also saw some other problems, SSH was not really good responsive. I wrote with somebody who said the stick has "high latencies", but I did not test that myself. The problems where both with the open source firmware and with the closed source firmware.
You say "my built-in wifi-card had further reach". You can replace such a build-in wifi card [2]. That's what I am trying to do, but I have to find a good replacement. For that reason I started this discussion.
With regards, Paul van der Vlis.
[1] https://github.com/qca/open-ath9k-htc-firmware [2] look at 1:40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-85SSvVxhWw