Linuxant strives to bring the very latest Wireless LAN technology to the Linux community.

DriverLoader is a revolutionary compatibility-wrapper allowing standard Windows NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) drivers shipped by hardware vendors to be used as-is on Linux x86 systems (x86_64/AMD64/EM64T 64-bit extensions now also supported!).

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy with 64, 128, or 256-bit keys) and state-of-the-art WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) security with AES or TKIP encryption are supported. IEEE 802.1x authentication is also supported with xsupplicant.

DriverLoader technology is the ideal Linux solution to support devices for which no adequate native open-source drivers are available. It also allows vendors to drastically reduce time to market or eliminate the need to support multiple drivers for Windows and Linux. By using the same driver on both platforms, significant resources can be saved.

We have attempted to reduce the inconvenience of binary-only drivers by separating the proprietary code from the operating-system specific code. The latter is provided in source form, allowing users to install the drivers under any supported version (2.4 or later) of the Linux kernel.

Is my device supported?

DriverLoader works with almost all CardBus (32-bit PCMCIA/PC Card) and PCI Wireless LAN devices. Many USB adapters are now also supported! (see Known issues section for limitations).

Chipsets from the following manufacturers are supported:

These chipsets are used in many Notebook or Desktop adapter products by Acer, Actiontec, Asus, Belkin, Blitzz, Buffalo/MELCO, Cisco, D-Link, Dell, eMachines, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP/Compaq, IBM, Linksys, Microsoft, Motorola, NETGEAR, SMC, SONY, Toshiba, U.S. Robotics, Z-Com, ZyXEL, and many others..

The new USB support has been successfully tested with the following devices:

Notes:
(*) Version 2000, 2011, 2013 and 3002 of the Belkin F5D7050 Wireless G USB Network Adapter are currently not supported.
(**) Version 4 of the Linksys WUSB54G Wireless-G Network Adapter is currently not supported.

Access to the Windows XP drivers provided by your vendor (available from their website or on the CDROM which might have accompanied the product) is required to operate a device with DriverLoader. Availability of specific features is subject to the capabilities of these underlying drivers.

DriverLoader technology is constantly advancing. If your Linux distribution and/or device driver had any issues in the past, it may be worthwhile to re-test with a newer version. If the issue remains, please let us know and we will try our best to investigate the matter and hopefully resolve it.

News & Announcements

Jan-06-2005 Linuxant adds native 64-bit (x86_64) support to DriverLoader

Dec-15-2004 Linuxant introduces user-friendly installer to make DriverLoader download even easier

Sep-27-2004 Linuxant licenses DriverLoader to Texas Instruments

Aug-10-2004 Linuxant releases DriverLoader 2.0 with USB support and enhanced compatibility!

Feb-20-2004 Linuxant first again with support for next generation Centrino WLAN

Dec-16-2003 Linuxant delivers innovative solution to use super-fast US Robotics wireless products on Linux

Dec-14-2003 Linuxant adds Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) support to DriverLoader

Nov-09-2003 Linuxant makes permanent DriverLoader licenses directly available to end-users

Oct-27-2003 Linuxant releases new DriverLoader for Intel Centrino, Intersil, Broadcom, Atheros, and other Wireless LAN devices

Oct-10-2003 Linuxant releases revolutionary DriverLoader for Broadcom Wireless LAN (802.11g) devices