[Assist] parabola and non free wifi

[Divan Santana]

>> Hope you don't mind me emailing you out of the blue.
>
> It's quite alright, though in general it's a good idea to use the
> assist@ mailing list.

Thanks. I didn't email the mailing list as I don't think one is allowed
to ask there how to get non-free wifi chips working in parabola. And I
was hoping you would be able to help me getting the existing non free
intel wifi chipset working. Would you be able to point me in the
direction of how to get this going?

It would be nice to know. Even if I don't use it.


>> I've been using parabola for a few years. And am a bit free software
>> fan. I actually purchased multiple **very** expensive usb wifi chipsets
>> and have been using that for a few years.
>>
>> As of late, they are giving me a lot of trouble. And often not working.
>
> I'm sorry to hear that.
>
>> They were really pricey and I need a more reliable wifi. I'm kind of
>> keen to learn how to get the built in wifi working on my laptop.
>>
>> I believe you might have some insight in order to do so?
>>
>> 02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 [8086:08b1] (rev 73)
>>
>> The above is my builtin wifi.
>>
>> Any tips or insight would be appreciated!
>
> Unfortunately, I don't think any of the Intel wifi chips are usable
> without non-free firmware and/or drivers.
>
> However, the internal wifi cards are often (easily!) replaceable with
> a libre-supported wifi card (and these are often available for less
> money than the equivalent USB).  Which model laptop do you have?

Dell Latitude e7240. I'm guessing it blocks other wifi chipsets. If not,
I'm guessing when work upgrade my dell laptop that the new one will
block the free internal wifi card.


> Usually the internal wifi is just a mini-PCIe card (possibly
> half-height); any card with the AR9285 chipset (e.g. Atheros AR5B95)
> *should* work fine.  Obviously, a full-size mini-PCIe card won't fit
> in a laptop that uses half-height mini-PCIe, but a half-height card
> can be expanded to fit in a full-size slot with a little metal shim.
>
> The thing to watch out for here is that a few laptop motherboards are
> known to have a whitelist of hardware IDs for the wifi, and will
> refuse to work with the replacement wifi if it's not on the list.
> Often there are work-arounds though.
>
>> Greetings and best regards from South Africa :)
>> --
>> Divan
>
> It's always exciting to hear from users from different parts of the
> world! :)

:)