Comparison of open-source wireless drivers explained

Wireless network cards for computers require control software to make them function (firmware, device drivers). This is a list of the status of some open-source drivers for 802.11 wireless network cards.

Linux

Status

Driver family	Driver	Chipsets	Chipset PHY Modes	Integration in mainline	Non-free firmware required^[1]	License	Development
adm8211	adm8211	ADMtek ADM8211 (IEEE 802.11b MAC/BBP	b			GPLv2	With support from Infineon/ADMtek
at76c50x‑usb at76c50x‑usb	at76c50x-USB	Atmel AT76C503/AT76C505 based USB WLAN adapters	b		Depends on the model	GPLv2
	acx100	Texas Instruments ACX100, ACX111, TNETW1450	b/g			Dual BSD/MPL	Reverse-engineered
airo	airo	Cisco Systems Aironet 4500/4800 and 340/350	b			Dual GPLv2 and BSD
ath	ar5523	Qualcomm Atheros AR5523 based USB dongles	a/b/g			ISC	Reverse-engineered
	ath5k	Qualcomm Atheros AR2413, AR2414, AR2417, AR2425, AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5213, AR5413, AR5414, AR5423, AR5424	a/b/g	(since 2.6.25)	^[2]	Dual GPL/BSD	Reverse-engineered
	ath6kl	Qualcomm Atheros AR6003, AR6004 (SDIO), AR6004 (USB)	a/b/g			ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	ath9k	Qualcomm Atheros chips with IEEE 802.11n support	a/b/g/n	(since 2.6.27)	proprietary blob only required for Bluetooth (Purism / NovaCustom)	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	ath9k_htc	Qualcomm Atheros AR9271, AR7010 (USB-PCIe bridge with AR928x chips)	b/g/n	(since 2.6.35)^[3] ^[4]	^[5]	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	ath10k	Qualcomm Atheros chips with IEEE 802.11ac support	ac	(since 3.11)^[6]	^[7]	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	ath11k	Qualcomm Atheros chips with IEEE 802.11ax support	ax	(since 5.6)^[8]	^[9]	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	carl9170	Qualcomm Atheros AR9170 (802.11n USB)	a/b/g/n	(since 3.0)	^[10]	GPL	Qualcomm Atheros-supported
	wil6210	Wilocity wil6210, 802.11ad 60GHz	ad			ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
atmel	atmel	Atmel at76c502 at76c504 and at76c506 wireless cards	b			GPLv2+	Reverse-engineered
b43	b43	Some Broadcom 43xx	a/b/g/n	(since 2.6.24)	Experimental OSS firmware^[11]	GPL	Reverse-engineered
b43legacy	b43legacy	Broadcom 4301, 4303, and 4306 revisions 1 and 2	a/b/g	(since 2.6.24)	Experimental OSS firmware	GPL	Reverse-engineered
brcm80211	brcmfmac	PCIe devices: Broadcom 4356, 43567, 43570, 4358, 4359, 43602, 4365, 4366 SDIO devices: Broadcom 4329, 4330, 4334, 43340, 43341, 43241, 4335, 4339, 43362, 43430, 43455, 4354, 43143 USB devices: Broadcom 43235, 43236, 43238, 43143, 43242, 43566, 43569	a/b/g/n	(since 3.2)		ISC	Written by Broadcom
	brcmsmac	Broadcom 4313, 43224, 43225	a/b/g/n	(since 3.2)		ISC	Written by Broadcom
cw1200	cw1200	ST-Ericsson CW1100 & CW1200 WLAN chipsets		(since 3.11)^[12]	^[13]	GPLv2	?
hostap	HostAP	Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5, PRISM 3			Depends on the model^[14]	GPLv2
ipw2x00	ipw2x00	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 and 2200 Network Connection 802.11b			^[15]	GPL	Written by Intel
iwlegacy	iwlegacy	Intel Wireless WiFi 3945ABG, 4965AGN				GPL
iwlwifi	iwlwifi	Intel Wireless WiFi Next Gen AGN - Wireless-N/Advanced-N/Ultimate-N: 6250AGN, 6200AGN, 6300AGN, 1000BGN, 5150AGN, 5100AGN, 5300AGN, 5350AGN, 6005, 6030, 6150BGN, 100BGN and 130BGN, 2000	a/b/g/n/ac/ax			Dual GPL/BSD	Written by Intel
libertas	libertas	Marvell 88W8686 SDIO Libertas 8388 (USB) 802.11b/g, 8385 (CompactFlash) 802.11b/g, 8385/8686/8688 (SDIO) 802.11b/g, 8686 (SPI) 802.11b/g 88W8388			^[16]	GPL	Marvell-supported
libertas_tf	libertastf	Marvell 8388 (USB) WLAN Thinfirm Driver (OLPC)	b/g			GPL	cozybit, Marvell-supported
mt76	mt76	MediaTek MT76x0U, MT76x2U	a/b/g/n/ac/ax	(since 4.19^[17])		ISC	With support from MediaTek
mt7601u	mt7601u	MediaTek MT7601U	b/g/n	(since 4.2)		GPLv2
mwifiex	mwifiex	WiFi-Ex Driver for Marvell SD8786/SD8787/SD8797 (SDIO), 8766/8897 (PCIe) and 88W8797 (USB)			^[18]	GPLv2	Written by Marvell
mwl8k	mwl8k	Marvell TOPDOG 802.11 Wireless cards: 88W8366, 88W8863, 88W8687, 88W8764				GPLv2	Written by Marvell
orinoco	orinoco	Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11B			Required for WPA support^[19]
prism54-p54	p54	Prism54 Intersil/Conexant ISL3877, ISL3880, ISL3886, ISL3887, ISL3890		(~Aug 2007)	Experimental OSS firmware^[20]
	prism54		(before 2.6.12)		Reverse-engineered; obsoleted by p54.
rt2x00	rt2400pci	MediaTek (Ralink) RT2460	b	(since 2.6.24)	^[21]	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com; From partial documentation and GPL drivers by Ralink
	rt2500pci	RT2560	b/g			GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	rt61pci	RT2561, RT2561S, RT2661				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	rt2800pci	RT2760, RT2790, RT2860, RT2880, RT2890, RT3052, RT3090, RT3091, RT3092 RT3390, RT3060, RT3062, RT3562, RT3592, RT5390, RT3290				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	rt2500usb	RT2571 & RT2572	b/g			GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	rt73usb	RT2571W, RT2573 & RT2671				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	rt2800usb	RT2770, RT2870 & RT3070, RT3071 & RT3072 RT3370, RT3572, RT5370, RT5572				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
rtl818x	rtl8180	RTL8180, RTL8185, RTL8187SE	b/g			GPL
	rtl8187	RTL8187, RTL8187B	a/b/g			GPL
rtl8xxxu	rtl819x	RTL8723AU, RTL8723BU, RTL8188CUS, RTL8192CU, RTL8191EU, RTL8192EU, RTL8188EU, RTL8188RU, RTL8188FU, RTL8192FU	b/g/n			GPLv2	fan-made, based on open source drivers released by Realtek
rtlwifi rtl‑wifi	rtl8188ee	Realtek		(since 2.6.38)^[22]		GPL	Written by Realtek et al. Forked from rtl8180-sa2400 project.
	rtl8192c					GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtl8192ce					GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtl8192cu					GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtl8192de					GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtl8192se					GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtl8723ae					GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtl8188eu	RTL8188EU e.g. in the TP-Link TL-WN725N		(since 3.12^[23] ^[24])		GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtl8821ae	RTL8812AE, RTL8821AE	ac	(since 3.16)		GPL
rtw88	rtw88_8822ce	RTL8822CE	b/g/n/ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8822be	RTL8822BE	b/g/n/ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8821ce	RTL8821CE	b/g/n/ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8723de	RTL8723DE	b/g/n			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8822cu	RTL8822CU	b/g/n/ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8822bu	RTL8822BU	b/g/n/ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8821cu	RTL8821CU	b/g/n/ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8723du	RTL8723DU	b/g/n			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw89	rtw89_8852ce	RTL8852CE	b/g/n/ac/ax			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw89_8852ae	RTL8852AE	b/g/n/ac/ax			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw89_8852be	RTL8852BE	b/g/n/ac/ax			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rsi9113	RSI9113	Redpine Signals SDIO, USB adapters				GPL	Written by Redpine Signals Inc.
ti	wl1251	Texas Instruments TI wl1251 (SDIO/SPI)			^[25]	GPL	Written by Nokia
	wl12xx	Texas Instruments TI wl1271, wl1273, wl1281 and wl1283		(Only up to 3.2^[26])		GPL	Written by Nokia and Texas Instruments
	wl18xx	Texas Instruments TI WiLink 8				GPL	Written by Texas Instruments
zd1211rw	zd1211rw	ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B (USB)			^[27]	GPL	various

Driver capabilities

Driver	802.11							Bus interface	Wireless Security			Monitor mode	Master (AP) mode	Ad-Hoc mode	IEEE802.11s
	a	b	g	n	ac	ad	ax		WEP	WPA	WPA2
acx1xx								PCI, Mini PCI, PC card, USB
adm8211								PCI
carl9170								USB
ath5k								PCI, Mini PCI, PC card, AHB					(2.6.31)
ath9k								PCI, Mini PCI, Mini PCIe, AHB
ath9k_htc								USB
ath10k								PCI, Mini PCI, AHB, Mini PCIe
b43								PCI, Mini PCI, SDIO ?
bcm43xx								PCI, Mini PCI, Cardbus, PC card
brcmfmac								USB, SDIO, PCI Express				Exp. ^[28]	^[29]
brcmsmac								PCI, Mini PCI, Mini PCIe					^[30]	^[31]
hostap								PCI, Mini PCI, PC card		^[32]
ipw2100								Mini PCI
ipw2200								Mini PCI
ipw2200-ap								Mini PCI
ipw3945								Mini PCI, Mini PCIe
								PCI, USB
iwlwifi								Mini PCI, Mini PCIe, M.2					2.4 GHz only Exp.^[33] ^[34]
libertas								USB, CF, SDIO
madwifi								PCI, PC card, Mini PCI
mt76								PCIe, USB
mt7601u								USB
orinoco								Mini PCI, PC card		^[35]
p54								Mini PCI, USB, Cardbus
prism54								PCI
rndis_wlan								USB
rt2x00								PCI, USB, Mini PCI		^[36]	^[37]		^[38]
rtl8180								PCI, PC card, Mini PCI
rtl8187								USB
rtl8xxxu								USB					^[39]
rtw88								M.2, USB
rtw89								M.2
zd1201								USB		^[40]
zd1211								USB
zd1211rw								USB					^[41]

DragonFly BSD

Driver name	Chipset	Integration	Non-free firmware required	License	Original/Primary developer	Development
acx	Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111	Integrated since 1.5		BSD		Reverse engineering
an	Aironet 4500/4800	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)
ath	Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/AR5212/AR5416	Integrated		BSD
bwi	Broadcom BCM430x/4318	Integrated		BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau	Reverse engineering
iwi	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Reverse engineering
iwl	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Reverse engineering
iwm	Intel Dual Band Wireless AC3160/7260/8260/9260/9270/9560	Integrated	Integrated		BSD	OpenBSD
iwn	Intel 4965/1000/5000/ 5150/5300/6000/6050	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Reverse engineering
ral	Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/RT2600	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Ported from FreeBSD
rtw	Realtek RTL8180L	Integrated		BSD		Ported from NetBSD
rum	Ralink RT2501USB/RT2601USB	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Ported from FreeBSD
wi	Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN / ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-II, -2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11b	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)	Documentation based
wpi	Intel 3945ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Ported from OpenBSD

FreeBSD

Status

Driver	Chipset	Integration	Non-free firmware required	License	Original/Primary developer	Development
acx	Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111	Separate project		BSD		Reverse engineering
an	Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350, Xircom Wireless Ethernet	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)
arl	Aironet Arlan 655	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD
ath	Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212/ AR5416 /AR9130 /AR9160 /AR9280 /AR9285 /AR9287 /AR9565 (and derivatives)	Integrated		BSD	Originally by Atheros via Sam Leffler (FreeBSD); supported by the community	Documentation based
awi	AMD PCnetMobile	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD	Bill Sommerfeld (NetBSD) and Atsushi Onoe (NetBSD)
bwi	Broadcom BCM43xx/4318	Integrated since 8.0		BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau (DragonFly BSD), Andrew Thompson (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	Ported from DragonFly BSD
bwn	Broadcom BCM43xx/4318 v4 firmware	Integrated since 8.1		BSD	Weongyo Jeong	?
cnw	Netwave AirSurfer	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD	Imported from NetBSD
ipw	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Reverse engineering
iwi	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Reverse engineering
iwm	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 / 3165 / 7260 / 7265 / 8260	?	?		?	?
iwn	Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 ABGN/ 5100/ 5300/ 5350/ 1000Intel Centrino 6000/ 6150/ 6200/ 6205/ 6230/ 6250/ 6300	Integrated since 8.0 / Available for 7.1 and above as separate patch		BSD	Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close, Sam Leffler (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Reverse engineering
malo	Marvell 88W8335	Integrated		BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)
mwl	Marvell 88W8363	Integrated since 8.0	^[42]	BSD	Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	?
ral	Ralink Technology RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600/RT3090/RT3592	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Based on partial documentation
ray	Raytheon Raylink/Webgear Aviator	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD	Imported from NetBSD
rsu	Realtek RTL8188SU/RTL8192SU	Integrated since 10.0		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD), Imported from OpenBSD by Rui Paulo	?
rum	Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB	Integrated		BSD	Niall O'Higgins and Damien Bergamini	Based on partial documentation
run	Ralink RT2700U/ RT2800U/ RT3000U	Integrated since 8.1		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD), Imported from OpenBSD by Akinori Furukoshi	Based on partial documentation
uath	Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX	Integrated since 8.0	^[43]	BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	?
upgt	GW3887 (Conexant/Intersil PrismGT series)	Integrated since 8.0		BSD	Imported from OpenBSD	Reverse engineering
ural	Ralink Technology RT2500USB	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Based on partial documentation
urtw	Realtek RTL8187L/ RTL8187B	Integrated since 8.0	^[44]	BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD)	?
urtwn	Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8188EU/RTL8192CU	Integrated since 10.0		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/FreeBSD)	Reverse engineering
wi	Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11B (Symbol support removed in 8.0)	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)	Documentation based
wpi	Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close	Reverse engineering
zyd	ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B	Integrated		BSD	Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini and Jonathan Gray (OpenBSD)	Documentation based

Driver capabilities

Driver	802.11	Bus interface	WEP	WPA	WPA2	Monitor mode	Master mode	Ad-Hoc mode
acx	802.11a?, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI		?	?	?	?
an	802.11b	Cardbus, PCI, ISA		?	?	?	?
arl	N/A	ISA	?	?	?	?	?	?
ath	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI
awi	N/A	PC Card	?	?	?	?
bwi	802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
cnw	N/A	Cardbus	?	?	?	?	?	?
ipw	802.11b	Mini PCI
iwi	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCI
iwn	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Mini PCI
malo	802.11b, 802.11g	PCI
mwl	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	PCI
ral	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI
ray	N/A	PC Card	?	?	?
rum	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
run	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
uath	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
upgt	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
ural	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
urtw	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
wi	802.11b	PC Card, Cardbus, PCI		(since 8.0)	(since 8.0)	(since 8.0?)
wpi	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCI
zyd	802.11b, 802.11g	USB

NetBSD

Driver	Chipset	Integration	Free firmware^[45]	License	Original/Primary developer	Development methodologies	Free software^[46]
an	Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)	Ported from FreeBSD
ath	Atheros AR521*/ AR2413/ AR2417/ AR5413/ AR5416/ AR5424/ AR9160	Integrated		BSD	Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	Binary blobs ported from FreeBSD
athn	Atheros AR5008 up to the AR9287	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
atu	Atmel at76c503/ at76c503a/ at76c505/ at76c505a	Integrated		BSD	Dan Vreeken (FreeBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
atw	ADMtek ADM8211	Integrated		BSD	David Young (NetBSD)
awi	AMD PCnetMobile	Integrated		BSD
bwi	Broadcom BCM430x/4318	Integrated		BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau (DragonflyBSD)	Ported from Dragonfly BSD
cnw	Netwave AirSurfer	Integrated		BSD
ipw	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
iwi	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
iwm	Intel Wireless WiFi 7260, 7265, 3160	Integrated		BSD	Antti Kantee (NetBSD)
iwn	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965/ 5000/ 1000/ 6000	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
malo	Marvell 88W8335/88W8310	Integrated		BSD	Claudio Jeker (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
otus	Atheros AR9001U	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
ral	Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600/ RT2500USB/RT3592	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
ray	Raytheon Raylink / WebGear Aviator	Integrated		BSD	Christian E. Hopps (NetBSD)
rtw	Realtek RTL8180L	Integrated		BSD	David Young (NetBSD)
rtwn	Realtek RTL8188CE and RTL8192CE	Integrated		BSD	Stefan Sperling (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
run	Ralink RT2700U, RT2800U and RT3000U	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
upgt	Conexant/Intersil PrismGT SoftMAC USB IEEE 802.11b/g	Integrated		BSD	Marcus Glocker (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
urtw	Realtek RTL8187B/L	Integrated		BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD)	Ported from FreeBSD
urtwn	Realtek RTL8188CUS, RTL8188CE-VAU, RTL8188EUS, RTL8188RU, and RTL8192CU	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
wi	Lucent Technologies WaveLAN/IEEE and PRISM-II 802.11	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul
wpi	Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD
zyd	ZyDAS ZD1211/ ZD1211B	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD

OpenBSD

The following is an incomplete list of supported wireless devices:

Status

Driver	Chipset	Integration	Free firmware	License	Original/Primary developer	Development	Free software
acx	Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111	Integrated	^[47]	BSD	Ported from DragonFlyBSD	Reverse engineering
an	Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350	Integrated		BSD
ath	Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212	Integrated		BSD		Reverse engineering
athn	Atheros AR5416/AR9160/AR928X	Integrated (since 4.7)	^[48]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Partly based on the ath9k driver for Linux
atu	Atmel AT76C503/ AT76C503A/ AT76C505/ AT76C505A	Integrated	^[49]	BSD		Reverse engineering
atw	ADMtek ADM8211	Integrated		BSD		Documentation based
awi	BayStack 650	2.7 to 4.3		BSD
bwfm	Broadcom and Cypress IEEE 802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n wireless network device	6.3+		BSD	Patrick Wildt		Yes
bwi	Broadcom BCM430x/4318	Integrated		BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau	Ported from DragonFly BSD
cnw	NetWave AirSurfer	2.6 to 6.0		BSD
ipw	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated	^[50]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
iwi	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG	Integrated	^[51]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
iwn	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965/ 5000/ 1000/ 6000	Integrated	^[52]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
iwm	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3160ac/ 7260ac/ 7265ac	Integrated (since 5.8)	^[53]	BSD	Antti Kantee,^[54] Stefan Sperling	Based on iwn, and iwlwifi driver released by Intel for Linux under dual GPLv2/BSD license^[55]
malo	Marvell 88W8335/ 88W8310	Integrated	^[56]	BSD	Marcus Glocker and Claudio Jeker	Reverse engineering^[57]
otus	Atheros AR9170	Integrated (since 4.6)	^[58]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Based on source code released by Atheros for Linux under the ISC
pgt	Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC ISL3877, ISL3880, and ISL3890 chips	Integrated	^[59]	BSD	Ported from FreeBSD	Reverse engineering
ral/ural	Ralink RT2500, RT2501, RT2600, RT2700, RT2800, RT3090, RT3292, RT3592 and RT5390 (ral), RT2500USB (ural)	Integrated	^[60]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Documentation based
ray	Raytheon Raylink/WebGear Aviator IEEE 802.11FH	2.7 to 5.4		BSD
rsu	Realtek RTL8188SU/RTL8191SU/RTL8192SU	Integrated (since 4.9)		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
rtw	Realtek RTL8180L	Integrated		BSD	Ported from NetBSD	Documentation based
rtwn	Realtek RTL8188CE/RTL8192CE	Integrated	^[61]	BSD	Stefan Sperling	Based on urtwn driver.
rum	Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB	Integrated	^[62]	BSD	Niall O'Higgins and Damien Bergamini	Documentation based
run	Ralink RT2700U/ RT2800U/ RT3000U	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Documentation based
uath	Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX	Integrated	^[63]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse Engineering^[64]
upgt	GW3887 (Conexant/Intersil PrismGT series)	Integrated	^[65]	BSD	Marcus Glocker	Reverse engineering
urtw	Realtek RTL8187L	Integrated		BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD)	?
urtwn	Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8192CU	Integrated (since 4.9)		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
wi	Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24	Integrated	Yes for Spectrum24^[66] and N/A for others	BSD	Bill Paul	Documentation based
wpi^[67]	Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated	^[68]	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
zyd	ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B	Integrated	^[69]	BSD	Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini, and Jonathan Gray	Documentation based

Driver capabilities

Driver	802.11	Bus interface	WEP	WPA	WPA2	Monitor mode	Master mode	Ad-Hoc mode
acx	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
an	802.11b	PC Card, PCI, ISA
ath	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
athn	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Cardbus, PCI-E, Mini PCIE
atu	802.11b	USB
atw	802.11b	Cardbus, PCI
bwfm	802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n	PCI, USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
bwi	802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
cnw	N/A	PC Card
ipw	802.11b	PCI
iwi	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	PCI
iwn	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	PCI-E, Mini PCIE
iwm	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	PCI-E, Mini PCIE
malo	802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PC Card, PCI
otus	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
pgt	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
ral	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI
ray	N/A	PC Card
rtw	802.11b	Cardbus, PCI
rtwn	802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCIE
rum	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
run	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
uath	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
upgt	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
ural	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
urtw	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
urtwn	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
wi	802.11b	PC Card, PCI, USB
wpi	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	PCI
zyd	802.11b, 802.11g	USB

Solaris and OpenSolaris

Driver	Chipset	Integration	Free firmware	License	Development	Free software
ath^[70] ^[71]	Atheros AR5211/ AR5212/ AR5213/ AR5214	Integrated with Solaris Nevada build 29	No firmware required	Dual GPL/BSD with proprietary HAL	Port of Madwifi
ipw	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Community project		BSD	Ported from OpenBSD
iwi	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG	Community project		BSD	Ported from OpenBSD
pcan	Cisco Aironet 340/350	Community project		BSD	Ported from FreeBSD
pcwl	Lucent/Agere Systems Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), Intersil PRISM-2 802.11b	Community project		BSD	Ported from FreeBSD
ral	Ralink RT2500	Community project		BSD	Ported from OpenBSD
rtw	Realtek RTL8180L	Community project		BSD	Ported from NetBSD
malo	Marvell 88W8335/ 88W8310	Community project		BSD	Ported from OpenBSD
wpi	Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Community project		BSD	Ported from OpenBSD
iwk	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN	Community project		BSD	Ported from OpenBSD
arn	Atheros 9000	Community project		BSD	based on ath9k
rwd	Ralink RT2561/RT2561S/RT2661	Community project		BSD
rwn	Ralink RT2700/2800	Community project		BSD
urtw	Realtek RTL8187L/B USB	Community project		BSD
atu	Atmel AT76C50x	Community project		BSD
mwl	Marvell 88W8363	Community project		BSD
ural	Ralink RT2500USB	Community project		BSD
zyd	ZyDAS ZD1211 chipsets	Community project		BSD	Ported from OpenBSD

Darwin, OpenDarwin and macOS

Driver	Chipset	Free firmware	License	Development
IWIDarwin	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100/2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG/3945ABG/4965AGN		GPL	Port from Linux
WirelessDriver^[72]	Lucent/Agere Systems Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), Intersil PRISM-2 802.11b		BSD
Web site: GTdriver. https://web.archive.org/web/20210614170929/http://gtdriver.binaervarianz.de/. 2021-06-14. dead.	PRISM-GT 802.11b/g		GPL

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
• https://web.archive.org/web/20070927014705/http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2084
• https://web.archive.org/web/20060908050351/http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Rt2x00_beta
• http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Wireless.html
• rt2x00 README from cvs
• https://lkml.org/lkml/2007/2/9/323

External links

• Seattle Wireless Linux drivers
• Seattle Wireless Mac OS drivers
• wireless.kernel.org Wiki
• Current Stable Linux kernel: Wireless
• Open Documentation for Hardware, a 2006 presentation by Theo de Raadt

Notes and References

1. 'On Device' means firmware is stored in device at all times
2. The card doesn't have a host CPU and so it doesn't require a firmware source
3. Web site: ath9k_htc. debian.org. 1 May 2015.
4. https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 commit of ath10k to kernel 2.6.35
5. Web site: qca/open-ath9k-htc-firmware. GitHub. 1 May 2015.
6. https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=5e3dd157d7e70f0e3cea3f2573ed69fb156a19d5 commit of ath10k to Kernel 3.11
7. https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/ath10k/firmware The chipsets do require a non-free firmware, as of 12/8/2013, volunteer developers should contact Luis R. Rodriguez, mcgrof at frijolero.org to help with changing this, code clean ups, and release)
8. https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d ath11k: driver for Qualcomm IEEE 802.11ax devices
9. https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath11k The chipsets do require a non-free firmware
10. Web site: en:users:drivers:carl9170 [Linux Wireless]]. kernel.org. 1 May 2015.
11. See openfwwf project for open-source firmware. This firmware lacks support for QoS and hardware cryptography.
12. http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_3.11-DriversArch#head-55b108ef9d4cab96ff8a30e9906a6079628c49d3 Kernel Newbies 3.11 network driver documentation.
13. https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENCE.cw1200 CW1200 Licence file at linux-firmware.
14. Web site: 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.
15. Web site: Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver Firmware. sourceforge.net. 1 May 2015.
16. Web site: #46 (Eliminate dependency on licensed code in Marvell firmware.) – One Laptop Per Child – Trac . Dev.laptop.org . 2006-12-14 . 2013-07-12 . 2021-02-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210224132543/http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/46 . dead .
17. Phoronix, Intel IWLWIFI Adding 802.11ax Support In Linux 4.19, 5 August 2018
18. Web site: README\mwifiex\marvell\wireless\net\drivers - kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git - Linux kernel stable tree. kernel.org. 15 September 2018.
19. Web site: orinoco - Linux Wireless . Wireless.kernel.org . 2012-12-09.
20. There is a Free software firmware called FreeMAC
21. see the license of the firmware to see which chipsets need a firmware
22. https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi?id=0c8173385e549f95cd80c3fff5aab87b4f881d8d 2010-12-15: add rtl-wifi and support for RTL8192CE
23. Web site: rtl8188eu.
24. Web site: rtl8188eu header files.
25. Web site: ti-connectivity - kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git - Repository of firmware blobs for use with the Linux kernel. git.kernel.org. 23 March 2018.
26. Web site: Configuring WL1271 for a 3.13 kernel (devicetree) - WiLink™ WiFi + Bluetooth Forum - Wireless Connectivity - TI E2E Community. ti.com. 1 May 2015.
27. http://sourceforge.net/projects/zd1211/files/zd1211-firmware/ ZD1211 USB WLAN Linux Driver Firmware
28. Web site: seemoo-lab/nexmon. GitHub. 23 March 2018.
29. Web site: Supports SoftAP. kernel.org. 19 Sep 2017.
30. https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=492b71e8d468102372969705b65845f5e57038c5 2013-03-27 brcmsmac: activate AP support
31. Web site: kernel/git/next/linux-next.git - The linux-next integration testing tree. kernel.org. 1 May 2015.
32. Requires station firmware 1.7.4 or later.
33. Web site: en:users:drivers:iwlwifi [Linux Wireless]]. kernel.org. 1 May 2015.
34. Web site: en:users:drivers:iwlwifi [Linux Wireless]]. wireless.wiki.kernel.org. 23 March 2018.
35. WPA+TKIP with Hermes (Lucent/Agere Systems) chipsets only. Requires 2.6.28-rc1 or later kernel and v9.42 or later firmware from userspace.
36. except for the rt2400 chipset; only the rt2500 chipset and the rt2570 chipset are supported
37. Web site: one user reported that WPA2 works with rt61pci . My.opera.com . 2012-12-09.
38. http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers and also at least two users reported success with master mode http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=33498#p33498 http://my.opera.com/CrazyTerabyte/blog/2009/10/23/wi-fi-with-master-mode-finally
39. Web site: [PATCH v4 17/18] wifi: rtl8xxxu: Declare AP mode support for 8188f ]. lore.kernel.org . 2024-01-08.
40. Web site: Bug 5631 – zd1201 and wpa support . Bugzilla.kernel.org . 2012-12-09.
41. Web site: Master mode supported in zd1211rw since 2.6.39 . Git.kernel.org . 2018-09-15.
42. Web site: [base] Contents of /head/sys/contrib/dev/mwl/LICENSE |publisher=Svn.freebsd.org |access-date=2012-12-09].
43. Web site: [base] Contents of /head/sys/contrib/dev/uath/ar5523.bin.uu |publisher=Svn.freebsd.org |access-date=2012-12-09].
44. Web site: [base] Contents of /head/sys/dev/usb/wlan/if_urtw.c |publisher=Svn.freebsd.org |access-date=2012-12-09].
45. '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
46. 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
47. Web site: Manual Pages: acx . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
48. Web site: "Move athn(4) USB devices to the open source atk9k HTC firmware." . Openbsd.org . 2018-02-05 . 2018-02-05.
49. Web site: atu-license . BSD Cross Reference, OpenBSD.
50. Web site: Manual Pages: ipw . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
51. Web site: Manual Pages: iwi . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
52. Web site: Manual Pages: iwn . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
53. Web site: Manual Pages: iwm . Openbsd.org .
54. Web site: I was contracted to write a driver for the Intel 3160/726x wireless chips, a driver which became iwm(4). beastie.pl. 2015-10-14. 2016-02-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20160222082127/http://beastie.pl/deweloperzy-netbsd-7-0-antti-kantee/. 2016-02-22. dead.
55. Web site: Add iwm(4), a new driver for Intel 7260 wifi cards.. Openbsd.org . 2015-02-06 . 2016-02-21.
56. Web site: Manual Pages: malo . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
57. Web site: Developer Blog – mglocker@: New WLAN drivers on the upswing . Undeadly.org . 2012-12-09.
58. Web site: Manual Pages: otus(4) . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
59. Web site: Manual Pages: pgt(4) . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
60. Web site: ral-license . BSD Cross Reference, OpenBSD.
61. Web site: Manual Pages: rtwn . Openbsd.org .
62. Web site: rum-license (covers rum-rt2573 for rum(4), as well as run-rt2870 and run-rt3071 for run(4)) . BSD Cross Reference, OpenBSD.
63. Web site: Manual Pages: uath . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
64. Web site: OpenBSD reverse engineers more wireless drivers . Undeadly.org . 2004-04-02 . 2012-12-09.
65. Web site: Manual Pages: upgt(4) . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
66. Web site: symbol-license . BSD Cross Reference, OpenBSD.
67. There is more details about the port at kerneltrap
68. Web site: Manual Pages: wpi . Openbsd.org . 2012-09-17 . 2012-12-09.
69. Web site: zd1211-licence . BSD Cross Reference, OpenBSD.
70. it's not the same driver that the OpenBSD ath driver it's a port from Madwifi to OpenSolaris
71. http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/wireless/ath/license.txt source
72. Web site: Seattle Wireless WirelessDriver Support Wiki . Seattlewireless.net . 2010-08-15 . 2012-12-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120205070925/http://www.seattlewireless.net/WirelessDriver . 2012-02-05 .