802.1x Wireless Controller Flash-Upgradeable Chipsets
 
Usage: To find other modems with the same chipset.
All drivers, downloads & info on this site are found via the modem.
Each Modem Manufacturers’ page also has external web-links, where available.
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General Information
- Released to the public by Lucent in February 1998 (as the WaveLAN/IEEE range) and again in June 2000 (as the ORiNOCO range), Lucent manufactured both the Wireless LAN chipsets and a product range of both AP and Station modems that utilised the chipsets. It is most unusual for chipset manufacturers to build retail modems - modem manufacturers tend to get twitchy about the competition. The ORiNOCO brand name and business (but not chipset business) was sold by Agere to Proxim for $65 million on 17 June 2002. Later Proxim ORiNOCO cards use a different chipset--the Proxim ORiNOCO Classic uses the Hermes chipset.
The original Hermes (HI) 3-chip chipset was intoduced when the IEEE 802.11 standard was ratified. Both the original WaveLAN/IEEE and the later ORiNOCO (802.11b) modems used it, although the Firmware employed within the (Flash-)ROM had continuously changed; it is possible to use ORiNOCO drivers with WaveLAN/IEEE modems as long as the modem is flashed up to a certain standard (varies according to the driver). This changed in Summer 2001 (Windows v7.06, Linux v7.14) when the Firmware was made part of the driver (a ‘tertiary firmware download’, whatever that means) (as part of it’s normal operation, the HI loads RAM within the Wireless MAC chip with Firmware from the Flash-EEPROM or ROM).
The first Station modems were a small range of Type II Extended PC-Cards (5 volt, 3.3 volt & dual-voltage) + ISA- & PCI-adapters for the cards. Lucent made a poor choice of chipset for each adapter. The ISA Adapter can be configured for two different I/O Address values: 3E2 (factory-set default) & 3E0. Try to guess what’s the default range scanned by the PCMCIA package (hint: it’s not the ISA Adapter’s default). In similar fashion, the default configuration of the PCI Adapter’s TI CardBus Controller is also incorrect. The ISA can be fixed by altering a card jumper; with the PCI, pre-XPsp1 Windows requires an OS update, whilst Linux needs a configuration change (read the README).
Together with the ORiNOCO name-change, Lucent introduced a 2-chip development of the HI, designed as an embedded chipset (eg Mini-PCI, USB 1.1, CF++, notebooks, PDAs & others). It had the same 16-bit host-interface, used the same Wireless MAC chip + Firmware, but had the other two chips (DSP [MODEM] + 802.11b Radio) combined into a single SMT chip. An Integrated Type II PC-Card was added to the product range, together with Mini-PCI & USB adapters. By this time, the old PC-Card range had become:
- Bronze : WaveLAN/IEEE
- Bronze Turbo : WaveLAN/IEEE - 11 Mb
- Silver : 802.11b - 64-bit WEP
- Gold : 802.11b - 128-bit WEP
(The ‘Bronze Turbo’ used a Lucent proprietary algorithm; how wonderful to see history repeat itself, again.) ORiNOCO drivers could be used transparently across the whole Hermes product range--as long as the driver contained the product EEPROM ID, of course.
The HII 4-chip chipset is a 32-bit host-interface Agere development of the HI. It usually does not have a Flash-EEPROM (one can be provided for disk-less designs) and has hardware support for 802.11 a/b/g connection. Currently, Windows drivers for HII continue to support HI chipsets, although the latest Linux drivers only support HII and better (there is a H2.5 chipset, although no info is yet in the public domain).
Security: WEP has been a disaster. Page 12 of the September 1997 Lucent Sales Bulletin on 802.11 says “The IEEE 802.11 standard includes an encryption mechanism in the MAC, a security level equal to that of a wire. This mechanism is called the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)” (oh, how the WarDrivers laughed). Curiously, the Windows v7.82.0.550 driver only supports WPA on HI hardware (Linux supports both HI & HII from v7.17). Be aware that the Access Point also needs to provide WPA for this to work.
Copyright Statement
Compilation, original writings & design Copyright ©2002 - 2008 Modem-Help, Ltd.
All trademarks respected as the property of their respective owners.
Full Copyright + Disclaimer statement
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Quick Stats
Items available:
- 11,452 modems
- 1,490 chipsets
- 2,069 chips
- 759 modem mfcs
- 120 comp/MB mfcs
- 1,655 comps/MBs/retail
- 141 chipset mfcs
- 15,722 external web links
- 84,177 hardware IDs
- 117,076 download files
† Key
Mfc: the company no longer makes/supplies modems and/or their chipsets, or has been taken over, or otherwise fallen into commercial Tophet.
Modem: it is no longer in production.
Chip, Chipset, Family or Family-Type: it is no longer produced at the Foundry.
In short, the item marked with a † has shuffled off this mortal coil, it has gone to meet it’s maker, to sing with the choir invisible; it is, not to put too fine a point upon it, an ex-modem (-Mfc, -Chip, -Chipset, -Family or -Type).
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These pages are a LAMP-development of the original Modem-Help, UK site (most of the old HTML pages still exist, but havn’t been updated for quite some time). That site, in it’s turn, was a transfer from the first html site on free-pages at Freeserve (sadly, now gone). The current format allows superb search facilities, customisation by Registered members, plus is quick ‘n’ easy to update.
Diligently put together in the UK by Alex Kemp. All efforts have been taken to ensure the veracity of what is written - if you know of any errors or omissions then please let us know.
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