fingerprint reader

[caai_thinkpad]

Hi

 

I wonder if anyone using OSX on a ThinkPad, preferrably a T43, has managed to get the FPR running. I know that UPEK's protecor suite(*) is supposed to work on some Dell notebooks. The system profiler says it recognizes a "Biometric Coprocessor" at the USB bus. It also says the manufacturer was STMicroelectronics which is the same device being used by UPEK's eikon. So theoretically the protector suite should work, but it doesn't. It says "cannot find a fingerprint reader" or something like that.

 

Any ideas or hints?

 

Cheers

 

 

(* http://www.upek.com/solutions/mac/ )

[00diabolic]

You sure yours is not a AuthenTec Inc. AES2501A BIOMETRIC 7.8.1.7 6/16/2007

 

Thats what mine is so I cant use the upek mac driver. Since you have a lenovo and so do I could be AuthenTec.

[macgirl]

My Dell's fingerprint scanner shows as STMicroelectronics too in System Profiler.

[Kwaaku]

Update: Just looked on the Thinkwiki.org site & it states that the fingerprint reader on my T42 is actually made by UPEK. So in theory it should work with this software.

 

I have found it to be an excellent source of Hardware Info for Thinkpads. If you want to check out your T43:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:Models

 

Fingerprint reader listed as STMicroelectronics listed for my T42, in Windows & Linux the reader is always listed as as a USB1 device.

 

I never managed to get my USBUHCI kexts dependency problems resolved, either in tiger or leopard. USB2 devices work fine but the only USB1 device I tried never worked properly & then broke after a week (optical mouse).

 

I would like to get my reader working too, thanks for the link caai_thinkpad. Its a start.

[caai_thinkpad]

You sure yours is not a AuthenTec Inc. AES2501A BIOMETRIC 7.8.1.7 6/16/2007

 

Thats what mine is so I cant use the upek mac driver. Since you have a lenovo and so do I could be AuthenTec.

 

The T43 was an IBM product. The hardware specs are not comparable to Lenovo's N3000 series. As Kwaaku found out at ThinkWiki.org IBM ThinkPads were incorporating UPEK FPRs.

 

Appearantly there are Linux and BSD drivers existent for those devices. I'm going to do some research in this direction.

 

 

Cheers

[Kwaaku]

installed suite, had exactly same problem as caai_thinkpad. I also noticed that no other option was available except easy install mode.

 

In profile manager it list the FPR device name & id string. But without the Eikon device or a working setup it's hard to know if they are the values that the protector suite expects to find.

 

Still, maybe there is a work around. I'll put some (minor) effort into looking for it.

 

Any connection with the TPM chip & i'll bail out, had my fingers burnt before.

[macgirl]

Try to extract the files with Pacifist and check the Info.plist of the kext

[caai_thinkpad]

Try to extract the files with Pacifist and check the Info.plist of the kext

I checked that. The application has the following stuff in it's info.plist:

<array>
	<dict>
		<key>DeviceID</key>
		<integer>8214</integer>
		<key>VendorID</key>
		<integer>1155</integer>
	</dict>
	<dict>
		<key>DeviceID</key>
		<integer>8214</integer>
		<key>VendorID</key>
		<integer>5246</integer>
	</dict>

 

I'll try to edit this so that it contains the IDs of the device that is shown in systemprofiler. But first i'll have to find out how to use Pacifist, lol.

 

 

Cheers

[caai_thinkpad]

I tried various ways to tweak the info.plist after i installed the Protector Suite. It didn't work so far.

 

Should i rather edit the info.plist inside the package before installing the software? Or is that merely the same?

 

 

Cheers

[Kwaaku]

caai_thinkpad I found the relevant Info.plist in the installer as well. As far as I know Pacifist is just for extracting and viewing packages. So you might need another app to alter the .pkg before installing.

 

I cant find the relevant Info.plist (installed inside some .kext presumably) that the protector suite has installed. If you can tell me exactly which .kext is involved I think I can edit it. Whether it will work is anyone guess, but i'd like to give it a try.

 

Thats how I have always tweaked problem hardware before. Editing the installer is more elegant but I would guess also more problematic.

 

I need to insert ProductID=2016, VendorID=0483 (what is shown in Profiler for the Biometric Device). Bit surprised that he VendorID needs altering as it is a UPEK device. Who knows, maybe they use a different ID for OEM devices.

 

 

 

Thanks Macgirl, helpfull as always.

 

I haven't booted up into OSX for a while. Just couldnt face another Info.Plist

[caai_thinkpad]

I cant find the relevant Info.plist (installed inside some .kext presumably) that the protector suite has installed. If you can tell me exactly which .kext is involved I think I can edit it. Whether it will work is anyone guess, but i'd like to give it a try.

It doesn't install kernel extensions. The FPR is a USB device and already being recognized by Leopard - thus visible in System Profiler. The problem is caused by the Protector Suite. This software doesn't want to cooperate with the ThinkPads FPR. I hoped, that tweaking the softwares plist would help, but it didn't.

 

 

Cheers

[Kwaaku]

Thanks for quick reply caai_thinkpad

 

was reading the thread about microsoft FPR; someone posted that UPEK FPR's only work with the associated Thompson Microelectronics chip. That seems to be what we have.

 

I am still very new to OSX. Have been focusing on Learning oSX rather than the Hackintosh side of things. Find it harder to learn than Kubuntu/Linux, probably because theres less useful info & help available -or its just harder to find.