While it doesn't really help security issues of in-kernel proprietary HALs, I'd much rather have a binary vendor HAL from a quite supporting vendor rather than no vendor support AT ALL (as is the case with my ACX1xx wireless cards project, http://acx100.sf.net).

Regarding "the only cards that I'm aware of that support 802.11A or 802.11G that can work on BSD or Linux are those based on the Atheros chipset":

Well, you already wrote it defensively, and for a very good reason: it's untrue ;-)

As long as you write "work on BSD *or* Linux" (and not *both*) my project fulfills these requirements, since the ACX111 (TNETW1130) 802.11g cards work quite reliably on Linux (minus WEP support, which I should have implemented months ago - sorry guys), DESPITE completely unavailable vendor support.

Also, this claim sounds very dubious to me in general. I'm far from informed about this, but I'd bet my underwear that there are at least two more 802.11g chipsets (semi-)supported.

Oh, maybe you meant *builtin* kernel support? - in this case my project doesn't qualify (yet) after all, since it will be included in few months only.

Thanks for a good thought-provoking article!

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/281/29380#29380