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

Manufacturer

AP

ad-hoc

mesh

monitor 1

PHY modes

BUS

acx1xx

Texas Instruments

?

?

no

?

B

?

adm8211

ADMtek/Infineon

no

no

no

?

B

PCI

airo

Aironet/Cisco

?

?

?

?

?

PCI / PCMCIA

agnx

Airgo

?

?

?

?

?

PCI

ar9170

Atheros

no

yes

no

no

(A/)B/G/N

USB

arlan

Aironet/Cisco

?

?

?

?

?

ISA

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 / PCI-E

ath9k

Atheros

yes

yes

no

yes

A/B/G/N

PCI / PCI-E

atmel

Atmel

?

?

?

?

?

?

b43

Broadcom

yes

yes

yes

yes

B/G2

PCI

b43legacy

Broadcom

yes

yes

yes

yes

B/G2

PCI

ipw21003

Intel

no

yes

no

no

B

PCI

ipw22003

Intel

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

Marvell

no

yes

yes5

no

B/G

?

libertas_tf

Marvell

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

prism2_usb

Intersil

?

?

?

?

?

USB

rndis_wlan

Broadcom

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

rt2800pci

Ralink

?

?

?

?

?

PCI

rt2800usb

Ralink

?

?

?

?

?

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

stlc45xx

Nokia

no

no

no

no

B/G

?

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)

  3. uses legacy ieee80211 stack (4 5)

  4. requires special driver and firmware (6)

  5. slightly different mesh implementation than mac80211's, in firmware (7)

  6. 802.11a capabilities depend on the actual radio chip used (8 9 10 11 12 13)

  7. in development (14)

  8. A/B/G devices not supported yet (15)


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