> I have found a very interesting project that boot's an executable with the > help of the bootloader grub fron any filesystem ( windows and linux ). > This executable then could check smartcards on the seriell or usb port > before it starts another operating system. There would be no need to boot > any operating system before authentication takes place. > > This project is actually a mini game and called "invaders" - the author is > Erik Thiele. you can download the sources from his website: > http://www.erikyyy.de/invaders/ > Actually, it is very interesting to read the sources -> they are very > simple and you can learn a lot of them. > > The so booted executable could initialize a serial driver ( must be very > similar to the kernels serial console ) and the driver for the smartcard > reader. The rest would be kind of sending a fixed set of apuds to the > seriel reader. When authentication is done the operating system will be > booted. > Ok, I know that is wont't be that simple ... :-) > > Such a thing could also be implemented in a linux bios. Then the executable > would be on the bios chip, which would be more safe. Well, I know that such a beast could be implemented WITHOUT any OS. But think about the following: - Re-implementing serial support (mostly one chipset) - Re-implementing USB support (about 3 major chipsets) - Implementing the various smartcard- and reader-drivers and so on ...
That's why I suggested using linux - there everything is available, and there'll even be new drivers as needed over time :-) _______________________________________________ Muscle mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.musclecard.com/mailman/listinfo/muscle
