This is an old revision of the document!
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 |
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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | AC | N |
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! |
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 |
** 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 |
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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8192cu | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | USB |
rtl8192de | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8192se | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
rtl8723ae | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | PCI-E |
** r8723au | Realtek | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B/G/N | USB |
** vt6655 | VIA | no | ? | ? | ? | ? | A/B/G | PCI |
vt6656 | VIA | yes | yes | yes | ? | ? | A/B/G | USB |
wil6210 | Atheros | yes | yes | no | no | yes | AD | PCI-E |
** winbond | Winbond | yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | B | USB |
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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
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 |
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 | - |