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background: I'm looking to buy a laptop, and I'm trying to validate driver availability. Specifically fingerprint reader compatibility is hit and miss with Thinkpad laptops. I purchased a t470s that has a https://store.emprgroup.com.au/p-445373-00jt989.aspx It should use a driver to support USB ID 138a:0097 Validity Sensors, Inc. However it exists under 'known unsupported drivers' under /lib/udev/hwdb.d/60-autosuspend-libfprint-2.hwdb - I don't want to make that mistake again

goal: I'd like to work my way backwards from a USB ID to get a list of supported part numbers. I can then use that number to list thinkpads that will have the driver supported hardware. eg: https://store.emprgroup.com.au/Product_Utilise.aspx?product=00JT989&Type=Lenovo

Qn: One of these "supported devices" as USB ID's:

10a5:d205       FPC MOC Fingerprint Sensor
10a5:d805       FPC MOC Fingerprint Sensor
10a5:da04       FPC MOC Fingerprint Sensor
10a5:ffe0       FPC MOC Fingerprint Sensor

(source https://fprint.freedesktop.org/supported-devices.html)

definitely supports the FPC corporation's '5F30V25942' part number (source https://store.emprgroup.com.au/p-575400-5f30v25942-fru-fpr-cs21-379-moc-black-slim-fop-syn-jyt.aspx ) a variety of Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 9/10/11 machines (source https://store.emprgroup.com.au/Product_Utilise.aspx?product=5F30V25942&Type=Lenovo)

How do I prove the supported USB ID to a hardware part number?

MC68020
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rupert160
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1 Answers1

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How do I prove the supported USB ID to a hardware part number?

Not at all. The two aren't related, at all. Sorry.

You'd need a list, manually collected by the hardware vendor which hardware number has which USB IDs.

Marcus Müller
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  • Can you elaborate on how these are unrelated? I'd accept it's not 1:1, likely 1:many, but not unrelated. – rupert160 Jan 18 '24 at 00:32
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    The USB IDs identify the sensor chip used; the hardware part numbers identify the "packaging" and connectors used. If the manufacturer's Windows driver supports all the possible chips, they may use whatever fingerprint sensor chip type that is available and fits the physical package. And so, for the manufacturer, the chip type can be an internal manufacturing detail that supposedly has no significance to the intended customer (i.e. a Windows user) because their Windows driver hides the differences, and so the chip used in each hardware model may vary by production batch. – telcoM Jan 18 '24 at 01:10
  • Okay thanks I've reached out to fingerprints.com, the owner of patent on this, hoping they can publish such a list publicly. – rupert160 Jan 18 '24 at 01:41
  • @rupert160 they are 100% unrelated. It's not rare for devices with the same product name / vendor product number to have different USB IDs, because they have different hardware or firmware revisions. It's neither rare for very different products to have the same USB IDs and then use very different drivers, depending on what the firmware tells the host what the device does. – Marcus Müller Jan 18 '24 at 09:50
  • @rupert160 the places you reached out to have absolutely zero to do with it. You can't patent USB IDs. You can patent functional principles. – Marcus Müller Jan 18 '24 at 09:51