Qualcomm Atheros QCNFA222 blob-free WiFi card 802.11a/b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.0

This WiFi card uses older standards, which means the maximum achievable speed is a lot slower than other WiFi cards.

This WiFi card is only compatible with GNU/Linux and NOT Windows.

The WiFi card blocks the laptop’s ability to enter modern sleep mode (S0ix). Only the NV41 Series is compatible with the alternative deeper S3 sleep mode. The NS51 and NS70 Series do not provide hardware support for S0ix, so these laptops cannot be put into sleep mode with this WiFi card.

This WiFi card is referred to as ‘blob-free’ as meant by the Free Software Foundation (FSF): the WiFi card’s firmware is considered to be non-modifiable pre-installed firmware that is part of the hardware. So it does NOT mean that ‘blob-free’ means that the source code of this WiFi card is publicly available.

The Bluetooth functionality of this WiFi card does require blobs – blob-free as mentioned above is only applicable for the WiFi functionality.

The fact that the WiFi functionality does not require firmware to be loaded from the storage disk to the working memory is seen by many as a security advantage. After all, that kind of firmware is theoretically easier to manipulate.