So I’m shopping for a fingerprint reader to use on Linux desktop and found this list of fprint supported devices. The problem is that USB ID is not exactly the kind of information they advertise in marketplaces or product information pages, so I can never know whether the product I’m looking at is going to be detected at all.

I looked for reviews on Amazon of many candidates, but almost every review that mentions Linux support is a negative, so I feel that my odds here are not great.

Have you tried any device that worked with any distro, preferably out of the box?

  • datendefekt
    2·
    1 year ago

    In my experience fprint is a bit hit and miss. As an alternative, you can get a webcam with an IR cam (Windows Hello) and use it with Howdy.

  • jerry@lemmy.world
    1·
    1 year ago

    Are you looking for a desktop? HP and thinkpads have always worked out of the box for me.

    • nickapos
      1·
      1 year ago

      Can you please provide more info about your setup? I have an Ubuntu thinkpad and I have failed so far to use the fingerprint scanner

      • jerry@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 year ago

        Vanilla ubuntu? It just worked out of the box, if you go to users in gnome, there should be fingerprint login options. If it’s not being detcted on a thinkpad, I would make sure it isn’t turned off in bios.

  • JuxtaposedJaguar
    1·
    1 year ago

    Although I love modular solutions, I think biometrics are one of the few things that really need to be bundled with your device and locked down. At least if you care about security. If not, then don’t use a password in the first place.

    To somewhat answer your question, though, you should consider solutions that allow you to unlock one trusted device with another trusted device. The most common example would be unlocking your desktop with your phone over bluetooth, especially if that phone comes with its own biometric sensor. Just make sure that secondary device is encrypted.

    • manned_meatballOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      By that logic an mfa device like a Yubikey would also need to be fully integrated to a device to be secure. I don’t think security and modularity go opposite ways.

      • JuxtaposedJaguar
        1·
        1 year ago

        MFA requires multiple forms of authentication to gain access; as long as the bad actor doesn’t have your password, it’s not a big deal if they compromise your Yubikey. If you could gain access with only the Yubikey, then it would indeed be insecure.

  • Celivalg@iusearchlinux.fyi
    11·
    1 year ago

    any distro? no, fprint isn’t on all distro, so you might have to install that anyway.

    I’m not sure what you are trying to get, is it

    • a sensor for a DIY project?
    • and external fingerprint reader?
    • a laptop with a compatible sensor? (probably not that on since you asked about desktop specifically…)