mrcleary

Anyone out there using a smart card reader (USB or other) with their 4700? If so, can you provide feedback?

Thanks!

rob1303

Originally Posted by mrcleary

Anyone out there using a smart card reader (USB or other) with their 4700? If so, can you provide feedback? Thanks!

What is a smart card reader - do you have a link?

__________________
Regards

Rob

mrcleary

Originally Posted by rob1303

What is a smart card reader - do you have a link?

Rob,

First -- thanks for the response. Don't have any definitive links for you so grabbed the first one off a popular search engine that defines SC -- http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question332.htm

Sorry in advance for any pop-ups or 3rd party cookies.

In short the smart card is a mechanism you can use for authentication/authorization to a corporate network. They've been picking up speed and adoption here in the States for a lot of laptop users who need access to wireless or vpn. The smart card's a smaller on-card chip that can be used in lieu of a hardware token where the user has to punch in numbers, etc. on a usually-timed sequence.

The SC reader is the piece that allows the smart card to sync and provide the necessary authentication/authorization information. As part of PEAP (Cisco/Microsoft led contingent as well as a few others I believe -- little fuzzy on the details for now) -- one can use smart cards to authenticate to a network. As the 4700 supports PEAP and has Wi-Fi built-in, the next logical step was finding a smart card reader (USB or Serial) that would allow for access from the ppc.

Challenge is most of the vendors I've contacted or spoken to out there don't appear to support SC readers on Pocket PC's running WM 2003 SE.

So I wanted to see what the user community was doing. Hope I've explained this ok?

Thanks,

Patrick

rob1303

Thanks for the deatiled reply - I haven't come across a reader yet - will keep an eye out for one though.

__________________
Regards

Rob

mrcleary

Originally Posted by rob1303

Thanks for the deatiled reply - I haven't come across a reader yet - will keep an eye out for one though.

Thanks, Rob.

ladyvols

Originally Posted by mrcleary

Anyone out there using a smart card reader (USB or other) with their 4700? If so, can you provide feedback? Thanks!

I have a Belkin CF reader and a SanDisk reader for SD,MMC, etc.

They both work really well.

You can also get como readers that will cover all your options. Try Price Grabber.com to look for the lowest price.

Society

I have seen these devices for palms, but only at a yearly tech fair (ITEC) that visits here every october. They use the cards to put all your contact info on, then as you go around to the booth you can give them your card which they read your info from and store it for later use - they usually offer a random drawing for something they sell as a icentive to give your info to them. I found a link that look alot like what I saw at this tech show, http://www.citi.umich.edu/projects/s...rd/palmreader/. They don't mention a pocket pc reader, but it looks like if you find the right pinout combinations it could be made to work with th pocket pc. This is all I've found so far.

~Soc

P.S. Here's a good resource for more info on this - http://www.citi.umich.edu/projects/smartcard/

mrcleary

Originally Posted by Society

I have seen these devices for palms, but only at a yearly tech fair (ITEC) that visits here every october. They use the cards to put all your contact info on, then as you go around to the booth you can give them your card which they read your info from and store it for later use - they usually offer a random drawing for something they sell as a icentive to give your info to them. I found a link that look alot like what I saw at this tech show, http://www.citi.umich.edu/projects/s...rd/palmreader/. They don't mention a pocket pc reader, but it looks like if you find the right pinout combinations it could be made to work with th pocket pc. This is all I've found so far. ~Soc P.S. Here's a good resource for more info on this - http://www.citi.umich.edu/projects/smartcard/

Thanks Soc. Appreciate your interest and the link -- lots o' good info. Unfortunately I put the Yahoo in Yahoo Serious when it comes to anything requiring technical acumen of a soldering or engineering nature -- you know, one of those folks who has trouble boiling water without recreating the kitchen equivalent of Pompei.

We're running with Smart Cards at my employer and I'm just busting to hook the 4700 up where it has built-in support.

Problem is, I'll likely have to stay tethered to the laptop for now as I can't find anything (so far) that provides a USB type reader for smart cards (not to be confused with media readers - not the same - as a few other folks have suggested).

Must be a niche need. Too bad.

Thanks very much tho' for the feedback and support. And let me know if you come across anything else.

Happy Holidays.

mrcleary

Woo-hoo!!! <Happy Dance>

Hopefully, not premature posting (catchy phrase -- sure it's been coined before)...but found this link tonight:

http://www.pro-active.fr/products/sc-cf/

Will inquire and see if they support the 4700. Stay tuned, will keep y'all posted,

And thanks again for the responses.

fm80

Originally Posted by mrcleary

Will inquire and see if they support the 4700. Stay tuned, will keep y'all posted

mrcleary,

Don't know if you followed the links on the Pro-Active site or not, but BrightCard looks to be their US distributor for the product you found. You can find BrightCard's product listings here:

http://www.brightcard.net/pro-active_readers.htm

Just in case you didn't notice that yourself (you mentioned difficulties boiling water)