[ILUG] Swipe Card System

[Michael Watterson]

Tony Groves wrote:
> I'm looking into setting up a swipe-card system for a remote rural
> building so that only authorised cardholders are admitted.
>
> What I reckon I might need are:
>
> For the site:
> (1) an externally-rated vandalproof card-reader, presumably with an
> RS-232 connector.
> (2) an old PC, loaded with Debian Linux (my preferred solution for
> everything).
>
> For issuing cards (at home):
> (1) a card writer.
> (2) a supply of pre-printed plastic cards, starting with 250, and about
> 50 per year after that.
>
> I can (presumably) write scripts for the site PC to look after database
> lookup and usage logging, and can visit the site occasionally to update
> the database and download logs. There is no internet connection there,
> and we don't want one. Security and reliability are important but not
> critical; this system is more for convenience than anything else.
>
> So, does anybody here have any experience of such systems? What sort of
> hardware and suppliers should I be looking for? Are there any pitfalls
> that I need to look out for? Should I be producing the cards myself or
> is there some external agency which will do a better job (with embossing
> or whatever) at a reasonable cost?
>
>   
It's a legitimate use for the blank ISO chip cards beloved of pirate  
satellite  users. This has the cheapest reader. The Door Lock can be a 
PIC micro with ISO connector or a PC with serial based (actually only 
uses handshake pins) dumb card reader.



Or you can use a magnetic card (much less  secure and easy to copy).

Or you can use a numeric pad.

I've done a lock with a PIC micro, including logging and master PIN key.

Amazingly I have seen barcode cards in use. They can be photocopied!

The cheapest is numeric keypad, then if there is  fixed number of cards 
the chipped card is best and cheap. If there are a lot of cards you can 
buy a system cheaper than a PC with magnetic card reader and cheap 
cardboard magstrip cards. These are selfcontained and added to 
photocopiers and doors.

You can buy a ready to go system, no PC needed at door. Unless you want 
either to try out JAL on a PIC micro or have a particularly weird  
requirement  and a wish to be locked out  (use PC & Linux).