Build Your Own Electronic Key Card Lock

edBX writes "GideonTech.com has a new guide up on how to make your own electronic lock using a key card. Built using a phototransistor, infrared-emitting diode and a few ICs, they are able to turn on their computer using a punched out phone card."

Comments

Re:USB Keycards?

[dasunt]

Linux Disc Encryption Howto

What it is: A method of encrypting a hard drive, and using a USB key-drive device and passphrase to decrypt the hard drive at boot.

Why: To protect computers (especially laptops) from unauthorized access to the hard disk. Bios passwords, login passwords, and the above slashdot story do not prevent the hard drive from being removed from the machine and the data read in another machine.

How it works: The laptop's drive is AES encrypted. At boot, the computer needs the key drive with the passkey and the matching passphrase to transparently decrypt the drive. It keeps a copy of the passkey and passphrase in memory, so the USB drive may be removed after booting. It only decrypts the files that it is using, so if power is lost at any moment, all data will remain protected.

Why its cool: Its high quality encryption, OS tools, and protects your laptop's files from being accessed if its stolen. What more do you need?

( IMHO, way more deserving of a slashdot story then a simple electronic hack that can be bypassed by anyone with electronics knowledge. )

Re:Just a thought...

[Jennifer E. Elaan]

Granted, a lot of these projects are designed by amateurs and are drastically unprofessional (this one, for instance, could use a lot of help). But sometimes these "amateurs" also happen to be professionals as well, in which case the plans tend to be solid. Often, the "cheap knockoffs" end up with more features than the commercial products in such cases.

It's also false that it costs more to DIY. Sure, there is an initial investment in tools and equipment. The time required is heavily dependant on the skill of the builder and the quality of the tools. If you happen to have mass production equipment (like I once did), you can make prototypes relatively quickly, and even do small production runs. And so long as you already have the tools required and a few good suppliers, it's often much, much cheaper to make your own.

And besides, you are missing how much *FUN* it is to build stuff. You know how Linux was written by a bunch of people for fun? Hardware is really no different, except that it has some sort of mystique that scares off a lot of people.