Table of Contents
Advertisement
Using the Fingerprint Reader
D
With the ThinkFinger driver, SUSE
UPEK/SGS Thomson Microelectronics included with some IBM and Lenovo ThinkPads. The same
fingerprint reader can also be found in other laptops and either as a stand-alone device or built into
some USB keyboards. For more details, refer to
*checkout*/thinkfinger/README.in (http://thinkfinger.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/
thinkfinger/README.in). After registering their fingerprint, users can log in to the system either by
swiping a finger on the fingerprint reader or by typing in a password.
If the hardware check detects the fingerprint reader integrated with your laptop (or connected to
your system), the packages libthinkfinger and pam_thinkfinger are automatically
installed. Use the command line tool tf-tool to register or verify a fingerprint for various users.
root permission is required for this. The PAM module pam_thinkfinger supports user
authentication by fingerprint for the following applications and actions (although you might not be
prompted to swipe your finger in all cases):
Logging in to GDM or a login shell
Unlocking your screen on the GNOME desktop
Starting YaST and the YaST modules in the GNOME control center
Starting an application with root permission: sudo or gnomesu
Changing to a different user identity with su or su - username
D.1 Registering a Fingerprint
Currently, only one fingerprint per user can be registered.
1 Open a shell and log in as root.
2 Run tf-tool --help to view the available options.
3 To register a fingerprint for a certain user, enter
tf-tool --add-user login
tf-tool prompts the user to swipe a finger until three readable fingerprints have been
gathered. The user's fingerprint data is then stored to /etc/pam_thinkfinger/
login.bir.
4 If you want to use fingerprint authentication for starting YaST or the YaST modules in the
GNOME control center, register a fingerprint for root, too.
5 To verify an existing fingerprint for a certain user, enter
tf-tool --verify-user login
6 Let the user swipe a finger. tf-tool compares the fingerprint to the print stored for this user
and provides a message if the fingerprints match.
As soon as the user's fingerprint has been successfully registered, the user can choose to authenticate
with either fingerprint or password.
To remove a user's fingerprint, delete the appropriate fingerprint file for this user: /etc/
pam_thinkfinger/login.bir.
®
Linux* Enterprise Desktop supports the fingerprint reader by
http://thinkfinger.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/
D
Using the Fingerprint Reader
271
Advertisement
Chapters
Table of Contents
Troubleshooting
