Wireless adapters/Chipset table

This page has, more or less, not been touched since 2012.
Category:Linux driver/802dot11 may be a bit more useful.

Wireless adapter (802.11b and later) chipsets and native Linux support

Manufacturer	Chipset	Driver	PHY Modes	Encrypt.	Station	Ad-hoc	AP	Mesh	Monitor	Inj.	Bus	Notes
ADMtek	ADM8211, ADM8211B	adm8211	b	WEP	?	?	?	?	?	?	PCI/CB	currently broken AFAIK adm8211
Agere	HERMES II (WL60010)	wlags49_h2	b	?	y	?	n	n	n	n	PCI/ PCMCIA	staging (vendor) driver wlags49_h2
Agere	HERMES II.5 (WL60040)	wlags49_h25	(a)/b/g	?	y	?	n	n	n	n	PCI/ PCMCIA	staging (vendor) driver, not all devices supported wlags49_h25
Airgo	AGN100/AGN300 pre-N	agnx	(a)b/g		n	n	n	n	n	n	PCI/CB	driver never completed, abandoned agnx
Airgo	AGN300 pre-N USB	none	b/g								USB 2.0	devices not common
Aironet / Cisco	4500, 4800, Cisco 340/350	airo	b	WEP, WPA-TKIP	y	?	?	n	y	n	ISA/PCI /PCMCIA	airo
ALi	M4301A	none	b								PCI/CB	devices not common (mainly WUSB11 v4)
AMD	Alchemy AM1772	none	b								PCI/CB	see this abomination
Atheros
Atheros	AR5000	ath5k	a		b	b	b	b	y	b	PCI/CB	tx support currently broken ath5k
Atheros	AR5001A-AR5007EG	ath5k	(a)/b/(g)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	PCI/PCIe /CB	ath5k
Atheros	AR5000-AR5007EG	madwifi	(a)/b/(g)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	?	y	?	PCI/PCIe /CB	superseded by ath5k
Atheros	AR5513 (Data Falcon)	none	(a)/b/g								PCI/CB	somewhat relevant
Atheros	AR5005U (AR5523)	ar5523	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	n	n	n	n	y	n	USB 2.0	driver never completed, 5GHz mode non-functional? ar5523
Atheros	AR5005U (AR5523)	athusbwlan	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	n	n	n	n	USB 2.0	obsolete vendor driver
Atheros	AR9001U (AR9170)	carl9170	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	n	y	y	USB 2.0	carl9170
Atheros	AR600x	ar6k	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	?	SDIO
Atheros	AR6003	ath6kl	a/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	n	n	?	SDIO	driver currently in staging 0271:0402 ath6kl
Atheros	AR9374	ath6kl	(a)/b/g/n								USB 2.0	0cf3:9375 ath6kl
Atheros	AR2427+AR5008 +AR900x	ath9k	(a)/b/g/(n)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	PCI/PCIe /CB	fcs check broken in monitor mode since ~2.6.33 ath9k
Atheros	AR9002U (AR9271, AR7010)	ath9k_htc	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	USB 2.0	0411:0197 ath9k_htc
Qualcomm Atheros	QCA6164, QCA6174, QCA9880 v2, QCA9882 v2 QCA9890 v2, QCA9892 v2	ath10k	a/b/g/n (+ac)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	n	y	y	PCIe	+3.11 (4.3) 168c:003e 168c:0041 ath10k
Qualcomm Atheros	Wilocity Wil6210 802.11ad 60GHz	wil6210	a/b/g/n (+ac+ad)								PCIe	wil6210
Qualcomm	WFB400	none	(a)/b/g/n								PCI/ PCIe/ CB/ USB 2.0	unknown if released, Airgo AGN400
Atmel
Atmel	AT76C502A	atmel	b	WEP	y	?	n	n	?	n	PCMCIA	atmel cs
Atmel	AT76C503A, AT76C505(A)	at76c50x-usb	b	WEP	y	n	n	n	beacons	n	USB 1.0	at76c50x-usb
Broadcom
Broadcom	BCM4301, BCM4307, BCM4306r2	b43legacy	b/(g)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	PCI/CB/ PCMCIA	ssb b43legacy
Broadcom	BCM4306r3, BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4309, BCM4318(E), BCM4321, BCM4322	b43	(a)/b/g/(n)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	PCI/PCIe /CB	ssb, no HT mode support b43
Broadcom	BCM43224, BCM43225, BCM4331	b43	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	PCIe	bcma, no HT mode support, no current 5GHz support b43
Broadcom	BCM4311, BCM4313, BCM4321, BCM4322, BCM4322x, BCM43225, BCM43227, BCM43228	wl	(a)/b/g/(n)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	n	n	n	PCIe	vendor driver wl
Broadcom	BCM4320 and other rndis variants	rndis_wlan	b/g		y	y	n	n	n	n	USB 2.0	rndis wlan
Broadcom	BCM4323x	none	(a)/b/g/n								USB 2.0	possible future support w/ brcmfmac? (probably not)
Broadcom	BCM43235, BCM43236, BCM43238 (chip revision dependent)	brcmfmac	(a)/b/g/n	y	?	?	?	?	n	n	USB 2.0	patch adding support recently added brcmfmac
Broadcom	BCM4326U	none	b/g								USB 2.0
Broadcom	BCM4329	brcmfmac	a/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	n	n	SDIO	brcmfmac
Broadcom	BCM43224, BCM43225	brcmsmac	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	y	?	PCIe	BCMA brcmsmac
Conexant
Conexant	CX53111	none	b/g								SDIO
Conexant	CX53822	none	(a)/b/g								CF
Envara	WiND502/512	none	(a)/b/g								USB 2.0	WiND512 (b/g) devices common
Inprocomm	IPN2120, IPN2220	none	b/(g)	?							PCI/CB
Inprocomm	IPN2128	none	b	?							SDIO
Intel
Intel	PRO/Wireless 2100B	ipw2100	b	?	y	y	n	n	y	?	PCI	ipw2100
Intel	PRO/Wireless 2200BG, 2915ABG	ipw2200	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	oot	n	?	?	PCI	ipw2200
Intel	PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	iwl3945	a/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	n	y	y	PCI	iwl3945
Intel	Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN	iwl4965	a/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	n	y	y	PCI	iwl4965
Intel	WiFi Link 5100, 5150, 5300, 5350 - Centrino 100, 130, 1000, 1030, 6150, 6200, 6250, 6300	iwlagn	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	n	y	y	PCI	iwlagn iwlwifi
Intel	IWMC3200 (Evans Peak)	iwmc3200	a/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	n	n	n	SDIO	iwmc3200
Intersil
Intersil	PRISM 2/2.5/3 PCI/CF/PCMCIA	hostap	b	?	y	?	y	n	y	y	PCI/CB /USB	hostap
Intersil	PRISM 2.5/3 USB	prism2_usb	b	WEP	y	?	n	n	y	b	PCI/CB /USB	staging driver from linux-wlan-ng prism2 usb
Intersil	ISL3877, ISL3880, ISL3890, ISL3886	p54pci	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	PCI/CB	p54pci
Intersil	ISL3880/ISL3886 + NET2280, ISL3887	p54usb	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	USB 2.0	p54usb
Lucent	HERMES I (WaveLAN /IEEE/ORiNOCO)	orinoco	b	WEP, WPA-TKIP	y	y	n	n	y	oot	PCI/ PCMCIA/ USB 1.0	no Bronze support orinoco orinoco usb
Marvell
Marvell (Libertas)	88W8310	none	b/g								PCI/CB
Marvell (Libertas)	88W8335	mrv8k	b/g								PCI/CB	mrv8k
Marvell (Libertas)	88W8338	none	b/g								USB 2.0
Marvell (Libertas)	88W8385, 88W8388, 88W8686	libertas	b/g	?	y	y	n	n	n	n	USB/CF /SDIO	libertas
Marvell (Libertas)	88W8388	libertas_tf	b/g	?	y	n	y	?	?	?	USB/CF /SDIO	OLPC XO-1, supports mesh
Marvell (TopDog)	88W8360, 88W8361, 88W8362 (USB), 88W8362E, 88W8363	none	(a)/b/g/n								PCI/PCIe/ CB/USB2.0
Marvell (TopDog/ Avastar*)	88W8366, 88W8863, 88W8687, 88W8764*	mwl8k	(a)/b/g/n	?	y	?	y	?	y	?	PCIe	mwl8k
Marvell (Avastar)	88W8797 (88W8786U)	mwifiex	a/b/g/n	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	USB	1286:2049 mwifiex
Marvell (Avastar)	88W8786, 88W8787, 88W8797, 88W8897*	mwifiex	a/b/g/n (+ac)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	SDIO	02df:9139 mwifiex
Marvell (Avastar)	88W8766, 88W8897*	mwifiex	a/b/g/n (+ac)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	PCIe	11ab:2b38 mwifiex
Marvell (Avastar) AC*	88W8864*, 88W8897*	mwlwifi	a/b/g/n (+ac)*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	PCIe	iwlwifi WRT1900 iwlwifi
Marvell	unknown	mrvl_cb82
MediaTek
MediaTek	MT5911N	none	b/g								SDIO
MediaTek	MT7601U	mt7601u	a/b/g/n								USB	vendor driver
MediaTek	MT7610U	mt7601u	a/b/g/n (+ac)*								USB	vendor driver
Metalink	MtW817x	none	a/(b)/(g)/n								PCI
No Wires Needed	Swallow	swallow_cs	b	WEP	y	?	n	n	n	n	PCMCIA	obsolete out of kernel driver
No Wires Needed	Poldhu	poldhu	b	WEP	y	y	n	n	n	n	PCMCIA	obsolete out of kernel driver poldhu cs
Ralink
Ralink	RT2460	rt2400pci	b	?	y	y	y	n	y	y	PCI/CB
Ralink	RT2560	rt2500pci	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	n	y	y	PCI/CB
Ralink	RT2561, RT2561S, RT2661	rt61pci	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	n	y	y	PCI/CB
Ralink	RT2571, RT2572	rt2500usb	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	n	y	y	USB 2.0
Ralink	RT2571W, RT2573, RT2671	rt73usb	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	n	y	y	USB 2.0
Ralink	RT2760, RT2790, RT2860, RT2880, RT2890, RT3052, RT3090, RT3091, RT3092, RT3390, RT3060, RT3062, RT3562, RT3592, RT5390, RT3290	rt2800pci	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	y	?	y	y	PCI/PCIe /CB	Wiki
Ralink	RT2760, RT2790, RT2860, RT2880, RT2890, RT3052, RT309x	rt2860sta	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	y	?	y	n	PCI/PCIe /CB	vendor driver
Ralink	RT2770, RT2870, RT2070, RT3070, RT3071, RT3072, RT3370, RT3572, RT5370, RT5572, RT8070	rt2800usb	(a)b/g/(n)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y (??)	y	y	USB 2.0	Wiki
Ralink	RT2770, RT2870, RT2070, RT307x	rt2870sta	(a)/b/g/(n)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	n	n	n	USB 2.0	vendor driver
Ralink	RT3572	rt3572sta	a/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	n	n	USB 2.0
Ralink	RT3573	none	a/b/g/n								USB 2.0	three stream
Realtek
Realtek	RTL8180L, RTL8185L, RTL8187SE (3.15+)	rtl8180	b/(g)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	n	n	n	y	?	PCI/CB
Realtek	RTL8187L, RTL8187B	rtl8187	b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	n	n	n	y	y	USB 2.0
Realtek	RTL8187SE	rtl8187se	b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	?	PCI
Realtek	RTL8190	r8190_pci	b/g/n	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	PCI / CB	vendor driver
Realtek	RTL8192E	r8192e_pci	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	?	PCIe	staging (vendor) driver
Realtek	RTL8191SE, RTL8192SE	rtl8192se	b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	?	PCIe
Realtek	RTL8192U	r8192u_usb	b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	?	USB 2.0	staging (vendor) driver
Realtek	RTL8188SU, RTL8191SU, RTL8192SU	r8712u	b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	n	USB 2.0	staging (vendor) driver
Realtek	RTL8188SU, RTL8191SU, RTL8192SU	r8192s_usb	b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	y	?	USB 2.0	staging (vendor) driver, superseded by r8712u
Realtek	RTL8188CE, RTL8192CE	rtl8192ce	b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	n	PCIe
Realtek	RTL8188CUS, RTL8192CU, RTL8188RU	rtl8192cu	b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	?	y	n	USB 2.0
Realtek	RTL8192DU	rtl8192du	a/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	?	USB 2.0	driver available here, may panic on init on some kernels
Realtek	RTL8192DE	rtl8192de	a/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	?	?	?	n	PCIe
Renesas
Renesas	KS7010	ks7010	b	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	SDIO	from Javi Roman
ShareWave / Cirrus Logic	Bodega	none	b								PCI/ PCMCIA/ USB 1.0	rare devices, support the proprietary Whitecap protocol
SiS	160	sis160	b	?	y	?	n	n	n	n	PCI	rare devices, driver is a useless binary blob
SiS	162, 162U	sis162	b	?	y	y	n	n	n	n	PCI/ USB 2.0	driver is a useless binary blob
SiS	163, 163U	none	b/g								PCI/CF/ USB 2.0
ST-Ericsson	CW1100, CW1200	cw1200	b/g								SDIO / PCI	(since 3.11)
ST-NXP	STLC4560	p54spi	b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	SPI
Symbol	Spectrum24 DS	orinoco	b	WEP	y	?	n	n	y	n	PCI/ PCMCIA	orinoco
Syntek/3DSP	unknown (Bluew-2310x)	none	b/g	?							PCI	compiled modules available
Syntek/3DSP	STK9100+STK9230 (Bluew-2310u)	3dspusbwlan	b/g	?							USB 2.0	partial source?
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments	ACX100 (TNETW1100), ACX101 (TNETW1100B), ACX111 (TNETW1130), TNETW1450	acx1xx	b/(g)	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	?	n	n	y	?	PCI/CB /USB	acx100 acx
Texas Instruments	WL1251	wl1251	b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	n	?	y	?	SPI/ SDIO
Texas Instruments	WL1271	wl1271	(a)/b/g/n	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	n	n	n	SPI/ SDIO
VIA	VT6551	none	b	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	PCI
VIA	VT6555	vt6655	(a)/b/g	?	y	?	?	?	?	n	PCI	staging (vendor) driver vt6656
VIA	VT6556	vt6656	(a)/b/g	?	y	?	?	?	?	n	PCI	staging (vendor) driver vt6656
WavePlus	WP1200	none	b								PCI/ PCMCIA	devices not common
Winbond	W89C33D	none	b/g								PCI	devices not common
Winbond	W89C35D	winbond	b/g	?	y	?	n	n	n	n	USB 2.0	staging (vendor) driver only supports 'b' w35und
ZyDAS
ZyDAS	ZD1201	zd1201	b	WEP	y	?	?	?	y	?	USB 1.0	zd1201
ZyDAS	ZD1201	zdsta	b	WEP	y	?	?	?	?	n	USB 1.0	obsolete vendor driver
ZyDAS	ZD1201	zdsta	b	WEP	y	?	?	?	?	n	PCMCIA	obsolete vendor driver, devices not common
ZyDAS	ZD1202	zdsta	b	WEP						n	PCI/CB/ PCMCIA	obsolete vendor driver, devices not common
ZyDAS	ZD1211/ZD1211B	zd1211rw	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y	y	y	y	USB 1.0	5GHz band not supported, no hw crypto zd1211rw
ZyDAS	ZD1212/ZD1212B	zd1212	(a)/b/g	WEP, WPA, WPA2	y	y	y			n	PCI/CB	obsolete vendor driver, devices not common

Wireless adapter chipsets (pre-802.11b) and native Linux support

Manufacturer	Chipset	Driver	PHY Modes	Station	Ad-hoc	AP	Monitor	Bus	Notes
Aironet	ARLAN	arlan	pre-b (900MHz or 2.4GHz)	?	?	?	?	ISA	driver abandoned
Lucent	WaveLAN	wavelan	pre-b (900MHz or 2.4GHz)	?	?	?	?	PCMCIA/ISA	driver abandoned
Raytheon	Raylink	ray_cs	2.4GHz FHSS	?	?	?	?	PCMCIA	USB variants not supported
ShareWave	chipset before Bodega (Epic?)	none	Whitecap					PCI/PCMCIA	uncommon devices
Symbol	Spectrum24 FHSS	none	2.4GHz FHSS					PCMCIA
Xircom	Netwave	netwave_cs	pre-b, 1Mb	?	?	?	?	PCMCIA	driver abandoned
AMD	Am79C930 (presumably)	wl3501_cs	2Mb, pre-802.11b	?	?	?	?	PCMCIA	PRISM I based RF

Editors Note: this current table is somewhat terrible.
See also: Linux Wireless's Driver Table and
Comparison_of_open_source_wireless_drivers on Wikipedia
and List of Wi-Fi Chipset Vendors