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.
See also: Wikipedia wireless drivers status Wikipedia wireless drivers capabilities Seattle Wireless Features Comparison
All drivers can run in station mode, but not all support the other modes, this is also shown in the table below.
Note: * staging drivers
Out of the tree drivers(Unsupported)
Notes:
- 802.11a capabilities depend on the actual radio chip used.
- 802.11a devices exist, but currently can't be used with this driver, A/B/G devices will work in B/G mode only.
There is support with a special, out-of-tree driver and special firmware, see http://sf.net/projects/ipw2200-ap.
- Slightly different mesh implementation than mac80211's, in firmware.
Abandoned/Deprecated Drivers(Unsupported)
Driver |
Manufacturer |
PHY modes |
BUS |
|||||
ZyDAS/Atheros |
yes |
no |
yes |
no |
yes |
A(1)/B/G/N |
USB |
|
Aironet/Cisco |
no |
? |
? |
? |
? |
pre802.11 |
ISA |
|
Atmel |
no |
no |
no |
no |
no |
B |
USB |
|
Netwave/Xircom |
no |
? |
? |
? |
? |
pre802.11 |
PCMCIA |
|
ZyDAS/Atheros |
no |
? |
no |
no |
no |
A/B/G/N |
USB |
|
Intersil/Conexant |
no |
? |
? |
? |
? |
A/B/G |
PCI / PCMCIA |
|
ST/Nokia |
yes |
no |
no |
no |
no |
B/G |
SPI |
|
Lucent |
no |
? |
? |
? |
? |
pre802.11 |
ISA / PCMCIA |