What WiFi devices are expressly guaranteed by the manufacturers 
to work in Linux, and are actively supported?  

I know about ipw2000 and ndiswrapper and the wlan projects, that's
not what I'm asking.  I also know a long list of devices that work,
for certain definitions of "work", but what I'm looking for is the 
list of vendors that actually, formally, expressly, supports Linux.

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 01:20:11 +0000, james wrote:

> What WiFi devices are expressly guaranteed by the manufacturers 
> to work in Linux, and are actively supported?  
> 
> I know about ipw2000 and ndiswrapper and the wlan projects, that's
> not what I'm asking.  I also know a long list of devices that work,
> for certain definitions of "work", but what I'm looking for is the 
> list of vendors that actually, formally, expressly, supports Linux.

The venerable prism54 802.11g drivers are currently part of the Linux
kernel (Intersil released the code years ago under the GPL - might've
qualified for explicit support). Needs a proprietary binary firmware
though (the latest is a sorry excuse - get the second latest firmware). I
currently use a Netgear WG511 version 1 which uses this chipset. No WPA
support just yet, but it can be used in monitor mode and master mode.

Another chipset that has open source drivers are wifi cards that use the
Atheros chipset. It's famous for being used in last-mile wifi solutions.
Uses the madwifi drivers (as commissioned by Atheros - might qualify as
explicit support I guess...) and needs a binary HAL (to satisfy the FCC's
requirements). The Senao 3054, 5354, and the AT&T Plug and Share cards use
the Atheros chipset. No formal release - you'd need to grab the source via
CVS.

The Ralink RT2400 and 2500 have GPL'd drivers. Though it's still a young
project, the company that made the chip has released the code under the
GPL. The good thing about this chipset is that it doesn't need any binary
firmware. I use this with my other workstations (as it's cheap, locally
available, and has a long range like the Atheros cards). Supports WPA but
it doesn't yet do monitor or master modes (hopefully they'd get there).
The MSI PC54G2 uses the rt2500 chipset. I guess this would fall under your
qualification of explicit support.
-- 


Paolo Alexis Falcone
pfalcone@free.net.ph

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 01:20:11 GMT, james wrote:

> What WiFi devices are expressly guaranteed by the manufacturers 
> to work in Linux, and are actively supported?  
> 
> I know about ipw2000 and ndiswrapper and the wlan projects, that's
> not what I'm asking.  I also know a long list of devices that work,
> for certain definitions of "work", but what I'm looking for is the 
> list of vendors that actually, formally, expressly, supports Linux.

I could add one to the list perhaps.  I think the orinoco classic gold and
silver cards have been expressly determined by the manufacturer to work
with Linux.  I remember way back that one of the owners (orinoco, avaya,
proxim...) had drivers from their website that patched the pcmcia sources.
Now the support is built in.

I bet there are others as well.

-- 
Michael Perry | do or do not. There is no try. -Master Yoda
mperry@lnxpowered.org | http://www.lnxpowered.org