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:
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 |
ar5523 | Atheros | yes | no | no | no | yes | A(2)/B/G | USB |
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 / USB |
ath9k | Atheros | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | A/B/G/N | PCI / PCI-E / AHB / PCMCIA |
ath9k_htc | Atheros | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | B/G/N | USB |
ath10k | Atheros | yes | yes | yes (6) | yes (6) | yes (6) | A/B/G/N/AC | PCI-E / AHB / SDIO |
ath11k | Atheros | yes | yes | no | yes (6) | yes (6) | A/B/G/N/AC/AX | PCI-E / AHB |
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 |
brcmfmac | Broadcom | yes | yes | yes | no | no | A(1)/B/G/N/AC | USB / SDIO / PCI-E |
brcmsmac | Broadcom | yes | yes | no | no | yes | A(1)/B/G/N | PCI-E / AXI |
carl9170 | ZyDAS/Atheros | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | A(1)/B/G/N | USB |
cw1200 | ST-Ericsson | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | A/B/G/N | SPI / SDIO |
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 |
iwlegacy | Intel | yes | no | yes | no | no | A/B/G | PCI-E |
iwlwifi | Intel | yes | yes (6) | yes | no | yes | A/B/G/N/AC | PCI-E |
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! |
mt76 | Mediatek | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | A/B/G/N/AC/AX | PCIe / SoC / USB / SDIO |
mt7601u | Mediatek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N/ | USB |
mwifiex | Marvell | yes | yes | yes | ? | ? | A/B/G/N | SDIO / PCI-E / USB |
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 | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B | USB |
qtnfmac | Quantenna | yes | yes | no | no | no | A/B/G/N/AC | PCI-E |
** r8192e_pci | Realtek | no | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
** r8192u_usb | Realtek | no | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | USB |
** r8712u | Realtek | no | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | 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 | yes | yes(5) | yes | A(1)/B/G/N | USB |
rtl8xxxu | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | A(1)/B/G/N | USB |
rtl8180 | Realtek | yes | no | no | no | ? | B/G | PCI |
rtl8187 | Realtek | yes | no | yes | no | yes | B/G | USB |
rtl8188ee | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8192ce | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | yes | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8192cu | Realtek | yes | yes | ? | ? | yes | B/G/N | USB |
rtl8192de | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8192se | Realtek | yes | yes | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8723ae | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8723bs | Realtek | ? | ? | ? | no | no | B/G/N | SDIO |
** r8723au | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | USB |
** vt6655 | VIA | yes | yes | yes | no | no | A/B/G | PCI |
** vt6656 | VIA | yes | yes | yes | no | no | A/B/G | USB |
wcn36xx | Qualcomm Atheros | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | A/B/G/N | |
wfx | Silicon Laboratories | yes | yes | no | no | no | A/B/G/N | SPI / SDIO |
wil6210 | Atheros | yes | yes | no | no | yes | AD | PCI-E |
** winbond | Winbond | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B | USB |
** wilc | Microchip | yes | yes | no | no | no | A/B/G/N | SPI / SDIO |
wl1251 | Texas Instruments | yes | no | yes | ? | yes | B/G | SPI / SDIO |
wl12xx | Texas Instruments | yes | yes | yes | no | no | A(1)/B/G/N | SPI / SDIO |
wl18xx | Texas Instruments | yes | yes | yes | ? | ? | A/B/G/N | 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
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 |
ar6k | Atheros | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G | ? |
poldhu | NWN | no | ? | ? | ? | ? | B | PCMCIA |
RT2880 iNIC | Ralink | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | PCI |
Notes:
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 | - |