this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
13 points (100.0% liked)

Linux

48100 readers
810 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

So I'm shopping for a fingerprint reader to use on Linux desktop and found this list of fprint supported devices. The problem is that USB ID is not exactly the kind of information they advertise in marketplaces or product information pages, so I can never know whether the product I'm looking at is going to be detected at all.

I looked for reviews on Amazon of many candidates, but almost every review that mentions Linux support is a negative, so I feel that my odds here are not great.

Have you tried any device that worked with any distro, preferably out of the box?

top 9 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Although I love modular solutions, I think biometrics are one of the few things that really need to be bundled with your device and locked down. At least if you care about security. If not, then don't use a password in the first place.

To somewhat answer your question, though, you should consider solutions that allow you to unlock one trusted device with another trusted device. The most common example would be unlocking your desktop with your phone over bluetooth, especially if that phone comes with its own biometric sensor. Just make sure that secondary device is encrypted.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

By that logic an mfa device like a Yubikey would also need to be fully integrated to a device to be secure. I don't think security and modularity go opposite ways.

[–] jerrimu 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you looking for a desktop? HP and thinkpads have always worked out of the box for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you please provide more info about your setup? I have an Ubuntu thinkpad and I have failed so far to use the fingerprint scanner

[–] jerrimu 1 points 1 year ago

Vanilla ubuntu? It just worked out of the box, if you go to users in gnome, there should be fingerprint login options. If it's not being detcted on a thinkpad, I would make sure it isn't turned off in bios.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

In my experience fprint is a bit hit and miss. As an alternative, you can get a webcam with an IR cam (Windows Hello) and use it with Howdy.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

any distro? no, fprint isn't on all distro, so you might have to install that anyway.

I'm not sure what you are trying to get, is it

  • a sensor for a DIY project?
  • and external fingerprint reader?
  • a laptop with a compatible sensor? (probably not that on since you asked about desktop specifically..)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

not a device that "works on any distro", but "any distro that it worked on" - I'm just making it distro-agnostic. And it's a ready-to-use standalone USB fingerprint reader (as implied by Linux Desktop), not part of a DIY project.

load more comments
view more: next ›