Lenovo fingerprint reader

Linux Distributions Pop!_OS
1

I’ve recently got a Lenovo T480 just for Pop!_OS, and mostly it works well with the current Pop!_OS. One thing I can’t get to work is the fingerprint reader.

Although I’m not a nube with Linux, I am a nube with this Linux as I am more of a server guy. I do know Pop!_OS is Ubuntu under the covers so refer to Ubuntu sources for clues. fprintd seems to be built in to this version by now, but suspect my specific hardware is not being detected. I know it does work (under windows).

  • Is fingerprint login common on Linux?
  • Is a Lenovo T480 too new to have the hardware drivers?
  • Do I need to install drivers from Lenovo (which is very Windows) ? I looked and they don’t appear to offer anything other than confirm they support Linux.

Thanks,

2

I have learnt my T480 Synaptics fingerprint sensor is supported by fprintd, by using lsusb to find the device ID
~$ sudo lsusb
[sudo] password for greeners:
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:0316 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Card Reader
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 06cb:009a Synaptics, Inc. Metallica MIS Touch Fingerprint Reader
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 04f2:b604 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Integrated Camera (1280x720@30)
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bluetooth wireless interface
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b613 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Integrated IR Camera
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 2386:432f Raydium Corporation Touch System
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0781:5571 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Fit
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The libfprint project source file lists my USB device, which is encouraging: https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libfprint/libfprint/tree/libfprint/fprint-list-udev-rules.c?id=80dbc9c0cb0825c89cdd07c5d4ceda5055cc2d8a

So what is missing - firmware? How do I find that out?

3

I am 99% sure this will not be helpful (and certainly not timely), but I know the Lenovo P53 running stock Fedora has a working fingerprint reader. Perhaps there is something in the Fedora distro you could hack around with and get it working in your distro. You might also contact System76 and see if they would be willing to help.

4

Thanks for your thoughts.

I tried to find a way to contact sytem76 but as I did not buy their hardware it looked to me that there is no support? I would gladly pay a fee for the OS to get support but did not see that offered.

It is not a big problem to not have print built-in, perhaps the next release will have it included.

5

I have found the pop!_os community forum and posted there - others have noted and posted similarly. If I get something from there I will post here.

6

I would appreciate that. Very few mobile tech reviews even check Linux compatibility (with the notable exception of Lon.tv), and he never seems to mention the FP reader. I have left a couple of comments asking him to include it, so maybe that will change.

7

I saw your thread and the replies, and I agree with letting Pop!_OS developers know. Last I checked, fingerprint readers required a newer version of Ubuntu, and specific packages. If it’s just down to packages they need to include by default, that’s an easy fix.