Open thenexus7 opened 5 years ago
I second the fingerprint reader
Fingerprint reader would be great. My work PC is a ThinkPad P51, which does technically have one, but alas, it is completely useless on Linux.
Consumer grade fingerprint readers and facial recognition software tend to be pretty insecure in my opinion. I would rather System76 not add those kinds of biometric features.
Additional support for hardware tokens, though (perhaps in UEFI/pre-boot) would be interesting though. Perhaps CAC or USB FIDO.
There is no downside to adding a fingerprint sensor or other biometric scanner as a convenience feature. Users who don't want to use it can simply not use it.
Why/User Benefit/User Problem
Password authentication on laptop can be a pain for end-users, especially when you're forced to login many times per day. Then, fingerprint readers support on Linux is always a bit problematic, mostly on hardware support side since most manufacturers uses and rely on proprietary devices (Yes I'm talking about you Synaptics).
Description of the feature
System76 could be a step ahead their competitors by being the first to offer a open firmware based authentication hardware, this can be a fingerprint reader of a facial recognition camera (have a look at Boltgolt's Howdy here for this: https://github.com/boltgolt/howdy)
When you have a Linux supported fingerprint reader (Lenovo T450s) and use Pop!_OS it's a real charm! It's well supported through Gnome and make login and installing apps/updates a super seamless experience!