Fingerprint Reader Usage
From Knowledge76
Overview
Biometrics is not fully integrated into Linux or Ubuntu; therefore, System76 does not pre-configure the Fingerprint Reader for login and sudo administrative commands. This article describes how to enable FP reader login and sudo.
Important Notes
- Some Administration interfaces will NOT work! Network, Services, Time and Date, and Users and Groups will not Unlock. this is due to PAM (Pluggable Authentication Method) limitations and will take time to re-work. It is relatively easy to switch back to standard username/password authentication when you need to use these applications.
- This article is provided for early adopters that want to play with their FP reader.
- The FP driver was created by the fprint project with a donation from System76. Thanks fprint!
- On some systems, the Fingerprint Reader does not work, and enabling it may lock you out of your system. Use at your own risk. The Panp7 is known not to work with the fingerprint reader, do not use this tutorial for this model.
Instructions for Ubuntu 9.04 and up
Configure PAM
Cut and paste the following commands into your terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal).
sudo cp /etc/pam.d/common-auth /etc/pam.d/common-auth_orig gksudo gedit /etc/pam.d/common-auth
Change only this portion of the file from:
# here are the per-package modules (the "Primary" block) auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so nullok_secure
to:
# here are the per-package modules (the "Primary" block) auth sufficient pam_fprint.so auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so nullok_secure
Leave the rest of the file as is.
Save and close the file. This configuration will first try to read your fingerprint before asking your password. Go to Applications > Accessories > fprint project demo to register and verify your fingerprint. It takes some practice but works well once you get it. You can use your fingerprint reader to log in and for sudo commands.
Instructions for Ubuntu 6.06 Through Ubuntu 8.10
Configure PAM
Cut and paste the following commands into your terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal).
sudo cp /etc/pam.d/common-auth /etc/pam.d/common-auth_orig gksudo gedit /etc/pam.d/common-auth
Change the file from:
auth requisite pam_unix.so nullok_secure auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate missingok
to:
auth sufficient pam_fprint.so auth requisite pam_unix.so nullok_secure auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate missingok
Save and close the file. This configuration will first try to read your fingerprint before asking your password. Go to Applications > Accessories > fprint project demo to register and verify your fingerprint. It takes some practice but works well once you get it. You can use your fingerprint reader to log in and for sudo commands.
