On Thursday 07 August 2003 08:31, Jim Rees wrote:
> The "funcard" is not a smartcard, in spite of what the web site says.
>
> As far as I know, your best option is to get an Atmel chip in a
> smartcard package.  These used to be hard to buy in small quantities.
>  There was a project a couple years ago to write an open source OS
> for one of these, but I don't think they got very far.  I don't
> remember the name of the project.
>
> The good news is that the development tools are available and work
> well:
>
> http://www.openavr.org/

NetBSD even has a pile of AVR development tools in pkgsrc, and I'm just 
in the midst of getting simulavr running in there also. tavrasm seems 
to work just fine, although I have nowhere to test the little asm 
programs I'm starting out with.

So SOSSE looks like a terrific project. It mentions that a "programmer" 
is required for using SOSSE with the supported smartcards. Here's my 
understanding: a programmer of an atmel card can be as simple as a tiny 
little circuit attached to a regular serial port, but is capable of 
different things entirely than a normal smartcard reader like that 
available from Towitoko.

Here's that OS you mentioned, Jim:
http://www.mbsks.franken.de/sosse/html/index.html

The above page says that programmers are available from the same place 
that the "real" Funcards are.. and gives some links at the bottom.

My next question (assuming you've read this far heh heh) is whether an 
external, serial-based ChipDrive is capable of acting as a programmer 
for the atmel-based smartcards like the Funcard? My first instinct is 
to say "no". So, then, where to find a programmer?

Here are some devices for programming the Funcards:
http://www.rtv-w.de/shop/catalog/default.php?cPath=25_27

More programmers:
https://secure.olbort.com/bdm.htm

Here's one in English:
http://www.sathelp2000.com/elvisprogrammer.htm

My problem is that after reading this Slashdot article here:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/17/190232&mode=flat&tid=126

... I'm quite reluctant to order programmers from the U.S. or abroad, 
especially from a domain-name called "sathelp2000," because I'd hate to 
have to deal with some weird satellite company's litigiousness just for 
ordering simple equipment to begin a hobby smartcard lab. :)

So I guess I'll end this tome, and see what folks have to say about the 
matter.

Thanks for all your responses so far. They've been educational beyond my 
expectations!

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