I have a question about the Broadcom bcm5880 fingerprint scanner. I've been doing some research and I'm mostly seeing that there is no Linux support for this model (even though every model above and below is supported). But what I don't get is that when I look at the device on Ubuntu's certification site, it shows that this device is contained in a number of certified machines and none of them mention that there is no support in the section where it lists what works and what doesn't. All in all this really isn't a big deal, I only want it working as a gimmick, but I'm just a little confused because what I take away from the Ubuntu certification site is that it does work but every other resource says it doesn't...
21 Answer
The problem with this device is that it does two things: reading smartcards and handling fingerprint authorization.
The smartcard part works out of the box, hence the Ubuntu certification, but as far as I can tell there is zero support for the fingerprint reader and Broadcom has shown no interest in releasing specs for the device. This means it won't be supported until someone goes through the trouble of reverse engineering the Windows driver.
Given how tepid the interest is for fingerprint readers on laptops I wouldn't hold my breath.
