Bug 37574

*** Bug 37578 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

As 37578 has been marked as a duplicate of this one, let's comment here.

The VFS300 [138a:0008] does not work either with the current VFS101 driver. This reader is shipped with the ASUSTEK laptops.

I've started developing a driver at https://github.com/andree182/vfs301 . I am able to get some fingerprint from it - but the code still needs some love and integration to libfprint is yet to be done (after it works correctly from console).

If someone test this and it works, let me know (through email/project site/this bugtracker).

Andrej, any news on this branch and patches?

*** Bug 43252 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Created attachment 64254 [details] [review]
Add support for Validity VFS301/VFS300

This is Andrej's patch taken from github and applied to libfprint. I can confirm that fprint_demo works with this patch on my laptop.

hi, 
could you tell me which version of libfprint should I apply this patch ?

(In reply to comment #7)
> hi, 
> could you tell me which version of libfprint should I apply this patch ?

This patch should apply to git master.

Hi, 
Thanks , fprint_demo is able to recognize the device but still gives error that it could not open the device.

BTW I tested with a VFS300 (Dell Vostro). Guarav, do you have the 300 or the 301?

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 138a:0008 Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS300 Fingerprint Reader

Hi, 
Thanks for your reply. I am using HP Pavillion DM4 with a VFS 301 device. Is there anyway I could make it work on this device?

(In reply to comment #11)
> Hi, 
> Thanks for your reply. I am using HP Pavillion DM4 with a VFS 301 device. Is
> there anyway I could make it work on this device?

Hi

on this forum: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libfprint/+bug/744310

The comment #51 there is a deb package that works in Ubuntu and its more or less stable. Check if it works for your Laptop

(In reply to comment #11)
> Hi, 
> Thanks for your reply. I am using HP Pavillion DM4 with a VFS 301 device. Is
> there anyway I could make it work on this device?

Note I am not the author of this patch. So it may be working for the 300 but not the 301. I don't know what the author tested it with.

(In reply to comment #12)
> Hi
> 
> on this forum: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libfprint/+bug/744310
> 
> The comment #51 there is a deb package that works in Ubuntu and its more or
> less stable. Check if it works for your Laptop

Hi, I tried the patch provided on that forum and it worked! Now I am able to get fingerprints. Any ideas on how to use it for authentication? I am using Ubuntu 12.04. I tried using fingerprint-gui but it crashes with segmentation fault. fprint_demo is working.

(In reply to comment #14)
> (In reply to comment #12)
> > Hi
> > 
> > on this forum: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libfprint/+bug/744310
> > 
> > The comment #51 there is a deb package that works in Ubuntu and its more or
> > less stable. Check if it works for your Laptop
> 
> Hi, I tried the patch provided on that forum and it worked! Now I am able to
> get fingerprints. Any ideas on how to use it for authentication? I am using
> Ubuntu 12.04. I tried using fingerprint-gui but it crashes with segmentation
> fault. fprint_demo is working.

Yes. The problem with fingerprint-gui is a segmentation fault not yet solved. In order to use it, you have to unistall fingerprint-gui.
Since Ubuntu 11.10 the system integrates the fingerprint authentification without using other fingerprint-gui. And that way it works with this driver. 

So to login and authenticate you must have Ubuntu 11.10 or 12.04, uninstall fingerprint-gui. Then reboot the system. Then to access the "Ubuntu" fingerprint go to: System setting -> User accounts. In the users account window you will see the option "Fingerprint Login" on every account. Click the button and register your fingerprints. You will be able to login and use authenticate when root privileges are needed. 

P.D. The fingerprint login unfortunately doesn't work if the home user folder is encrypted. But that is not a problem of the driver, is a Ubuntu (or linux) bug.

(In reply to comment #15)
> 
> Yes. The problem with fingerprint-gui is a segmentation fault not yet solved.
> In order to use it, you have to unistall fingerprint-gui.
> Since Ubuntu 11.10 the system integrates the fingerprint authentification
> without using other fingerprint-gui. And that way it works with this driver. 
> 
> So to login and authenticate you must have Ubuntu 11.10 or 12.04, uninstall
> fingerprint-gui. Then reboot the system. Then to access the "Ubuntu"
> fingerprint go to: System setting -> User accounts. In the users account window
> you will see the option "Fingerprint Login" on every account. Click the button
> and register your fingerprints. You will be able to login and use authenticate
> when root privileges are needed. 
> 
> P.D. The fingerprint login unfortunately doesn't work if the home user folder
> is encrypted. But that is not a problem of the driver, is a Ubuntu (or linux)
> bug.

Hi, 
OK. I tried that method ,but I couldn't find any fingerprint login option in that menu. I am using Gnome3 with Ubuntu 12.04. I tried modifying /etc/pam.d/login but its not working. Could you suggest me some method for doing the same.

Created attachment 64558 [details]
Screenshot fingerprint login Ubuntu

Hi
Unfortunately at the moment there is not other method. To use the fingerprint-gui we must wait until somebody solves the segmentation fault. Now, I really find strange that you do not have this option in the users menu. I tried in Unity and Gnome and both are there. I attached a screen-shot of how you supposed to find it. Make sure you installed the fprint .deb customized from the forum. Hope it helps.

(In reply to comment #18)
> Hi
> Unfortunately at the moment there is not other method. To use the
> fingerprint-gui we must wait until somebody solves the segmentation fault. Now,
> I really find strange that you do not have this option in the users menu. I
> tried in Unity and Gnome and both are there. I attached a screen-shot of how
> you supposed to find it. Make sure you installed the fprint .deb customized
> from the forum. Hope it helps.

Thank you very much its working now. I did all the steps again and now it works. Thanks a lot for your help. :)

(In reply to comment #19)
> (In reply to comment #18)
> > Hi
> > Unfortunately at the moment there is not other method. To use the
> > fingerprint-gui we must wait until somebody solves the segmentation fault. Now,
> > I really find strange that you do not have this option in the users menu. I
> > tried in Unity and Gnome and both are there. I attached a screen-shot of how
> > you supposed to find it. Make sure you installed the fprint .deb customized
> > from the forum. Hope it helps.
> 
> Thank you very much its working now. I did all the steps again and now it
> works. Thanks a lot for your help. :)

Glad I could help!

Created attachment 64946 [details] [review]
vfs301 driver (1st public version)

Hi,

I have somewhat updated and improved the driver, should be a little more compatible with the coding style (in terms of internal functionality) of other libfprint drivers. I'm attaching the current version of the patch - please someone integrate it, so that I don't have to keep it on github sync'd .-)


Some notes:

The driver is for the devices 138a:0005 (primarily) and 138a:0008 (some users reported it as working too).

Unfortunately, we didn't decypher the protocol to much detail - so currently it mostly just repeats sequences the original binary driver does (that seems to work fine). That's why the driver doesn't look so pretty as other drivers. Maybe some users will be able to help with that :-)


The device on my notebook contains a LED next to the scanner, but I also didn't yet figure out how to control it - but anyhow, can libfprint use it to provide some feedback, even if we know how to control the LED?

Hi, Andrej and Everyone!

I tried your updated patch with 138a:0018 Validity Sensors, Inc. on HP Pavilion dv6-6030er. I tried to change id 0008 to 0018 in sources. fprint-demo finds my device, but cannot open it. If I can help you to make your driver work for 0018, tell my what I should de. Unfortunately, I don't have Windows, so I cannot send you any reverse-engineered stuff.

(In reply to comment #22)
> Hi, Andrej and Everyone!
> 
> I tried your updated patch with 138a:0018 Validity Sensors, Inc. on HP Pavilion
> dv6-6030er. I tried to change id 0008 to 0018 in sources. fprint-demo finds my
> device, but cannot open it. If I can help you to make your driver work for
> 0018, tell my what I should de. Unfortunately, I don't have Windows, so I
> cannot send you any reverse-engineered stuff.

Hi

I believe the Validity Sensors are very different from each other. If it doesn't work after modifying the usb id (as it happened to VFS300), I hardly believe this driver would work on this device. Check this bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libfprint/+bug/827669 maybe you can get more info regarding this device there.

Cleaned up a little more, and pushed. Thanks very much for the patch!

commit c3689665dbf3cd2126f3729792aa71efe13aab8d
Author: Andrej Krutak <dev@andree.sk>
Date:   Sun Jul 22 21:44:34 2012 +0200

    lib: Add VFS300/VFS301 driver
    
    https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=37574