Driver Registry

The Driver Registry maps each wireless chipset to the ALFA adapters that use it, the driver type, and the in-kernel status on modern Linux kernels. This mirrors the linux-compatibility-matrix and the per-chip driver guides under /alfa-network/drivers/.

Chipset Table

Chipset	Adapters	Driver binding	In-kernel?	Driver guide
MT7612U	AWUS036ACM	mt76x2u	✅ In-kernel	Guide
MT7610U	AWUS036ACHM	mt76x0u	✅ In-kernel	Guide
MT7921AUN	AWUS036AXM, AWUS036AXML	mt7921u	✅ In-kernel	Guide
RTL8812AU	AWUS036ACH	Out-of-tree / DKMS	❌ Not in-kernel	Guide
RTL8811AU	AWUS036ACS	Out-of-tree / DKMS	❌ Not in-kernel	Guide
RTL8832BU	AWUS036AX, AWUS036AXER	Out-of-tree / DKMS	❌ Not in-kernel	Guide
RTL8821CU	AWUS036EACS	Out-of-tree / DKMS	❌ Not in-kernel	Guide

Driver Types

• In-kernel (mainline) — Included in the Linux kernel; the adapter typically works out of the box on a current kernel with no extra installation. MediaTek (mt76x2u / mt76x0u / mt7921u) adapters fall into this category.
• Out-of-tree / DKMS — The driver source is maintained outside the kernel. It must be compiled and installed, ideally via DKMS so it survives kernel updates. All Realtek chipsets in this registry fall into this category.

Kernel Updates

For out-of-tree drivers, the single most common failure is a kernel update breaking the module because the pre-built module no longer matches the running kernel.

# Rebuild DKMS modules for the currently running kernel
sudo dkms autoinstall

# Or, for a convenient apt-managed rebuild on Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install --reinstall linux-headers-$(uname -r)

See also the FAQ and troubleshooting.

Driver Setup Guides

• ubuntu, kali, and nethunter cover full system setup.
• The shared ALFA Linux guide is referenced from SDRLAB where ALFA driver knowledge is reused.

Maintenance

Keep this registry in sync whenever a driver guide, adapter product page, or the compatibility matrix is edited, so the cross-references never drift.