Intel PRO/Wireless is a series of
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...
wireless products.
History
After the release of the wireless products called Intel Pro/Wireless 2100, 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG and 3945ABG in 2005, Intel was criticized for not granting free
redistribution rights for the
firmware
In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide ...
necessary to be included in the operating systems for the wireless devices to operate.
As a result of this, Intel became a target of campaigns to allow free operating systems to include binary firmware on terms acceptable to the open source community.
Linspire-
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...
creator
Michael Robertson outlined the difficult position that Intel was in releasing to
Open Source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
, as Intel did not want to upset their large customer
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
.
Theo de Raadt
Theo de Raadt (; ; born May 19, 1968) is a South African-born software engineer who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is the founder and leader of the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects and was also a founding member of NetBSD. In 2004, De Raadt wo ...
of
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a security-focused operating system, security-focused, free and open-source, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by fork (software development), forking N ...
also claimed that Intel is being "an Open Source fraud" after an Intel employee presented a distorted view of the situation on an open-source conference.
In spite of the negative attention Intel received as a result of the wireless dealings, the binary firmware still has not gained a license compatible with free software principles.
Hardware
The successor to the PRO/Wireless series is Intel Wireless WiFi Link.
See also
*
Comparison of open-source wireless drivers
*
FIPS 140
The 140 series of Federal Information Processing Standards ( FIPS) are U.S. government computer security standards that specify requirements for cryptography modules.
, FIPS 140-2 and FIPS 140-3 are both accepted as current and active. FIPS 1 ...
*
Wireless LAN
A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office building ...
References
External links
Official webpage
Intel® Driver Update Utility
2200 Linux drivers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Intel PRO Wireless
PRO Wireless
Wireless networking
Intel products