Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Best Wifi chipset that runs free

[Mike Gerwitz]

Dave:

Sorry, I had intended to reply to this when you originally sent it, but
I must have forgotten after it was marked as read.

On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 02:49:52 -0400, Dave Rolek wrote:
> Can you touch a bit on your experience with the TPE-N150USB?  I may be
> buying one soon ('twas motivated prior to this email topic).

It's not perfect.  I downloaded the drivers from ThinkPenguin[0]; there
may be updates that I haven't checked for since then.  Note that it
mentions "connection stability issues".

It uses ath9k_htc.  I occasionally have issues connecting after a reboot
or resuming from suspend.  Admittedly, I usually just do this if I get
into such a situation:

  sudo rm /run/network/ifstate.wlan0 && sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan

I don't use a network manager or GUI, so it's possible that such might
be automatically done for you if you happen to.

On very rare instances, I have to rmmod ath9k_htc and re-load it.

Otherwise, it performs well during use.  I have used it on two separate
laptops with completely different hardware (not by choice; I had to move
the HDD from one to another after I had an unrelated hardware failure),
and the situation is exactly the same in both.

> ThinkPenguin has a mild note [0][1] indicating it may not perform well
> in many uses (e.g. coffee shop?).  Have you found it dropping much or
> having reduced throughput in common environments?

I've only used it in two places---home and at LibrePlanet.  In both
cases, the signal strength is/was good, so I can't say how it might act
in, say, a coffee shop.

> Are you using 802.11n with the 40MHz channel (i.e. the fastest it
> supports) or something slower?  Do you find its speed to be reasonable
> for general use?

I am using N, 20MHz (I haven't changed that from the default on my
router); I haven't tried 40MHz.  I'm actually using a Wireless N router
I purchased from them as well, but I don't see it on their website
anymore.

I have no problems with latency---ping of ~1ms with WPA2 with another
box on the same network.  If it helps put it into perspective: on the
rare occasion that I need to edit images, I use GIMP over SSH (using
X11-forwarding) without frustration.[1] ;) All of my computing (with the
exception of graphical web browsing) is done over SSH.

> For completeness: could you mention which kernel + revision you have?

  $ uname -a
  Linux mikegerwitz-laptop 3.13.0-77-generic #121+7.0trisquel2 SMP\
  Mon Feb 1 22:56:52 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Hope that helps.


[0]: 
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-n150usb-tpe-n150usbl-tpe-nusbdb
[1]: Actually, it's indistinguishable from running locally until I
     perform an operation that updates a large portion of the image.

-- 
Mike Gerwitz
Free Software Hacker+Activist | GNU Maintainer & Volunteer
https://mikegerwitz.com       | GPG Key ID: 0x8EE30EAB

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