[Ubuntu-be] Fingerprint authentication

[Alexandre Ficelle]

> On Saturday 18 August 2007 20:42:35 Koen Thomeer wrote:
>> Has someone experience with fingerprint authentication and (Ubuntu)
>> Linux?

Michael Anckaert a e'crit :
> What do you mean with fingerprint authentication? 
> I authenticate on my workstations with a smartcard (Openpgp keys) if that's 
> what you mean? 


I believe he is talking about something else. You swipe a finger on a 
fingerprint reader and the computer authenticates you.

This is used for laptops in the company I work for at the moment. You 
need to swipe a finger for the computer to boot up. If your fingerprint 
is recognized, it will start the computer and automatically open your 
session in the operating system. I have seen this on IBM ThinkPad 
laptops with the Lenovo ThinkVantage Fingerprint software on Microsoft 
Windows.

Reading fingerprints as a mean of authentication is also used for other 
things. I have heard about external hard drives using biometric 
information to allow access to their contents, for example. But I have 
personally no experience with fingerprint authentication in Linux, sorry.

Alexandre