FULLY Open Source ADSL/VDSL Modem Suggestion

Thank you!

As of May 20, which of the following wlan hardware (wifi chipset) have open-source "firmware" or does NOT require non-free firmware to function ?

  • Qualcomm Atheros QCA9880 (Home Hub 5 Type A)
  • Qualcomm Atheros QCA9980 (Netgear D7800)
  • Qualcomm Atheros QCA9984 (Netgear R7800)
  • Lantiq XWAY WAVE300 (td-w9980, td-w8980)
  • Atheros AR9223 (Netgear WNDR3800)
  • Atheros AR9381 (td-w8970)

May be some of them contain firmware on the device (wlan hardware) at all times, some require non-free firmware which will be handed by a free driver, some require free "firmware" which will be handed by a free driver (like AR9223 maybe - not sure).

Can you suggest a list which contains these kind of data, like a list of completely free wifi chipsets (FOSS driver+FOSS firmware) ? Is there any ?

The only fully FOSS WiFi drivers which also do not need non-free firmware loaded on the card are ath9k (no firmware needed at all, except what's already in the ROM of the device) and ath9k-htc (free firmware available). AR9223 is handled by the ath9k driver. See https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k for the list of other chipsets supported by this driver.

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