DriverLoader and NDISWrapper gift-wrap your wireless Windows devices
Monday, November 22 2004 @ 04:48 PM EST Contributed by: glosser
Most wireless network interface cards (NICs) lack a bundled Linux driver, but of course they come with a Windows driver. Some open source community developers, on their own time, study the product specifications and create their own drivers, and allow the community to use and develop them further. But some popular chipset vendors don't release their specifications, making it impossible for their device to work for the Linux community. End of the line? No way.
Linuxant's DriverLoader is a "compatibility wrapper" that allows Linux users to run the standard Windows NDIS driver shipped by the card's vendor.
DriverLoader supports various devices whose chipsets come from Atheros, Broadcom, Cisco, Intel, Conexant, Texas Instruments, and others. It can work with both 2.4 and the 2.6 kernel.
Unfortunately, DriverLoader is not free software. You can download the software for a 30-day trial, after which you have to pay $20. If commercial software doesn't suit your lifestyle, you can turn to NDISWrapper as an open source alternative.
