Linux Wireless drivers

Existing Linux Wireless drivers

We currently have a fair number of working drivers that cover most of the available WNICs on the market. However, most don't implement all possible features and many have issues. Hardware by companies not providing complete specifications, free firmware and drivers can be more problematic to support. The switching of chipsets by manufacturers without changing model numbers also makes this list less useful to those purchasing new hardware. Except for a handful of WNICs with free software drivers and free firmware, like e.g. the Penguin 802.11N, most available wireless hardware can not be exhausted when used with Linux. Below is an alphabetically sorted list of existent Linux drivers and their current capabilities.

See also:

• wireless drivers status
• wireless drivers capabilities
• Seattle Wireless: Features Comparison

NOTE: All drivers can of course run in station mode, but only a few drivers support the other available wireless modes! Support of cfg80211 also offers benefits.

Driver	Manufacturer	cfg80211	AP	IBSS	mesh	monitor	PHY modes	Buses
adm8211	ADMtek/Infineon	yes	no	no	no	?	B	PCI
airo	Aironet/Cisco	no	?	?	?	?	B	PCI / PCMCIA
at76c50x-usb	Atmel	yes	no	no	no	no	B	USB
ath5k	Atheros	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A/B/G	PCI / PCI-E / PCMCIA
ath6kl	Atheros	yes	no	yes	no	no	A/B/G/N	SDIO
ath9k	Atheros	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A/B/G/N	PCI / PCI-E / AHB / PCMCIA
ath9k_htc	Atheros	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	B/G/N	USB
atmel	Atmel	no	?	?	?	?	B	PCI / PCMCIA
b43	Broadcom	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A(2)/B/G	SSB/PCI/PCI-E/PCMCIA
b43legacy	Broadcom	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A(2)/B/G	PCI/SSB
brcmsmac	Broadcom	yes	no	no	no	no	A(1)/B/G/N	PCI/AXI
brcmfmac	Broadcom	yes	no	no	no	no	A(1)/B/G/N	SDIO
carl9170	ZyDAS/Atheros	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	A(1)/B/G/N	USB
hostap	Intersil/Conexant	no	?	?	?	?	B	PCI / PCMCIA
ipw2100	Intel	no	no	yes	no	no	B	PCI
ipw2200	Intel	no	no (3)	yes	no	no	A/B/G	PCI
iwl3945	Intel	yes	no	yes	no	no	A/B/G	PCI-E
iwlagn	Intel	yes	no	yes	no	no	A/B/G/N	PCI-E
iwmc3200wifi	Intel	yes	no	yes	no	no	A/G	SDIO
libertas	Marvell	no	no	yes	yes (4)	no	B/G	USB / PCMCIA / SDIO / GSPI
libertas_tf	Marvell	yes	yes	no	yes	?	B/G	USB
mac80211_hwsim	Jouni	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	A/B/G/N	NONE!
mwifiex	Marvell	yes	?	?	?	?	A/B/G/N	SDIO
mwl8k	Marvell	yes	yes	?	?	yes	A/B/G/N	PCI
orinoco	Agere/Intersil/Symbol	yes	no	yes	no	yes	B	PCI / PCMCIA / USB
p54pci	Intersil/Conexant	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A(1)/B/G	PCI / PCMCIA
p54spi	Conexant/ST-NXP	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A(1)/B/G	SPI
p54usb	Intersil/Conexant	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A(1)/B/G	USB
*prism2_usb	Intersil/Conexant	no	?	?	?	?	B	USB
ray_cs	Raytheon	no	?	?	?	?	pre802.11	PCMCIA
rndis_wlan	Broadcom	yes	no	yes	no	no	B/G	USB
rt61pci	Ralink	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	A(1)/B/G	PCI
rt73usb	Ralink	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	A(1)/B/G	USB
rt2400pci	Ralink	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	B	PCI
rt2500pci	Ralink	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	A(1)/B/G	PCI
rt2500usb	Ralink	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	A(1)/B/G	USB
rt2800pci	Ralink	yes	yes	?	?	yes	A(1)/B/G/N	PCI
rt2800usb	Ralink	yes	?	?	?	yes	A(1)/B/G/N	USB
rtl8180	Realtek	yes	no	no	no	?	B/G	PCI
rtl8187	Realtek	yes	no	no	no	yes	B/G	USB
rtl8192ce	Realtek	yes	?	?	?	?	B/G/N	PCI-E
rtl8192de	Realtek	yes	?	?	?	?	B/G/N	PCI-E
rtl8192cu	Realtek	yes	?	?	?	?	B/G/N	USB
rtl8192se	Realtek	yes	?	?	?	?	B/G/N	PCI-E
*r8187se	Realtek	yes	no	no	no	?	B/G	PCI-E
*r8192u_usb	Realtek	no	?	?	?	?	B/G/N	USB
*r8712u	Realtek	no	?	?	?	?	B/G/N	USB
*vt6655	VIA	no	?	?	?	?	A/B/G	PCI
*vt6656	VIA	no	?	?	?	?	A/B/G	USB
*winbond	Winbond	yes	?	?	?	?	B	USB
wl1251	Texas Instruments	yes	no	yes	?	yes	B/G	SPI / SDIO
wl1271	Texas Instruments	yes	yes	yes	no	no	A(1)/B/G/N	SPI / SDIO
wl3501_cs	Z-Com	no	?	?	?	?	pre802.11	PCMCIA
*wlags49_h2	Lucent/Agere	no	?	?	?	?	B/G	PCI/PCMCIA
zd1201	ZyDAS/Atheros	no	?	?	?	?	B	USB
zd1211rw	ZyDAS/Atheros	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	A(2)/B/G	USB

Note: * staging drivers

Out of the tree drivers(Unsupported)

Driver	Manufacturer	cfg80211	AP	IBSS	mesh	monitor	PHY modes	Buses
acx1xx	Texas Instruments	yes	?	?	no	?	B	PCI / PCMCIA / USB
agnx	Airgo/Qualcom	yes	?	?	?	?	A/B/G	PCI
ar5523	Atheros	?	?	?	?	?	A(2)/B/G	USB
ar6k	Atheros	?	?	?	?	?	B/G	?
poldhu	NWN	no	?	?	?	?	B	PCMCIA

Notes:

1. 802.11a capabilities depend on the actual radio chip used.
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.
3. There is support with a special, out-of-tree driver and special firmware, see http://sf.net/projects/ipw2200-ap.
4. Slightly different mesh implementation than mac80211's, in firmware.

Abandoned/Deprecated Drivers(Unsupported)

Driver	Manufacturer	cfg80211	AP	ad-hoc	mesh	monitor	PHY modes	BUS	Replaced by
ar9170usb	ZyDAS/Atheros	yes	no	yes	no	yes	A(1)/B/G/N	USB	carl9170
arlan	Aironet/Cisco	no	?	?	?	?	pre802.11	ISA	-
at76_usb	Atmel	no	no	no	no	no	B	USB	at76c50x-usb
netwave_cs	Netwave/Xircom	no	?	?	?	?	pre802.11	PCMCIA	-
otus	ZyDAS/Atheros	no	?	no	no	no	A/B/G/N	USB	carl9170
prism54	Intersil/Conexant	no	?	?	?	?	A/B/G	PCI / PCMCIA	p54pci
stlc45xx	ST/Nokia	yes	no	no	no	no	B/G	SPI	p54spi
wavelan	Lucent	no	?	?	?	?	pre802.11	ISA / PCMCIA	-

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