NOTE: this page is for archival only, see the note at the end of the page.

Existing Linux Wireless drivers

We currently have a fair amount of working drivers that cover most of the available wireless networking cards. However, they don't implement all features and may have some issues, due to various reasons like companies not providing specs. Below is an alphabetically sorted list of drivers and what they currently can and can't do.

All drivers can run in station mode, but not all support the other modes, this is also shown in the table below.

Driver

AP

ad-hoc

mesh

full monitor 1

PHY modes

BUS

acx1xx (Texas Instruments)

?

?

no

?

B

-

adm8211 (ADMtek)

no

no

no

?

B

PCI

ar9170 (Atheros)

no

yes

no

no

(A/)B/G/N

USB

at76_usb (Atmel)

no

no

no

no

B

USB

at76c50x-usb (Atmel)

no

no

no

no

B

USB

ath5k (Atheros)

no

yes

yes

?

A/B/G

PCI

ath9k (Atheros)

yes

yes

no

yes

A/B/G/N

PCI

b43/b43legacy (Broadcom)

yes

yes

yes

yes

B/G2

PCI

ipw2100 (Intel)3

no

yes

no

no

B

PCI

ipw2200 (Intel)3

yes4

yes

no

no

A/B/G

PCI

iwl3945 (Intel)

no

yes

no

no

A/B/G

PCI

iwl4965 (Intel)

no

yes

no

no

A/B/G/N

PCI

libertas

no

yes

yes5

no

B/G

-

libertas_tf

yes

no

yes

?

B/G

-

orinoco (Agere/Intersil/Symbol)

no

yes

no

yes

B

PCI

otus (Atheros)

?

no

no

no

A/B/G/N

USB

p54pci (Intersil)

yes

yes

yes

yes

A/B/G6

PCI

p54usb (Intersil)

yes

yes

yes

yes

A/B/G6

USB

stlc45xx

no

no

no

no

B/G

-

rndis_wlan

no

yes

no

no

B/G

USB

rt2400pci (Ralink)

yes

yes

no

yes

B

PCI

rt2500pci (Ralink)

yes

yes

no

yes

A/B/G6

PCI

rt2500usb (Ralink)

yes

yes

no

yes

A/B/G6

USB

rt61pci (Ralink)

yes

yes

no

yes

A/B/G6

PCI

rt73usb (Ralink)

yes7

yes

no

yes

A/B/G6

USB

rtl8180 (Realtek)

no

no

no

?

B/G

PCI

rtl8187 (Realtek)

no

no

no

?

B/G

USB

zd1211rw (ZyDAS)

no

no

yes

no

B/G8

USB


  1. monitor all frames during regular operation (1)

  2. 802.11a devices exist, but currently can't be used with this driver, A/B/G devices will work in B/G mode only (2)

  3. uses legacy ieee80211 stack (3 4)

  4. requires special driver and firmware (5)

  5. slightly different mesh implementation than mac80211's, in firmware (6)

  6. 802.11a capabilities depend on the actual radio chip used (7 8 9 10 11 12)

  7. in development (13)

  8. A/B/G devices not supported yet (14)


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