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chomwitt

Member

Registered: 2019-09-24

Posts: 202  

(HW compatibility test) Wifi usb adaptor Techno'sN150

pc: devuan 6
wm : xfce
network manager: (to be filled)

Product name : @Tehnoetic TET-N150 . Which seems basically a simply rebranding of 2010 Taiwan or Chinese  Sharp VR-WL2 or @ DNUA-93F. (The DNUA-93F is on the sticker but the FCC-ID corresponds to another product name..) .. But it seem from thils list @ that various     AR9271 based wifidongles report to linux the same Ven:Dev ID. So i wonder if all that name jungling has any meaning...

@  (2014) FSF-certification announcement

I tested : Technoethical's N150 mini wifi@
For many years i have in my home turned towards using wired networking . The reasons  being :
1) having in many years tried various adaptors that have problems making the work reliably (even if most of them claimed also linux support).
2) being afraid of the emf pollution .
Anyway i had in my radar for many years technoethical and so i decided to buy and try Techno's N150 that claims a

It works with the free driver ath9k_htc (GNU GPL v2) and the free firmware for ath9k_htc (Clear BSD).

As for the open firmware i found:

• @ open-ath9k-htc-firmware.

• @ Announcement of the release in the @ ath9k_htc_fw emailing list.

• @ A nov/2011 datasheet of AR9271.

From little i've read it seems credit goes mainly to : Adrian Chadd and Luis R. Rodriguez (@ (2008)Atheros hires ath5k developer)
In the Announcement email they thank management of QCA and even Tensilica .
Here @ (a page orf AR9271 specs) it says:
SoC Architecture: RISC - Tensilica core (Xtensa LX2.1.0). So i guess Tensilica is the microprocessor that executes the firmware.

The T'sN150 page claims:

Using the latest versions of the kernel (3.0 or later), the adapter works out of the box when plugging it on USB, and you don't have to manually install the firmware anymore.

Well that doesnt hold in Devuan 6 's 6.12.74 kernel.

Initially plugging in various usb3 ports of my Devuan 6 PC  i didnt see any syslog messages (nothing!).
Plugging it in a usb2 port i show a $ lsusb entry :
Bus 003 Device 006: ID 0cf3:9271 Qualcomm Atheros Communications AR9271 802.11n

But after:
# apt-get install firmware-ath9k-htc firmware-atheros 
it works ok in either usb3 (blue) and usb2 (black) ports.

Also i dont know why but my adaptor came not with the fancy logo filled small sticker but with a simpler one with made in china and some small stuff that i  dont remember.

Also according to @ the product name of my dongle is  Wistron NeWeb DNUA-93F and it contains also a usb chipset: Atheros AR9002U . ( The FCC ID on the dongle matches @  Sharp VR-WL25.  .

ps:
I am very curious how that happened. I mean what conditions and efforts allowed a company to accept to license openly a product's firmware.
Also i wonder it the firmware contain blobs.

Last edited by chomwitt (Today 13:27:38)

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Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 2,028  

Re: (HW compatibility test) Wifi usb adaptor Techno'sN150

Hello:

But after:

# apt-get install firmware-ath9k-htc firmware-atheros 

it works ok in either usb3 (blue) and usb2 (black) ports.

If your sources are the proper ones (Devuan), the firmware installed should be without any issues.

... how that happened.

Maybe you purchased a counterfit Techno N150?
Your description of the packaging would seem (?) to point in that direction.

That said, a USB wi-fi adaptor with 'N150' in the label could be one of a great many brands using that Atheros chipset in different physical formats.

eg:
https://tehnoetic.com/tehnoetic-wireles … earch=N150
https://tehnoetic.com/tet-n150hga?search=N150

You may want to contact Tehnoetic to ask if what you purchased is genuine.
ie: send photos of the hardware, the packaging and a *.txt file with the terminal printout when you run:

~$ lsusb

Best,

A.

chomwitt

Member

Registered: 2019-09-24

Posts: 202  

Re: (HW compatibility test) Wifi usb adaptor Techno'sN150

@Altoid  I didnt questioned if the dongle comes from TE . But whether it would work ok in my system.

Anyway i checked more carefully the enclosure:
It has one the one side a TechnoEthical sticker and on the other side :
N14939 DNUA-93F
FCC ID: NKR-VRWL25

Last edited by chomwitt (Today 12:35:32)

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