Here's the run down - Yes, this device can be used in freedom but it's not
supported out of the box right now. I think this is why the ThinkPenguin
website talks of the next Trisquel version.
Two things are needed to make this device work:
#1 - Support in the kernel
#2 - The firmware
Loading of these firmware files was previously blacklisted because they were
proprietary. I've provided patches to quidam to remove this but, AFAIK, they
have not been applied yet. However, my kernel at
http://jxself.org/linux-libre/ does have the needed changes so you could use
that as a stopgap measure until the Trisquel kernel has been updated.
#2 is more difficult. Properly packaging the firwmare and including it in the
Trisquel repositories will not be an easy task so for now your best bet is to
compile the firmware yourself and drop it into /lib/firmware. My kernel (and
eventually the Trisquel kernel) will load the firmware automatically if it
finds it there.
The firmware lives here - https://github.com/qca/open-ath9k-htc-firmware
But you need to get an older version. Click on the Commits tab, find the last
commit from March 31 2013 and click on the Browse Code link on the far right.
If you'll notice, the next commit on April 1 changed the firmware version to
1.4 and the current kernel is unhappy about that - At least for now - that
will change. So make sure to get the proper version, lest you go through all
of this and find it doesn't work.
Anyway, after you've clicked on the Browse Code link I mentioned you can
download the source code as a .zip file. Unzip it, open a terminal, and run
these commands in there:
make toolchain
./build
Once it's done you'll find the htc_7010.fw and htc_9271.fw files sitting
there. Assuming that you're running a kernel that hasn't blacklisted loading
these files (like mine, and eventually Trisquel's), just drop them into
/lib/firmware.
Hope this helps.
