how to tell if wifi card is compatible with aircrack

Introduction
This article is used to answer a common question, how to judge whether your network card is supported by aircrack-ng.
If you are planning to purchase a network card, an easier way is to refer to the list of network cards supported by aircrack-ng (Kali linux wifi adapter) to purchase one of them.and if you dont know what monitor mode is please check this link, If you need to judge whether the existing network card is supported by aircrack-ng,
If you find that your network card can also support aircrack-ng, but not in the above list, you can post your network card information (manufacturer, model, version, chip, etc.) to Aircrack-ng official forum to help them update the list.
The following is the official introduction, mainly divided into the following parts:

1. Definite requirements
2. Understand basic network card knowledge
3. Understand the chip of your own network card
4. Verify chip compatibility
5. Select the driver and the required patch
6. Choose your own network card

Defining requirements
First of all, you must know whether you only want to monitor wireless network traffic, or you want to monitor and inject data packets. Need to explain, windows can be used to monitor but not injected, and compared to linux, there are fewer network cards that support windows.
So you need to think about it first:

1. Which operating system do you plan to use (linux, windows)
2.  What kind of hardware to choose (PCI, PCMCIA, USB, etc.)
3.  What functions do you need (listening, injection)

To understand the basic knowledge of the network card

it is necessary to make it clear that the main function of the network card depends on the chip in the network card. Generally speaking, there are two forms of network card manufacturers.
The first company produces its own network cards including chips. This type of example Netgear, Ubiquiti, Linksys and D- Link , etc.
The second company specializes in manufacturing the card, they use chips made by other companies.
Knowing what company makes the chip in a network card is very important for us to judge the compatibility of the network card. However, in reality, network card manufacturers are not very willing to announce what kind of chips their network cards use. This brings trouble to our judgment. Because only know the chip manufacturer, we can know what kind of system the network card supports, what kind of driver is needed, and what limitations the network card itself has.

Understand the chip of your own network card.

if you are lucky enough, the network card you use is in the official support list. By looking at this table, you can easily know all the information of your network card. But if it is not there, you can try the following ways to collect information.
1. Search your network card model online for details
2. Search in the official forum: http://forum.aircrack-ng.org
3. You can check the name of the network card driver under windows, which is often related to the chip
. Log on the homepage of the network card manufacturer to find information
5. For some network cards, such as PCI, or directly on the card look
Note Sometimes the same type of card inside the chip is not necessarily the same. If you are already using Linux, then the following commands may help you understand your network card information.
1. "Dmesg" command
2. "Lspci" command (for PCI network card)
3. "Lsusb" command (for USB network card)
4. "Lsmod" command (list kernel modules)

Verify the compatibility
of the network card After you understand the chip of your network card, you can check it through the network card list. For your network card, what functions does aircrack-ng support. If the network card cannot meet your requirements, you can consider replacing the system or replacing the network card. If you prefer Windows, then you can consider using Linux Live CD, so that you can have the advantages of both.

Decide on network card drivers and patches
Refer to the subsequent tutorials on drivers to decide what kind of drivers and patches to use. For Linux, usually need to install some patches for the driver to get more functions of the network card, such as monitoring and injection functions. This tutorial will not detail how to patch your own system. If you do n’t want to be so troublesome, you can also consider installing BackTrack or Kali Linux.

Choose the network card by yourself
Finally, if you want to choose the network card by yourself, also refer to the aircrack-ng support list.