[Thinkfinger-devel] Yet another annoying 147e:2016 request

[Alexis Boulva]

Hey there,

Timo, I wrote to you about a month ago, but I guess the message got
filtered or something, but here I go trying again :-)

I'm just wondering how it would be possible to get support for the
fingerprint reader with the ID 147e:2016 in thinkfinger... I haven't
tested to see whether it's supported by the binary driver, because I'm
running x86_64, so the driver just wouldn't work with my system...

However, I will test it if someone can point me to a livecd which
includes this driver, or if someone tells me that I can simply install
it in a livecd environment using a tmpfs as / or something... Perhaps
I should eventually reply with results from trying that out :-P

Anyway, once that has been tested, what would be the possibilities?

1) It doesn't work: then, would someone be able to reverse engineer
the device with my help? I could test new code and provide all of the
assistance needed if you don't have this device yourself.

2) It does work: then, I suppose it should be much easier to get it
working in Thinkfinger... However, I don't know how much hacking would
have to be done, but I could obviously also assist in testing in this
case...

So yeah... I'll let you all know what my results are when I have the
time to boot into an x86 livecd and try the binary driver out (I'll
see how tired I am tonight, but I should have a fairly free schedule)

Regards,
Alexis

[Stephan Wezel]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hi,

in my new Notebook (Nexoc E619 , Compal ifl90 barebone) there is also the same fingerprint reader.

Your fingerprint reader is only USB scanner with no coprocessor, while TFM/ESS
modules are using biometric coprocessor - companion chip.
On TFM/ESS matching and all other things are done inside device. Your reader
is just something like a scanner - we call it SONLY (Sensor Only).
For Linux development UPEK only supports the coprocessor based modules and we
do not plan to extend the support to these plain USB readers, sorry.
http://www.upek.com/solutions/eikon/default.asp

So this device is only the sensor with no extra processor which handles the verification of the scanned finger print.

The question is now, if thinkfinger does already support Sensor only finger print devices or not.

Regards

Stephan Wezel
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7-ecc0.1.6 (GNU/Linux)

iQCVAwUBRvlwwtgaULoCncyGAQIGLAP/Zn2s1QwjwtiT9761syIN/sUxgaSe6jCy
5I9X8LU2tWENLb5Cyx2Vj4GcC5qL016r7xrffp25q0O4XN/mMxZ30XtpPdvk+7+Y
jR6Z/jJGUMwuyT14rLCUBz6C5jfadVQuu5WHuRZV1/4vNzAOL4n0tx8xeHARJaoN
nkP57zc46Do=
=7vZk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE--

[Justin Dugger]

Post by Stephan Wezel
The question is now, if thinkfinger does already support Sensor only finger print devices or not.

There's an unspoken elephant in the room here: export control laws. In
the US, we're not allowed to export software with certain
capabilities. I have no idea why fingerprint recognition and
comparison software would be restricted, but it is. This is why the
design calls for a co-processor to do the actual verification. It's
costly, but it's much easier to control hardware exports than open
source software.

Sourceforge is based in the US. If thinkfinger were to support
recognition in software and distribute worldwide, the repository would
have to moved, and US based developers would contribute at their own
risk.

Justin

[Alexis Boulva]

Hmm, this is some fairly useful information...

So, basically, Thinkfinger would either have to be moved to berlios.de
or something, or someone would have to fork the project and write
support for these devices, then release the project on a non-U.S.
site... Right?

Or, would the developers themselves need to be non-residents /
non-citizens of the U.S., and not be employees of an American employer?

Because, well, I'm sure that something can be figured out ;-) There are
lots of non-U.S. developers out there, perhaps some who wouldn't mind
working on this project... Better yet, code could be given to me, and I
could pretend to be the author ;-) what a fluke! (Cause, well, yeah...
I'm don't have much experience writing C... But if someone comes on
#***@freenode [my nick is uriahheep], perhaps they could
lend me a hand?)

In any event, both projects (thinkfinger and the fork) could work
hand-in-hand and share updated/debugged code... Not a problem.

...So, what would be required?

Regards,
Alexis

[Justin Dugger]

Post by Alexis Boulva
Hmm, this is some fairly useful information...
So, basically, Thinkfinger would either have to be moved to berlios.de
or something, or someone would have to fork the project and write
support for these devices, then release the project on a non-U.S.
site... Right?

And developers would have to all be non-us, as uploading software to a
foreign server counts as "exporting." Even in silly open source cases
where you download the code, make a small patch and upload it counts
as export. There's extra rules I hear for open source projects though,
so _please_ do not consider me an exports legal expert.

Post by Alexis Boulva
Or, would the developers themselves need to be non-residents /
non-citizens of the U.S., and not be employees of an American employer?

I don't know about employees of an American employer (think
telecommuting), but generally, I believe that's the case.

Post by Alexis Boulva
Because, well, I'm sure that something can be figured out ;-) There are
lots of non-U.S. developers out there, perhaps some who wouldn't mind
working on this project... Better yet, code could be given to me, and I
could pretend to be the author ;-) what a fluke! (Cause, well, yeah...
I'm don't have much experience writing C... But if someone comes on
lend me a hand?)
In any event, both projects (thinkfinger and the fork) could work
hand-in-hand and share updated/debugged code... Not a problem.
...So, what would be required?

Well, you'd need non-US developers with your device in hand. You'd
also likely want the specs, and UPEK is the US company with them. And
you might check out NIST's biometrics software, which can do some
interesting fingerprint analysis.

Post by Alexis Boulva
Regards,
Alexis