I have been doing some digging on whether or not it is possible to to modify the Framework 13 fingerprint reader to be an external USB-connected reader. The reason for this is because it seems to be one of the cheapest and most reliably supported fingerprint readers for Linux, and I want to use it with my desktop PC. I found this topic, where people have proved that it works. I think I could design a simply enclosure for 3d printing, but first I have some unanswered questions:
Could you solder wires directly to the reader’s PCB and connect them to a USB C board like this one? That one specifically because I already have them, and ordering parts off AliExpress is nearly impossible for me since they don’t like shipping to AK. So it’d need to be something available somewhere that will actually ship to me.
Is there a model or measurements available for the fingerprint sensor, with the mount and everything? I have a fw13 so I could take it apart and measure, but I’d rather get perfect measurements if they’re available.
Basically, I want to find out the minimum amount of parts required so I can make the case as compact as possible while avoiding AliExpress since they don’t ship to me.
If you can solder the 0.5mm pitch, sure. The fingerprint reader pinout says it’s 5v, and it looks like others have not posted any problems. As long as the pins connect to the right places, how you do it doesn’t really matter.
Hello, I think I managed to do exactly what you described in the first point.
If you peel the black tape from the back of the sensor PCB, there are some test points you can solder to more easily that trying to solder wires to the FPC connector. You still need to be careful though. However I am not sure whether that does not skip some protection between the connector and the reader itself (if there is any) so proceed at your own risk.
I plugged it into my desktop (running Debian) and it seems to be recognized as a USB device. Haven’t yet gotten to setting it up as a fingerprint reader.
