The day when Wi-Fi cards “just work” under Linux may be fast approaching.
Wi-Fi software stack specialist Devicescape has released its “Advanced Datapath” 802.11 driver stack to the open-source community under the GPL, and the Linux kernel developer community appears to be working to adapt it for mainline inclusion.
The Devicescape Wi-Fi stack was previously only available to device vendors, under license.
Wi-Fi card support is currently spotty in Linux, at best. Bright spots include Intels Pro/Wireless or “Centrino” radios, and lots of essentially obsolete, difficult-to-find cards such as those based on Prism chip sets.
Meanwhile, cards widely available at major retail outlets typically do not work at all, or do not work fully under Linux.
Devicescape specializes in selling Wi-Fi stacks to device vendors, and it says that Linuxs poor Wi-Fi card support is limiting Linux uptake in wireless multimedia devices.
It hopes its contribution will help developers quickly adopt the latest Wi-Fi silicon technology into their wireless product designs, without having to wait for silicon vendors to release Linux drivers.
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