Contents |
Linux
Also see linuxwireless.orgDriver | Chipsets | Integration in mainline | Non-free firmware required1 | License | Development |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
acx100 | Texas Instruments ACX100, ACX111, TNETW1450 | No | Yes | Dual BSD/MPL | Reverse engineered |
airo | Cisco Systems Aironet 4500/4800 and 340/350 | Yes | ? | GPL | ? |
ar9170 | Atheros AR9170 (802.11n USB) | Yes (since 2.6.30) | No | GPL | Atheros supported |
ath5k | Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5413, AR5414 | Yes (since 2.6.25) | No2 | Dual GPL/BSD | Reverse engineered |
ath9k | Atheros chips with 802.11n support | Yes (since 2.6.27) | No2 | ISC | Written by Atheros |
MadWifi | Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413 | No | No2 | Dual GPL/BSD with proprietary HAL3 | Atheros supported |
atmel | Atmel at76c50x | Yes | Depends on the model | GPL | ? |
b43 | Some Broadcom 43xx | Yes (since 2.6.24) | Experimental OSS firmware 4 | GPL | Reverse engineered |
bcm43xx | Some Broadcom 43xx | No (removed in 2.6.26) | Yes | GPL | Reverse engineered |
HostAP | IntersilPRISM-II, PRISM-2.5, PRISM 3 | Yes | Depends on the model5 | GPL | |
orinoco | Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); IntersilPRISM-II, PRISM-2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11B | Yes | Required for WPA support6 | GPL | |
ipw2100 | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 | Yes | Yes | GPL | Intel supported |
ipw2200 | Intel PRO/Wireless7 2200BG/2915ABG | Yes | Yes | GPL | Intel supported 8 |
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 | Marvell88W8388, 88W8686 SDIO | Yes | Yes9 | GPL | |
prism54 | Intersil ISL38xx FullMAC | Yes | Yes10 | GPL | Reverse engineered. Obsoleted by p54. |
islsm | Intersil ISL38xx SoftMAC | No | Yes10 | GPL | Reverse engineered. Obsoleted by p54. |
p54 | Intersil ISL38xx SoftMAC | Yes (since 2.6.24)11 | Yes10 | GPL | Reverse engineered |
rt2x00 | Most Ralink chipsets, experimental support for RT2870 (USB) and upcoming 2860 and 3090 (both PCI) support in 2.6.3312. | Yes (since 2.6.24) | Depends on the model13 | GPL | From partial documentation and GPL drivers by Ralink |
rt2400 | Ralink RT2400 | No | No | GPL | Ralink supported |
rt2500 | Ralink RT2500 (PCI) | No | No14 | GPL | Ralink supported |
rt2570 | Ralink RT2500USB (RT2570) | No | No | GPL | Ralink supported |
rt61 | Ralink RT2600 (RT2661), RT2501 (non-USB, RT2561) | No | Yes15 | GPL | Ralink supported |
rt73 | Ralink RT2501USB (RT2571W)16 | 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 | Yes17 | 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 |
DragonFly BSD
Driver | Chipset | Integration | Non-free firmware required1 | License | Original/Primary developer | Development |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
acx | Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111 | Integrated since 1.5 | Yes | BSD | Reverse engineering | |
an | Aironet 4500/4800 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Bill Paul (FreeBSD) | |
ath | Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212 | Integrated | N/A | BSD with proprietary HAL | ||
bwi | Broadcom BCM430x/4318 | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Sepherosa Ziehau | Reverse engineering |
iwi | Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Reverse engineering |
iwl | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Reverse engineering |
ral | Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Ported from FreeBSD |
rtw | Realtek RTL8180L | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Ported from NetBSD | |
rum | Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Ported from FreeBSD |
wi | Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); IntersilPRISM-II, PRISM-2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11B | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Bill Paul (FreeBSD) | Documentation based |
FreeBSD
Driver | Chipset | Integration | Non-free firmware required1 | License | Original/Primary developer | Development |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
acx | Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111 | Separate project | Yes | BSD | Reverse engineering | |
an | Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350, Xircom Wireless Ethernet | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Bill Paul (FreeBSD) | |
arl | Aironet Arlan 655 | Integrated / Removed in 8.0 | N/A | BSD | ||
ath | Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212/ AR5416 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Supported by Atheros via Sam Leffler (FreeBSD) | Documentation based |
awi | AMD PCnetMobile | Integrated / Removed in 8.0 | N/A | BSD | Bill Sommerfeld (NetBSD) and Atsushi Onoe (NetBSD) | |
bwi | Broadcom BCM43xx/4318 | Integrated since 8.0 | Yes | BSD | Sepherosa Ziehau (DragonFly BSD), Andrew Thompson (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD) | Ported from DragonFly BSD |
cnw | Netwave AirSurfer | Integrated / Removed in 8.0 | N/A | BSD | Imported from NetBSD | |
ipw | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD) | Reverse engineering |
iwi | Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD) | Reverse engineering |
iwn | Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 ABGN | Integrated since 8.0 / Available for 7.1 and 7.2 as separate patch | Yes | BSD | Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close, Sam Leffler (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD) | Reverse engineering |
malo | Marvell 88W8335 | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD) | |
mwl | Marvell 88W8363 | Integrated since 8.0 | Yes18 | BSD | Sam Leffler (FreeBSD) | ? |
ral | Ralink Technology RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD) | Based on partial documentation |
ray | Raytheon Raylink/Webgear Aviator | Integrated / Removed in 8.0 | N/A | BSD | Imported from NetBSD | |
rum | Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB | Integrated | No19 | BSD | Niall O'Higgins and Damien Bergamini | Based on partial documentation |
uath | Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX | Integrated since 8.0 | Yes20 | BSD | Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD) | ? |
upgt | GW3887 (Conexant/Intersil PrismGT series) | Integrated since 8.0 | Yes | BSD | Imported from OpenBSD | Reverse engineering |
ural | Ralink Technology RT2500USB | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD) | Based on partial documentation |
urtw | Realtek RTL8187L/ RTL8187B | Integrated since 8.0 | N/A21 | BSD | Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD) | ? |
wi | Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); IntersilPRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11B (Symbol support removed in 8.0) | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Bill Paul (FreeBSD) | Documentation based |
wpi | Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close | Reverse engineering |
zyd | ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B | Integrated | No | BSD | Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini and Jonathan Gray (OpenBSD) | Documentation based |
NetBSD
Driver | Chipset | Integration | Free firmware22 | License | Original/Primary developer | Development methodologies | Free software23 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
an | Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Ported from FreeBSD | Yes | |
ath | Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212 | Integrated | N/A | BSD with proprietary HAL | Binary blobs ported from FreeBSD | No | |
atu | Atmel at76c503/ at76c503a/ at76c505/ at76c505a | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes | |
atw | ADMtek ADM8211 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
awi | AMD PCnetMobile | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
bwi | Broadcom BCM430x/4318 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Ported from Dragonfly BSD | Yes | |
cnw | Netwave AirSurfer | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
ipw | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 | Integrated | No | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
iwi | Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG | Integrated | No | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
iwn | Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN | Integrated | No | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
ral | Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600/ RT2500USB | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
ray | Raytheon Raylink / WebGear Aviator | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
rtw | Realtek RTL8180L | Integrated | N/A | BSD | David Young | Yes | |
wi | Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), IntersilPRISM II | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Ported from FreeBSD | Yes | |
wpi | Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG | Integrated | No | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
zyd | ZyDAS ZD1211/ ZD1211B | Integrated | No | BSD | Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
OpenBSD
(A full list of supported wireless devices may be obtained by searching OpenBSD's online manual pages, i.e. by typing apropos wireless in the console. For information on development methodologies, see Theo de Raadt's 2006 presentation on Open Documentation for Hardware.)Driver | Chipset | Integration | Non-free firmware required1 | License | Original/Primary developer | Development | Free software23 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
acx | Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111 | Integrated | Yes24 | BSD | Ported from DragonFlyBSD | Reverse engineering | Yes |
an | Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
ath | Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212 | Integrated | No2 | BSD | Reverse engineering | Yes | |
athn | Atheros AR5416/AR9160/AR928X | Integrated (current) | No2 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Partly based on the ath9k driver for Linux | Yes |
atu | Atmel AT76C503/ AT76C503A/ AT76C505/ AT76C505A | Integrated | Yes25 | BSD | Reverse engineering | Yes | |
atw | ADMtek ADM8211 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Documentation based | Yes | |
awi | BayStack 650 | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
bwi | Broadcom BCM430x/4318 | Integrated | Yes | BSD | Sepherosa Ziehau | Ported from DragonFly BSD | Yes |
cnw | NetWave AirSurfer | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
ipw | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 | Integrated | Yes26 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Reverse engineering | Yes |
iwi | Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG | Integrated | Yes27 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Reverse engineering | Yes |
iwn | Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965/ 5000/ 1000/ 6000 | Integrated | Yes28 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Reverse engineering | Yes |
malo | Marvell 88W8335/ 88W8310 | Integrated | Yes29 | BSD | Marcus Glocker and Claudio Jeker | Reverse engineering 30 | Yes |
otus | Atheros AR9170 | Integrated (since 4.6) | Yes31 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Based on source code released by Atheros for Linux under the ISC | Yes |
pgt | Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC ISL3877, ISL3880, and ISL3890 chips | Integrated | Yes32 | BSD | Ported from FreeBSD | Reverse engineering33 | Yes |
ral/ural | Ralink RT2500, RT2501, RT2600, RT2700, and RT2800 (ral), RT2500USB (ural) | Integrated | No34 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Based on partial documentation | Yes |
ray | Raytheon Raylink/WebGear Aviator IEEE 802.11FH | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Yes | ||
rtw | Realtek RTL8180L | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Ported from NetBSD | Documentation based | Yes |
rum | Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB | Integrated | No19 | BSD | Niall O'Higgins and Damien Bergamini | Based on partial documentation | Yes |
run | Ralink RT2700U/ RT2800U/ RT3000U | Integrated | No35 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Based on partial documentation | Yes |
uath | Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX | Integrated | Yes36 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Reverse Engineering33 | Yes |
upgt | GW3887 (Conexant/Intersil PrismGT series) | Integrated | Yes37 | BSD | Marcus Glocker | Reverse engineering | Yes |
urtw | Realtek RTL8187L | Integrated | N/A | BSD | Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD) | ? | Yes |
wi | Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); IntersilPRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24 | Integrated | Yes for Spectrum24 38 and N/A for others | BSD | Bill Paul | Documentation based | Yes |
wpi39 | Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG | Integrated | Yes40 | BSD | Damien Bergamini | Reverse engineering | Yes |
zyd | ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B | Integrated | Yes41 | BSD | Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini and Jonathan Gray | Documentation based | Yes |
Solaris and OpenSolaris
Driver | Chipset | Integration | Free firmware22 | License | Development | Free software23 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ath4243 | Atheros AR5211/ AR5212/ AR5213/ AR5214 | Integrated with Solaris Nevada build 29 | No firmware required2 | Dual GPL/BSD with proprietary HAL | Port of Madwifi | No |
ipw | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 | Community project | No | BSD | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
iwi | Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG | Community project | No | BSD | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
pcan | Cisco Aironet 340/350 | Community project | N/A | BSD | Ported from FreeBSD | Yes |
pcwl | Lucent/Agere Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), IntersilPRISM-2 802.11b | Community project | N/A | BSD | Ported from FreeBSD | Yes |
ral | Ralink RT2500 | Community project | N/A | BSD | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
rtw | Realtek RTL8180L | Community project | N/A | BSD | Ported from NetBSD | Yes |
malo | Marvell 88W8335/ 88W8310 | Community project | N/A | BSD | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
wpi | Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG | Community project | No | BSD | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
zyd | ZyDAS ZD1211 chipsets | Community project | Yes | BSD | Ported from OpenBSD | Yes |
Darwin, OpenDarwin and Mac OS X
Driver | Chipset | Free firmware22 | License | Development |
---|---|---|---|---|
IWIDarwin | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100/2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG/3945ABG/4965AGN | No | GPL | Port from Linux |
WirelessDriver44 | Lucent/Agere Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), IntersilPRISM-2 802.11b | N/A | BSD | |
GTdriver | PRISM-GT 802.11b/g | N/A | GPL |
Driver capabilities
Linux
Also see linuxwireless.orgFreeBSD
OpenBSD
Notes
- ^ abcd 'N/A' means firmware is stored in device at all times
- ^ abcdef The card doesn't have a host CPU and so it doesn't require a firmware source
- ^ The proprietary HAL can be replaced by a port of the OpenHAL (from the BSD ath driver) to Linux
- ^ See openfwwf project for open source firmware. This firmware lacks support for QoS and hardware cryptography.
- ^"Why does my D-Link DWL-650 rev. P1 or D-Link DWL-520 rev. E1 (or any other card with small flash) card fail?" – Host AP driver - Frequently Asked Questions
- ^http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/orinoco#devicefirmware
- ^http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/prowireless_mobile.htm
- ^http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net
- ^#46 (Eliminate dependency on licensed code in Marvell firmware.) – One Laptop Per Child – Trac
- ^ abc There is a Free software firmware called FreeMAC, but it's not yet ready for non developers use
- ^http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=eff1a59c48e3c6a006eb4fe5f2e405a996f2259d
- ^http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commitdiff;h=a9b3a9f7214b3acc56330c2257aeaa5fa85bf520
- ^ see the license of the firmware to see which chipsets need a firmware
- ^ the sources are here
- ^this thread on rt2x00 forums explains where to install the firmware files for the rt61 driver
- ^ According to Ivo van Doorn, there is probably no such chip as "RT2573": http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=23045
- ^ rtl8180 driver (supports RTL8180, RTL8185 chipsets) added in 2.6.25. rtl8187 driver (supports RTL8187 chipset) added in 2.6.23. RTL8187B chipset supported by rtl8187 driver from 2.6.27.
- ^[1]
- ^ abhttp://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/~checkout~/src/sys/dev/microcode/rum/rum-license
- ^[2]
- ^[3]
- ^ abc 'N/A' means firmware is stored in device at all times, 'yes' means firmware is available for totally free redistribution, 'no' means you have to get into non-free-software contract with the manufacturer to get access to the firmware
- ^ abc in terms of no binary-only requirements that are posed by the driver, i.e. you can modify all code that is run on your CPU
- ^Manual Pages: acx
- ^Manual Pages: atu
- ^Manual Pages: ipw
- ^Manual Pages: iwi
- ^Manual Pages: iwn
- ^Manual Pages: malo
- ^Developer Blog - mglocker@: New WLAN drivers on the upswing
- ^Manual Pages: otus(4)
- ^Manual Pages: pgt(4)
- ^ abOpenBSD reverse engineers more wireless drivers
- ^http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/~checkout~/src/sys/dev/microcode/ral/ral-license
- ^http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/dev/usb/if_run.c
- ^Manual Pages: uath
- ^Manual Pages: upgt(4)
- ^http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/~checkout~/src/sys/dev/microcode/symbol/symbol-license
- ^ There is more details about the port at kerneltrap
- ^Manual Pages: wpi
- ^CVS log for /src/sys/dev/microcode/zydas/Attic/zd1211-licence
- ^ it's not the same driver that the OpenBSD ath driver it's a port from Madwifi to OpenSolaris
- ^source, I don't know if the HAL can be replaced with OpenHAL
- ^Seattle Wireless WirelessDriver Support Wiki
- ^ ab Requires station firmware 1.7.4 or later.
- ^ WPA+TKIP with Hermes (Lucent/Agere) chipsets only. Requires 2.6.28-rc1 or later kernel and v9.42 or later firmware from userspace.
- ^ except for the rt2400 chipset; only the rt2500 chipset and the rt2570 chipset are supported
- ^one user reported that WPA2 works with rt61pci
- ^http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers and also at least two users reported success with master mode [4][5]
- ^ abhttp://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5631
References
- http://support.intel.com/support/notebook/sb/CS-006408.htm
- The Sourceforge IPW websites (ipw 2100,ipw2200 and ipw3945)
- The FSF website for the Ralink and Realtek cards
- Kerneltrap for the list of OpenBSD drivers
- The OpenSolaris website for the list of OpenSolaris and Solaris drivers
- http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2084
- http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Rt2x00_beta
- http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Wireless.html
- rt2x00 README from cvs
- http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/2/9/323
External links
- Seattle Wireless Linux drivers
- Seattle Wireless Mac OS drivers