"As Torvalds writes in the changelog, "For too many years, Linux wireless support has worked, but not very well. 2.6.22 has a completely new, better wireless stack included. This new wireless stack has been donated by the known Wi-Fi specialist company Devicescape.
"This new wireless stack includes a complete software MAC (Media Access Control ) implementation, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access), a 'link-layer' bridging module, hostapd, QoS (Quality of Service) support to prioritize things like VOIP (voice over IP), 802.11g support and full debug capabilities.
"All of this comes in a single implementation that drivers can use without rewriting those features themselves, which sadly has been done multiple times in the Linux Wi-Fi world," Torvalds wrote."