In September, we awarded use of the Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification mark to the ThinkPenguin Wireless N-Broadband Router (TPE-NWIFIROUTER). But, within days of our press release, ThinkPenguin sold out of their inventory! However, today we are happy to announce that they have replenished their stocks (this time with a new case, but the same chipset and software).

This is the first home wifi router on the planet that you can go out and purchase that ships only with software that respects your freedom: libreCMC, a distribution of GNU/Linux recently endorsed by the FSF. This is awesome and you should replace your proprietary software-based wireless router at home with one of these! I've personally been using one at home for a few weeks now and I love it. I even made an unboxing video for you so you can see how simple it is to set-up:

(GIF not working? See my unboxing video.)

Or to quote artist, hacker, and GNU MediaGoblin maintainer, Chris Webber:

Prior to the ThinkPenguin router, I had no idea about any options for getting a 100% free software router. Seems exciting that someone has done all that work for me. Extra cost on top of that hardware... looks pretty cheap! Considering all the headaches I've gone through to find a phone that reasonably even comes close to respecting my freedom and then doesn't even really do so, hell, for someone doing the same for a router, thank goodness! I will be buying this as soon as we replace our router (probably soon!)

Excited that ThinkPenguin is doing this work! I hope more companies follow in said footsteps.

However, this isn't just an opportunity for individuals to be able to easily buy a 100% free software based router. It is also a big step forward for the free software community, because it gives us a platform that we can use to begin building a free software based network for communication, file sharing, social networking, and more.

This is the third product by ThinkPenguin to be awarded the use of the RYF certification mark. The first two were the TPE-N150USB Wireless N USB Adapter and the long-range TPE-N150USBL model. This combined with other products such as the LibreBoot X60 and the LulzBot 3D printer brings us one step closer to being able to recommend to users the ability to have control over all of the devices they rely upon in their day-to-day computing.

Learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification, including details on the certification of the TPE-NWIFIROUTER router as well as other RYF certified products at fsf.org/ryf. Hardware sellers interested in applying for certification can consult our certification criteria and should contact licensing@fsf.org with any further questions.

Subscribe to the Free Software Supporter newsletter to receive announcements about future RYF products.