Using card reader in OpenSUSE linux

English Hardware
#1

Hello,

I use OpenSUSE 15.3, I have got two questions:

  1. Is there any possibility to use card reader “YCR 101” https://www.yenkee.eu/smart-card-reader/ycr-101#Overview on linux, except using virual machine?
  2. Is there generally opensource software, or application for using (connecting) card readers on linux?

Thank you for ansering my questions.

#2

My system is openSUSE Tumbleweed and i use cyberjack RFD komfort.

It works without problems.

Regards

susejunky

#3

@Vajcek:

You’ll need a Home Banking package, such as “GnuCash” or “KMyMoney” or “HomeBank”.

  • You’ll then have to check if the (bank) card reader you’re interested in is supported by at least one of the available Home Banking packages.
  • If, none, then, you’ll have to take deep dive –
    Install one of the packages and, check if detects the (bank) card reader …
    *=2]If the (bank) card reader isn’t recognised, repeat until you find a package which supports it.

[HR][/HR]Searching for Home Banking applications which support the (bank) card reader you’ve mentioned, didn’t reveal any results …

  • Not even for the German product (written in Java) I use – for personal and, club accounting …
#4

The solving card reader here is not designed for internet banking.
It is a card reader for citizen ID cards for logging in to the web portal of the state administration.

#5

Hello,

on yenkee site I see that this card reader has a usb ccid interface. So you need to instal the packages pcsc-ccid and pcsc-lite

**pcsc-ccid **- PCSC Driver for CCID Based Smart Card Readers and GemPC Twin Serial Reader

This package contains a generic USB CCID (Chip/Smart Card Interface Devices) driver.

This driver is meant to be used with the PCSC-Lite daemon from the pcsc-lite packag

This software has a driver that control the card reader (pcscd). Now you need probably also a software (browser plugin) for authentication. This should be described on the site where you connect. Verify that their software works in linux.

Regards
Philippe

#6

May I modify my question (because I see I did not be clear) - I need software for reading personal ID card. Not bank-card. Is there any difference?

Thank you for answering my questions.

#7

Hello
for personal ID card you need:

  1. A driver which manage the card reader. For your card reader probabley pcsc-ccid
  2. a plugin in your browser
  3. a middelware for ID card which is country/site specific.

I had a look for the Serbia ID card on http://ca.mup.gov.rs/ca/ca_en/start/kes/ and I see that their application and middleware are *.msi files ==> windows only.
Not sure that all sites in serbia use this software.

I know that in Belgium some government sites have a middelware available for windows, ios and linux but some other sites using also the belgian ID card for authentication have only a windows middelware.

Regards
Philippe

#8

Does this mean that, the Redmond folks are influencing governments to only supply Microsoft compliant identity checking?

  • No Apple – iPhone.
  • No Google – Android.
  • No Linux …
  • And, nothing else …
#9

They don’t have to. The state clerks who are in charge are so stupid and lazy that they don’t know anything other than windows.
And as I see it, it’s not just a problem in our part of Europe.

#10

Then, they’re ignoring the efforts of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and, initiatives such as “Public Money? Public Code!” – <https://fsfe.org/activities/publiccode/publiccode.en.html>.

And, since 2014, the European Commission has been publishing open source software strategies – <https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/informatics/open-source-software-strategy_en>.

But, as you have noted, public servants and, Brussels is far, far away from where ever …

#11

I can only talk for Belgium::slight_smile:
Most government sites using the personnal Belgian card ID have middleware support for windows, ios, linux and also support different browsers . (See for example https://eid.belgium.be/en)
But other sites like itsme " **a Belgian ID application that allows users to confirm their identity and approve transactions. **Created by a consortium of four leading Belgian banks and one telecom network operator in 2017" have only middleware for windows.
I complained about this fact but they didn’t want to hear anything. >:(
And itsme can also be used for user authentication on some government sites (for example https://idp.iamfas.belgium.be/fasui/_cc0115f725639884f53022ab6d4d558a)

Regards
Philippe

#12

I have got an idea. You have to tell me if it is wrong or if it is right: since there is compressed file with linux drivers on the homepage of this reader (in linux folder), could I install from YaST files named like these in compressed file on producers site? I recognized some files; some of them you suggested, so I already installed it. Would it make this reader linux-visible. If all this could work, please yust tell me one more detail: where to place autorun.ini, which is, I suppose, is for autostart in linux?

Thank you for answering my questions.

#13

Hello,

Difficult to answer but if the driver is installed I think that there must be a program which allow testing the driver ==> it should ask for your pin code. Something like xxxviewer or xxxscan?
Now it depends also of your bowser middleware: there are a lot of middelwares and without it you cannot connect but each middleware is specific for one utilisation. So you need asking the site if they have a linux middleware.

Which driver do you have? I use pcscd found in package pcsc-lite (delivered by openSUSE).

hpprol2:/ # systemctl status pcscd
● pcscd.service - PC/SC Smart Card Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/pcscd.service; indirect; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-02-24 09:59:50 CET; 2 days ago
TriggeredBy: ● pcscd.socket
       Docs: man:pcscd(8)
   Main PID: 2739 (pcscd)
      Tasks: 7 (limit: 4915)
        CPU: 682ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/pcscd.service
             └─2739 /usr/sbin/pcscd --foreground

Feb 24 09:59:50 hpprol2 systemd[1]: Started PC/SC Smart Card Daemon.

it can be started or enabled via

systemctl start pcscd
systemctl enable pcscd

When enabled it start at boot.

Regards
Philippe

#14

Yes, my driver is **pcscd **I also installed more drivers I found in your answers in this Topic. And yes - when i start it via console (enable, then start). light on device shines (red when there is no card, green when card is in). It is just left to do 2 steps: find “a middelware for ID card which is country/site specific.” (what is this?) and to install some GNU Application for card reading.

Any help?

Thank you for answering my questions.

#15

pcscd is a service that will be started when needed by pcscd.socket:

systemctl status pcscd.service 
● pcscd.service - PC/SC Smart Card Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/pcscd.service; indirect; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead)
TriggeredBy: ● pcscd.socket
       Docs: man:pcscd(8)


systemctl status pcscd.socket 
● pcscd.socket - PC/SC Smart Card Daemon Activation Socket
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/pcscd.socket; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (listening) since Sat 2022-02-26 13:27:49 CET; 5h 0min ago
   Triggers: ● pcscd.service
     Listen: /run/pcscd/pcscd.comm (Stream)
     CGroup: /system.slice/pcscd.socket

Feb 26 13:27:49 linux64 systemd[1]: Listening on PC/SC Smart Card Daemon Activation Socket.
#16

As I said I know onnly the middleware for Belgian ID. With the middleware installed and the extension for firefox I can start the ID authentication on most Belgian government sites.

Information about middlewares:
https://eideasy.com/how-eid-card-signing-works-on-the-web/
https://idntrust.com/id-middleware/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Electronic_identification (multiple countries but not Serbia)
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7014689?hl=en

Regards
Philippe

#17

Yes you are right.
After a reboot pcscd.service is not loaded but when I start Firefox the EID extension starts the service. I forgot that point as I saw every time pcscd.service loaded, I thought that it was enabled

Thanks for the clarification
Philippe

#18

https://github.com/dkozic/elksd

#19

I’ve been in smartcard industry for a time, so I can qualify answer your question with a good accuracy.

PC/SC is a standardized networking system between smartcard readers and computer. It’s developed by Windows and almost all smartcard readers are PC/SC compliant. Windows OS supports PC/SC out-of-the-box.

For PC/SC support on a Linux-based OS, there are pcsc-ccid (a driver for USB-based smartcard readers) and pcsc-lite (anything that is needed to support the PC/SC system itself, including the daemon pcscd).

PC/SC only deals with the low-level communication (technically, it’s roughly at the level of physical up to transport layer) between a smartcard and a computer, via a smartcard reader.

It happens that your smartcard reader is PC/SC compliant and your OpenSUSE system was able to detect and connect with your smartcard reader properly, confirmed by the blinking lights you mentioned.

But smartcard itself behaves on an application layer (above the transport layer). Communication between a smartcard (server) and a computer (client) is pretty much a client-server model. So there are thousands of smartcards out there, be it for government applications, healthcare applications, tranportation applications, etc and all of these applications make use of PC/SC as their lower layers. And each smartcard (server) will have its own corresponding *client *application running on host computer. So what *middleware *here means is the respective *client *application running on your computer system.

This middleware is something you need to ask with vendor (your government in this case); whether or not the client application is also supported in a Linux-based OS apart from Windows alone. From my experience, Linux-based OS client application is barely supported. I’m not sure if Wine is able to port PC/SC-aware applications to Linux environment.

In case you don’t know networking layer I mentioned above, FYI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model#Comparison_with_TCP/IP_model
#20

For OP, this may not be the official application (middleware), but it’s worted to try.