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Three types of Wi-Fi maintenance categories are included in the support system of a Wi-Fi operating system. These are:
• Driver Level Support
• Configuration
• Management Support

Driver Level Support: Such support is usually provided by multiple manufacturers of the chip set hardware or end manufacturers. Along with the driver level support Unix clones such as Linux and Free BSD are also available. This ease of use of the Linux and Free BSD is sometimes through open source projects.

Configuration Support: While discussing about Configuration support it provides aid towards enumerating, joining and checking the status of available Wi-Fi networks. Various encryption methods are also included in this support system.

Management Support: Backed by a standard driver model this system is often provided by the operating system. Drivers follow an Ethernet device, in most cases, and use the configuration and management support. Hardware manufacturers may include their own software to handle tasks in cases where built in management support is non-existent or inadequate.

Open Source UNIX Like Systems:
UNIX like clones, Linux and Free BSD has a coarser support for Wi-Fi. Many different standards have been developed for configuring and managing Wi-Fi devices due to the open source nature of these operating systems. Below are some discussions which will enable the user to get more knowledge on open source drivers:
• The Wi-Fi support present in Linux is more irregular. Although some manufacturers don’t produce a Linux driver, Wi-Fi chipsets are available either commercially or at no cost.
• Similar to Linux, free BSD has Wi-Fi support. Free BSD under support is at its finest in the 7x version. It introduced full support for WPA and WPA2, although in some cases this is driver dependent. Providing the ability to use Windows x86 NDIS drivers on x86-based freeBSD systems as NdisWrapper does on Linux, freeBSD has Project Evil.
• Wi-Fi support in Dragon Fly BSD, NetBSD and Open BSD is similar to Free BSD. Intended for some of the drivers, code as well as kernel framework is mostly shared among the 4 BSDs.
• Since the year 2009, during September, Haiku has preliminary Wi-Fi Support
In order to provide support towards Wi-Fi drivers and support Solaris and Open Solaris have the Wireless Networking Project.

Microsoft Windows
This operating system has wide-ranging driver level support for Wi-Fi. The quality of the Wi-Fi support depends on the manufacturer of the hardware. Almost always the manufacturer of the hardware ships Windows drivers with their products. The management and the configuration of the Wi-Fi support depend on the version of Windows:

• Earlier Version of Windows: All the prior versions of Windows, such as 98, ME and 2000 do not have built-in configuration and management support.
• Microsoft Windows XP: The Windows XP consists of built-in configuration and management support. The original version of Windows XP, that is the version of Windows XP that was originally shipped, included elementary support. This basic support of Windows XP experienced a dramatic improvement in its Service Pack 2.
• Microsoft Windows Vista: The Windows Vista version of Microsoft offers improved Wi-Fi over Windows XP.

By: samsoc

Article source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Samuel Jefferson has earned repute through his vast research and immense knowledge about computers and technology as a whole. Being a passionate writer of tech-topics, he is all indulged in discussing about various tech-problems and their solutions therefore represented him in this arena as a prominent figure. His writings touch different shores of technology and flow as spontaneous as river water to attract general readers as well as gizmo-freaks. He is presently working for supportonclick.com, a reputed remote computer support company.