Comparison of open source wireless drivers

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Contents

[edit] General information

A lot of drivers are missing from this comparison.

[edit] Linux

Driver Chipset Kernel integration Free firmware[1] License Development Free software[2]
acx100 TI acx100, acx111, TNETW1450? No, Separate project  ? Dual BSD/MPL Reverse engineered Yes
? Atmel at76c50x Yes, integrated ?,external firmware GPL ? Yes
ath-driver[3] Atheros No, Separate project No firmware required[4] Reverse engineered Yes
MadWifi Atheros No, Separate project, will never be integrated because of the binary HAL No firmware required[4] Dual GPL/BSD with proprietary HAL[5] Atheros supported No[6]
bcm43xx Broadcom 43xx Yes, Integrated since 2.6.17 No GPL Reverse engineered Yes
? Cisco/Aironet 34X/35X/4500/4800 Yes, Integrated GPL ? Yes
ipw2100 Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Yes, Integrated No GPL Intel supported Yes
ipw2200 Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG Yes, Integrated No GPL Intel supported Yes
ipw3945 Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG No, Separate project No GPL with proprietary binary regulatory daemon Intel supported No[7]
Prism54 Intersil ISL38xx (FullMAC) Yes, Integrated No[8] GPL Yes
islsm Intersil ISL38xx (SoftMAC) Yes, Integrated No[8] GPL Reverse engineered Yes
rt2x00 Ralink rt2400/rt2500 No, Integrated in the deviscape branch only(no official integration) Yes GPL Ralink supported Yes
rtl8180+sa2400 Realtek RTL8180, sa2400/grf5101/max2820, RTL8185/RTL8187, RTL8225 ? N/A GPL Realtek supported Yes
rt73 ? No ? ? Realtek supported Yes
ZyDAS ZD1201 Yes, Integrated ?, external firmware GPL Yes
Zd1211rw ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B Yes, Integrated since 2.6.18 ?, external firmware GPL Reverse engineered Yes

[edit] DragonFly BSD

Driver Chipset Integration Free firmware[1] License Original/Primary developer Development methodologies Free software[2]
acx TI ACX100/ACX111 Integrated since 1.5 No BSD Reverse engineering Yes
an Aironet 4500/4800 Integrated N/A BSD Bill Paul (FreeBSD) Yes
ath Atheros AR5210/AR5211/AR5212 Integrated N/A BSD with proprietary HAL Binary blobs No
ipw Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) Reverse engineering Yes
iwi Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) Reverse engineering Yes
wi Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), Intersil PRISM-II, Intersil PRISM-2.5, Spectrum24 802.11B Integrated N/A BSD Bill Paul (FreeBSD) Documentation-based Yes

[edit] FreeBSD

Driver Chipset Integration Free firmware[1] License Original/Primary developer Development methodologies Free software[2]
acx TI ACX100/ACX111 Separate project No BSD Reverse engineering Yes[9]
an Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350, Xircom Wireless Ethernet Integrated N/A BSD Bill Paul (FreeBSD) Yes
arl Aironet Arlan 655 Integrated N/A BSD Yes
ath Atheros AR5210/AR5211/AR5212 Integrated N/A BSD with proprietary HAL Supported by Atheros via Sam Leffler (FreeBSD) Binary blob as with MadWiFi No
awi AMD PCnetMobile Integrated N/A BSD Bill Sommerfeld (NetBSD) and Atsushi Onoe (NetBSD) Yes
cnw Netwave AirSurfer Integrated N/A BSD Imported from NetBSD Yes
ipw Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/FreeBSD) Reverse engineering Yes
iwi Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/FreeBSD) Reverse engineering Yes
ral Ralink Technology RT2500 Integrated N/A BSD Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/FreeBSD) Documentation-based Yes
ural Ralink Technology RT2500USB Integrated N/A BSD Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/FreeBSD) Documentation-based Yes
ray Raytheon Raylink/Webgear Aviator Integrated N/A BSD Imported from NetBSD Yes
wi Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11B Integrated N/A BSD Bill Paul (FreeBSD) Documentation-based Yes

[edit] NetBSD

Some information in this I believe that quite a few firmware claims in the NetBSD section are false. A competent person must check if the claims are correct. Understand that this section has not been verified and may not be reliable.
Please check for any inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.

Unless otherwise noted, these drivers are included in NetBSD 3.0.

Driver Chipset Integration Free firmware[1] License Original/Primary developer Development methodologies Free software[2]
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
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
ral Ralink RT2500/RT2501/RT2600/RT2500USB Integrated in -current only 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 Yes
wi Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), Intersil PRISM II Integrated N/A BSD Ported from FreeBSD Yes
wpi Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Integrated in -current only No BSD Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD) Ported from OpenBSD Yes

[edit] 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 Free firmware[1] License Original/Primary developer Development methodologies Free software[2]
acx TI ACX100/ACX111 Integrated No BSD Reverse engineering Yes
an Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350 Integrated N/A BSD Yes
ath Atheros AR5210/AR5211/AR5212 Integrated No firmware required[4] BSD Reverse engineering Yes
atu Atmel AT76C503/AT76C503A/AT76C505/AT76C505A Integrated Yes [2] BSD Reverse engineering Yes
atw ADMtek ADM8211 Integrated N/A BSD Documentation-based Yes
awi BayStack 650 Integrated N/A BSD Yes
bcw Broadcom bcm43xx Integrated N/A BSD Reverse engineering [3] Yes
cnw Netwave AirSurfer Integrated N/A BSD Yes
ipw Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini Reverse engineering Yes
iwi Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini Reverse engineering Yes
malo Marvell 88W8335 Integrated No BSD Reverse engineering [4] Yes
pgt Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC ISL3877, ISL3880, and ISL3890 chips Integrated No BSD Reverse engineering Yes
ral/ural Ralink RT2500/RT2501/RT2600 (ral), RT2500USB (ural) Integrated Yes [5] BSD Damien Bergamini Documentation-based Yes
ray Raytheon Raylink/WebGear Aviator IEEE 802.11FH Integrated No BSD Yes
rtw Realtek RTL8180L Integrated N/A BSD Documentation-based Yes
rum Ralink RT2501USB/RT2601USB Integrated Yes [6] BSD Niall O'Higgins and Damien Bergamini Documentation-based Yes
uath Atheros AR5005UG/AR5005UX Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini black-box analysis of the Windows binary driver [7] Yes
wi Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24 Integrated Yes for Spectrum24 [8] and N/A for others BSD Bill Paul Documentation-based Yes
wpi[10] Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Integrated No BSD Damien Bergamini Reverse engineering Yes
zyd ZyDAS ZD1211 Integrated Yes [9] BSD Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini and Jonathan Gray Documentation-based Yes

[edit] Solaris and OpenSolaris

Driver Chipset Integration Free firmware[1] License Development Free software[2]
ath[11][12] Atheros AR5211/AR5212/AR5213/AR5214 Integrated with Solaris Nevada build 29 No firmware required[4] 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), Intersil PRISM-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

[edit] Darwin, OpenDarwin and Mac OS X

Driver Chipset Free firmware[1] License Development Free software[2]
iwi2200 Darwin Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG No BSD Port from OpenBSD Yes
WirelessDriver[13] Lucent/Agere Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), Intersil PRISM-2 802.11b N/A BSD Yes

[edit] Driver capabilities

[edit] Linux

Driver 802.11 Bus interface WEP WPA Monitor mode Master
ath 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g ? Yes No Yes Yes
ath-driver ? ? ? ? ?
MadWifi 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g PCI, Mini PCI, PCMCIA, Cardbus Yes Yes Yes Yes
bcm43xx 802.11b, 802.11g PCI, Mini PCI, PCMCIA, Cardbus Yes Yes Yes Work in progress
ipw2100 802.11b Mini PCI Yes Yes Yes ?
ipw2200 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g Mini PCI Yes Yes Yes ?
ipw3945 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g ? Yes Yes Yes ?
Prism54 802.11b, 802.11g PCI Yes No Yes Yes
islsm ? USB ? ? ? ?
rt2x00 802.11b, 802.11g PCI, Mini PCI, USB Yes Yes [14] Yes No [15]
Zd1211rw 802.11b, 802.11g USB Yes Yes Yes No

[edit] OpenBSD

Driver 802.11 Bus interface WEP WPA Monitor mode Master
ral,ural 802.11b, 802.11g PCI, Mini PCI, USB Yes ? Yes Yes

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g '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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g in terms of no binary-only requirements that are imposed by the driver, i.e. you can modify all code that is run on your CPU
  3. ^ it doesn't work yet
  4. ^ a b c d The card doesn't have a host cpu and so it doesn't require a firmware source
  5. ^ The proprietary HAL can be replaced by a port of the OpenHAl(from the BSD ath driver) to linux
  6. ^ Their binary HAL runs in kernel mode
  7. ^ userspace binary-only daemon is required
  8. ^ a b There is a Free software firmware called FreeMAC,but it's not yet ready for non developers use
  9. ^ acx(4) for FreeBSD uses a 4-clause BSD licence, which requires that all advertising materials mentioning it give credit for it; the Free Software Foundation says this makes it incompatible with the GPL [1]
  10. ^ There is more details about the port at kerneltrap
  11. ^ it's not the same driver that the OpenBSD ath driver it's a port from Madwifi to OpenSolaris
  12. ^ source, I don't know if the HAL can be replaced with OpenHAL
  13. ^ Seattle Wireless WirelessDriver Support Wiki
  14. ^ exept yhe rt2400 card,that is the rt2500 and the rt2570
  15. ^ deviscape branch only

[edit] References

[edit] See also

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