From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1750849AbWGCGve (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Jul 2006 02:51:34 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1750847AbWGCGve (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Jul 2006 02:51:34 -0400 Received: from py-out-1112.google.com ([64.233.166.176]:54619 "EHLO py-out-1112.google.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750833AbWGCGve (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Jul 2006 02:51:34 -0400 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; b=aJc+lcsU7hAAHZh0XwFDCJ2V6QvMs2gO/WtD87cx2BFLgXwV3qVfmcVtQ/z1/NM4DuNvx+1VfmBZEiZ2NqwDKwnikAJl/a6pkXAtgDFn4CxJZ8ZDxRzhIinnoC/YRqK12syqrTj/EQI5yqPooLLKUK0ItkWavneYpnxq9YJcdT4= Message-ID: Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 02:51:33 -0400 From: "Daniel Bonekeeper" To: kernelnewbies@nl.linux.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Driver for Microsoft USB Fingerprint Reader MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Hello everybody. I would like to develop a driver for any kind of fingerprint reader that currently doesn't have a driver for linux, and I'm open for suggestions on which device I should use. My first thought was the microsoft usb fingerprint reader (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DG2-00002-DT&cpc=SCH) because it's a new device (and, of course, doesn't have any driver for linux), it's cheap, and it's from MS (read "would be fun" =) Before proceeding, I would like to know if: 1) Would it be ilegal to write a driver for such device (i.e., without the permition of the hardware manufacturer) ? 2) Is there any standard on how the fingerprint should be presented to userspace ? Currently the only fingerprint driver that I could find is the Siemens ID Mouse driver (drivers/usb/misc/idmouse.c), and it delivers the fingerprint as an image in pnm format thru a device like /dev/idmouse0 (cat /dev/idmouse 0 > /tmp/fingerprint.pnm). Is this the best way to deliver the image to userspace, or should we have an centralized for that, or a centralized device like /dev/fingerprint0 (which then wraps to the idmouse driver or any other) There are also other interesting devices like this (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=FIN002&cpc=SCH) that are cheap and probably would be a better subject. I know that there are some standards (something related to the resolution of the readers), and some of the cheap ones don't meet some "high-profile security" standards (I think from NSA or something like that). Maybe we should also try any of those heavy-duty high-security gadgets too. Another question: Is there any place (probably a webpage) where we can see a list of hardware devices separated by category, and know if there's already a driver for it (and the name/url of the maintainer) or not, if there are plans to develop a driver for it or not, or to form teams to develop it ? Like a webpage where I can browse and see that the device X doesn't have any drivers for it (and people can go and "vote" for a driver, so we can know which devices are most wanted by users), and sign ourselves to develop it ? I think that it would be cool. If there isn't anything like that, I can develop it myself and somebody at kernel.org or another place could host it =] Thanks, Daniel -- What this world needs is a good five-dollar plasma weapon.