carl9170 is free...
The lead developer of Trisquel added it in fact and has been updating it with
each new release to ensure continued support for the (currently) only
available USB N chipset.
AR9271 should be supported in the near future. Not sure when it'll be ready
exactly. Waiting to hear back on how things are going. The code is being
cleaned up and prepped for release under the GPL license. We have USB N
adapters which came in and will make these available once the source is
officially available.