Driver |
Chipsets |
Integration in mainline |
Non-free firmware required |
License |
Development |
acx100 |
Texas InstrumentsACX100, ACX111, TNETW1450 |
No |
Yes |
Dual |
Reverse engineered |
airo |
Cisco Systems Aironet 4500/4800 and 340/350 |
Yes |
Unknown |
GPL |
unknown |
ar9170 |
Atheros AR9170 (802.11n USB) |
Yes (since 2.6.30) |
No |
GPL |
Atheros supported |
ath5k |
Atheros AR2413, AR2414, AR2417, AR2425, AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5213, AR5413, AR5414, AR5423, AR5424 |
Yes (since 2.6.25) |
No |
Dual GPL/BSD |
Reverse engineered |
ath9k |
Atheros chips with 802.11n support |
Yes (since 2.6.27) |
No |
ISC |
Written by Atheros |
MadWifi |
Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413 |
No |
No |
Dual GPL/BSD with proprietary HAL |
Atheros supported |
atmel |
Atmel at76c50x |
Yes |
Depends on the model |
GPL |
unknown |
b43 |
Some Broadcom 43xx |
Yes (since 2.6.24) |
Experimental OSS firmware |
GPL |
Reverse engineered |
bcm43xx |
Some Broadcom 43xx |
No (removed in 2.6.26) |
Yes |
GPL |
Reverse engineered |
HostAP |
Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5, PRISM 3 |
Yes |
Depends on the model |
GPL |
|
orinoco |
Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11B |
Yes |
Required for WPA support |
GPL |
|
ipw2100 |
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 |
Yes |
Yes |
GPL |
Intel supported |
ipw2200 |
Intel PRO/Wireless |
Yes |
Yes |
GPL |
Intel supported |
ipw3945 |
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG |
No |
Yes |
GPL with proprietary binary regulatory daemon |
Intel supported. Obsoleted by iwlwifi. |
iwlwifi |
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, 4965AGN |
Yes (since 2.6.24) |
Yes |
GPL |
Intel supported. |
iwlagn |
Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN, 5100BG, 5350AGN, 6000AGN |
Yes (since 2.6.27) |
Yes |
GPL |
Intel supported. |
libertas |
Marvell 88W8388, 88W8686 SDIO |
Yes |
Yes |
GPL |
|
prism54 |
Intersil ISL38xx FullMAC |
Yes |
Yes |
GPL |
Reverse engineered. Obsoleted by p54. |
islsm |
Intersil ISL38xx SoftMAC |
No |
Yes |
GPL |
Reverse engineered. Obsoleted by p54. |
p54 |
Intersil ISL38xx SoftMAC |
Yes (since 2.6.24) |
Yes |
GPL |
Reverse engineered |
rt2x00 |
Most Ralink chipsets, experimental support for RT2870 (USB), 2860 and 3090 (both PCI) |
Yes (since 2.6.24) |
Depends on the model |
GPL |
From partial documentation and GPL drivers by Ralink |
rt2400 |
Ralink RT2400 |
No |
No |
GPL |
Ralink supported |
rt2500 |
Ralink RT2500 (PCI) |
No |
No |
GPL |
Ralink supported |
rt2570 |
Ralink RT2500USB (RT2570) |
No |
No |
GPL |
Ralink supported |
rt61 |
Ralink RT2600 (RT2661), RT2501 (non-USB, RT2561) |
No |
Yes |
GPL |
Ralink supported |
rt73 |
Ralink RT2501USB (RT2571W) |
No |
Yes |
GPL |
Ralink supported |
rtl8180-sa2400 |
Some Realtek RTL818x |
No |
No |
GPL |
Realtek supported. Obsoleted by rtl-wifi project. |
rtl-wifi |
Realtek RTL8180, RTL8185, RTL8187, RTL8187B |
Yes |
No |
GPL |
Forked from rtl8180-sa2400 project. |
zd1201 |
ZyDAS ZD1201 |
Yes |
Yes |
GPL |
|
zd1211 |
ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B |
No |
Yes |
GPL |
written by ZyDAS |
zd1211rw |
ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B, Atheros AR5007UG |
Yes (since 2.6.18) |
Yes |
GPL |
ZyDAS supported |
Driver |
802.11 |
Bus interface |
WEP |
WPA |
WPA2 |
Monitor mode |
Master mode |
Ad-Hoc mode |
acx1xx |
802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI, PC card, USB |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
unknown |
adm8211 |
unknown |
PCI |
unknown |
unknown |
unknown |
unknown |
No |
unknown |
ath5k |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI, PC card |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (since 2.6.31) |
Yes |
ath9k |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n |
PCI, Mini PCI |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
b43 |
802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
bcm43xx |
802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI, PC card, Cardbus |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
unknown |
hostap |
802.11b |
PCI, Mini PCI, PC card |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
ipw2100 |
802.11b |
Mini PCI |
Yes |
Yes |
unknown |
Yes |
unknown |
unknown |
ipw2200 |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
Mini PCI |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
unknown |
ipw2200-ap |
802.11b, 802.11g |
Mini PCI |
unknown |
unknown |
unknown |
Yes |
Yes |
unknown |
ipw3945 |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
Mini PCI, PCI Express Mini Card |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
islsm |
802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, USB |
No |
No |
No |
unknown |
No |
unknown |
iwlwifi |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
Mini PCI, PCI Express Mini Card |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
iwlagn |
802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n |
Mini PCI, PCI Express Mini Card |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
libertas |
802.11b, 802.11g |
USB, CF, SDIO |
unknown |
unknown |
unknown |
unknown |
No |
unknown |
MadWifi |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI, PC card |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes, low RF sensitivity? |
orinoco |
802.11b |
Mini PCI, PC card |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
p54 |
802.11b, 802.11g |
Mini PCI, Cardbus, USB |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
prism54 |
802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI |
Yes |
No |
unknown |
Yes |
Yes |
unknown |
rt2x00 |
802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI, USB |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
rtl8180 |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI, PC card |
unknown |
unknown |
unknown |
unknown |
Yes |
unknown |
rtl-wifi |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
PCI, Mini PCI, PC card |
Yes |
Yes |
unknown |
unknown |
Yes |
unknown |
zd1201 |
802.11b |
USB |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
unknown |
zd1211 |
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
USB |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
unknown |
zd1211rw |
802.11b, 802.11g |
USB |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
unknown |