A dumb reader is one that has no smarts in it (other than the smartcard itself). It has the card I/O pin wired (through a duplexer) directly to the rs232 TD and RD pins. The host computer is responsible for setting its uart to match the card parameters, usually 8/E/2, and dealing with things like inverse convention and T=1.
A "smart" reader interposes some kind of processor, usually a PIC but sometimes a full-blown microprocessor, between the host and the card. The processor takes care of electrical and timing issues, and often part of the card protocol too. A dumb reader is often the best choice, because smartcard reader manufacturers tend to be a secretive bunch and sometimes they won't let you use their products (other than giving you a useless Windows driver). But it does require that the host have a good uart and a full set of modem control lines, which are used for card detection and reset. So it can be hard to write a dumb reader driver for Palm/OS, for example. *************************************************************** Unix Smart Card Developers - M.U.S.C.L.E. (Movement for the Use of Smart Cards in a Linux Environment) http://www.linuxnet.com/ To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe sclinux ***************************************************************
