[fprint] HP works with Validity on proprietary daemon that will provide API to fprint

[Kunal Gangakhedkar]

Sounds great..
Great job, Lukáš

Let's hope something positive comes out of it.

Kunal

On Tuesday 02 Nov 2010 3:05:15 am Lukáš Karas wrote:
> Hi All. 
> 
> I looked for documentation for Validity's sensor VFS451 last months. I would 
> like publish informations that I collect.
> 
> Validity Inc. provide documentation only for its partners - 
> http://www.validityinc.com/support.aspx . In theirs partners is HP among other 
> companies. HP really has documentation for Validiy's hardware, they provide 
> its own bios with fingerprint authorization... HP's partners on Linux market 
> are Novell and RedHat. 
> 
> So, I was send emails to all - HP Linux support, Prague office of Suse and 
> RedHat office at Brno (Czech Republic).
> 
> Suse / Novell: No response. Some messages on internet say that Prague office of 
> Suse was canceled, so email was probably last.
> 
> RedHat: Theirs partnership with HP is about servers. They haven't access to 
> documentation for hardware on HP's Notebooks.
> 
> HP: Almost one month nothing. And then I get message from Lester Wade. 
> Follow our comunication (Lester agreed with publishing on fprint mailing list)
> 
> > Thank you for contacting HP.
> > 
> > You have reached the HP team focused on addressing questions and 
> > feedback from our customers regarding Linux on HP products.
> > 
> > I'm sorry for the delay in responding to your message.
> > 
> > Sometimes we partition component manufacturers to release their hardware 
> > specifications so we or the community can write a driver for that 
> > component.  However, unfortunately in this case we are not able to 
> > provide you with the hardware specifications for the Validity reader, if 
> > at all available from Validity, these would be under strict NDA.  With 
> > this comes issues despite the obvious NDA agreement; such as whether we 
> > could Open Source the driver etc.
> > 
> > I forwarded your kind offer of help to the engineering teams and they 
> > will keep you in mind should they require assistance.
> > 
> > Kind Regards,
> > 
> > Lester Wade
> > Program Manager
> 
> next message: 
> 
> > Hi Luk,
> >  
> > I'd like to follow up with you in regards to my previous email, dated 22nd
> > October.
> >  
> > I have information from our engineering teams and Validity Sensors Inc, 
> > in the form of the following statement:
> >  
> > > There are no open source drivers available for any of the Validity
> > > sensors, and the hardware interfaces are proprietary to Validity Sensors,
> > > Inc. HP is working directly with Validity who will provide a working
> > > solution with Novell SLED 11 for x86 by the end of the year.  
> > > This solution will provide an API integration with fprint using 
> > > a proprietary daemon from Validity.   This solution may or may not work
> > > with your Linux distribution, but it will be available for you to try.   
> > 
> >  I hope this information is useful.
> >  
> >  Kind Regards,
> > 
> > Lester Wade
> > Program Manager
> 
> my reply:
> 
> > Hi Lester
> > 
> > I'm not happy that this daemon will be proprietary. But it is still good 
> > message. Proprietary solustion is better than current state...
> > 
> > Thank you for this message. Can I resend it to public fprint mailing list? 
> > Many users are waiting for each information about driver for this
> > hardware...
> > 
> > Lukas
> 
> and last:
> 
> > Please feel free to forward my communication to the fprint mailing list.
> > 
> > Indeed, at this stage a proprietary solution is better than nothing. 
> > Novell, HP and Validity will work to ensure this solution is integrated 
> > into a future SLED11 update.
> > 
> > Personally I would also prefer to see an Open Source solution to this, 
> > however this is outside of our control.  Has the fprint project had any 
> > engagement with Validity Sensors Inc.?  It may be worth taking a request 
> > to them on behalf of the Open Source community.
> > 
> > Kind Regards,
> > Lester Wade
> > Program Manager
> > 
> 
> So... It is better than nothing. I would be happier for published 
> documentation... But, I look forward what HP will publish and hope that 
> it will be useful users...
> 
> Best Regards, 
> Lukas
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> 

-- 
Kunal