Open Source and Smart Cards?

jortega asks: "I am looking into implementing a photo ID system using smart cards, preferably using open-source and cheap components. We currently have several systems for libraries, meal plans, identification using older ID cards, and more, yet none of these systems integrate with each other. I envision a system where a smart card can accommodate all these things in addition to things like print management, purchasing books at the bookstore, meal plans, and security. I have looked extensively on Google and other sites, and while I can find a lot on information on smart cards, I haven't been able to find much on a cheap open-source system that I can build on to accomplish this. Does the Slashdot community have any advice on what to do and where to go from here."

Comments

Linux and Smartcards

[tigersha]

Funny you should ask this, as I am working on one on Linux as we speak.

The link to www.towitoko.de is one you could look at. They have a Linux devleopers pack which has a reader and couple of smartcards (memory cards, not processor cards, though) as well as a CDRom with Linux drivers. This things works well. I have this past weekend hacked apart their test program to write some utlilities which I can happily send you.
I have a writecard, readcard and hashcard util which writes stdin to a card, reads it or computes a hash of a card.

I use this to store a key with which (in conjunction with a password) I encrypt a filesystem. You need to stick the card in to mount the filesystem.

The site also has a link to a Linux-compatible port to PC/SC. I also think that Javacard works on Linux.

You could also look at ibutton.com They dfo smartcard stuff (very cool) but with a button form factor. Their development thingies also run on Linux AFAIK. In fact, there is a patch somewhere for GnuPG that allows you to have your private keys as well as the actual decryption routine, so the key never leaves the device, for a Java iButton somewhere. That runs on Linux.

If you need to know anything, mail me at yahoo.de AT netgrok (switch the name and domain). when I am finished I will post my stuff to freshmeat, but it is very rudimentary at the moment.