Installing a fingerprint reader on a Linux (Mint21) desktop computer

[JowivK]

Hi! To facilitate authentification procedures, I would like to install a USB Fingerprint Reader. I got a simple (and cheao) one from Focal-systems.Corp. Vendor Id: 2808. Product Id: 93a9. I have asked the Focalsystems Corp but they don't respond (maybe I should write in Chinese?)
Does anyone have an idea if I can get this thing working? There is no driver anywhere. It is recognized by 'USB Viewer) but cannot be accessed.
Does anyone kno another device that can be installed?
Appreciate any help.

 

[Brickwizard]

Go to Settings and the click on Users from left sidebar. You should see all the user account on your system here. You’ll see several option including Fingerprint Login.
It should immediately ask you to scan a new fingerprint. When you click the + sign to add a fingerprint, it presents a few predefined options so that you can easily identify which finger or thumb it is.

 

[Brickwizard]

this may be better

How To Install A Fingerprint Scanner On Linux Mint – Systran Box

www.systranbox.com

 

[JowivK]

Thanks for that! I had seen that somewhere too. But it's not available because Linux doesn't recognise the hardware, ie it doesn't see it from the personal profile. I guess I need a driver first. Or a Linux compatible piece of hardware.....

 

[Brickwizard]

Mint is Ubuntu based, so should have the necessary drivers in it,
try plug in the reader, open menu, open all applications, scroll down to driver manager open [you will need tour password] and it should start looking for additional drivers and give you the option to install
if still no luck then check the uefi/bios settings make sure its enabled

 

[KGIII]

From what I've seen, driver support for fingerprint readers in Linux is pretty abysmal.

 

[JowivK]

Mint is Ubuntu based, so should have the necessary drivers in it,
try plug in the reader, open menu, open all applications, scroll down to driver manager open [you will need tour password] and it should start looking for additional drivers and give you the option to install
if still no luck then check the uefi/bios settings make sure its enabled

Thanks again. Well. looking for extra drivers tells me my system needs no drivers.
As to UEFI I might have a problem. For some weeks now I get an error response when I do Software updates. At he end it tells me (sorry in German):
dpkg: Fehler beim Bearbeiten des Paketes grub-efi-amd64-signed (--configure):
»installiertes grub-efi-amd64-signed-Skript des Paketes post-installation«-Unte
rprozess gab den Fehlerwert 32 zurück
Fehler traten auf beim Bearbeiten von:
grub-efi-amd64-signed
I haven't yet figured out what that means and up to now have not experienced any problems. Could it mean that EFI is not activated? I do have an EFI folder in my boot partition though...) In my bios, I have no clue at to UEFI.

 

[JowivK]

From what I've seen, driver support for fingerprint readers in Linux is pretty abysmal.

Is there any way to find out more about that? I hear some FP devices are supposed to work ...?

 

[Brickwizard]

sorry, my German is a bit rusty, but i can see its a problem with grub, you can try the following if you can open a terminal
sudo apt-get purge grub\*
sudo apt-get install grub-efi
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo update-grub

if you can't get a terminal, do you get the grub start page, if yes scroll down and select and open advanced options, scroll to repair broken/missing, open and let it run follow any instructions

 

[KGIII]

Is there any way to find out more about that? I hear some FP devices are supposed to work ...?

You can try this:

How To: (More or Less) Learn if Your Hardware Will Work With Linux • Linux Tips

New users often wonder if their hardware will work with Linux. This article will help you find out if your hardware will work with Linux.

linux-tips.us

 

[JowivK]

sorry, my German is a bit rusty, but i can see its a problem with grub, you can try the following if you can open a terminal
sudo apt-get purge grub\*
sudo apt-get install grub-efi
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo update-grub

if you can't get a terminal, do you get the grub start page, if yes scroll down and select and open advanced options, scroll to repair broken/missing, open and let it run follow any instructions

Hi again,
I tried the commands you gave me. Unfortunately I got errors. One error frightens me, which I got after trying to install Ggrub efi:
Unpacking von grub-efi (2.06-2ubuntu7) ...
grub-efi-amd64 (2.06-2ubuntu10) is being set up ...
mount: /var/lib/grub/esp: Special device /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_W
D3200AAKX-001CA0_WD-WCAYUL871301-part1 non existant.
Failed: grub-install --target=x86_64-efi
WARNING: Bootloader is not properly installed, system may not be
bootable

It seems that there has been a change in the name of the partition where it is supposed to be installed, right? Where do I change that so it points the correct way?

 

[JowivK]

So at the moment I a will not switch off my computer fearing it will not restart...?

 

[Brickwizard]

How to install the Boot-Repair tool in an Ubuntu live disc?

When the bootloader (GRUB) is broken, I cannot access neither Ubuntu nor Windows. I heard that an easy solution to fix this is to use the Boot-Repair tool from an Ubuntu liveCD (or liveUSB). What...

askubuntu.com

 

[JowivK]

The correct Boot partition UUID would be a46db6b5-4e90-482a-975b-4055db74c472. I have no idea where that ID requirement in the installation process comes from.

 

[JowivK]

sorry, my German is a bit rusty, but i can see its a problem with grub, you can try the following if you can open a terminal
sudo apt-get purge grub\*
sudo apt-get install grub-efi
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo update-grub

if you can't get a terminal, do you get the grub start page, if yes scroll down and select and open advanced options, scroll to repair broken/missing, open and let it run follow any instructions

Hi, as written earlier I am kind of stuck. Any ideas how I can solve this situation?

 

[JowivK]

sorry, my German is a bit rusty, but i can see its a problem with grub, you can try the following if you can open a terminal
sudo apt-get purge grub\*
sudo apt-get install grub-efi
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo update-grub

if you can't get a terminal, do you get the grub start page, if yes scroll down and select and open advanced options, scroll to repair broken/missing, open and let it run follow any instructions

Well, I have restarted, and the computer fired up.
I couldn't get into the Grub page though, should have at start-up, but couldn't get it. So, will leave it at that. Thanks for your help!

 

[Condobloke]

When the pc is rebooting hold down the Shift key.....that should bring up the grub menu.

Tap the down arrow when it does appear....that will make sure it stays open for you.

 

[Condobloke]

It would be a good idea to have Timeshift enabled...saving a few snapshots to an external hard drive, when the system is running as it should.

It could also be worthwhile to open System Reports.

 

[Condobloke]

Silly question...maybe.....

Have you used 'Grub Customizer'...?

 

[JowivK]

When the pc is rebooting hold down the Shift key.....that should bring up the grub menu.

Tap the down arrow when it does appear....that will make sure it stays open for you.

Thanks. I did try that. But got nothing.