title: Developing software for an RFID reader with open-source Linux support: Which direction to go, hardware-/system-wise?
body: <p>I'll be working on a project that will work with RFID readers.</p>
  
  <p>The target platform for our software is Debian stable (currently 5.0.6).</p>
  
  <p>I have investigated the following options so far:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.robotshop.com/parallax-rfid-card-reader-usb-1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Parallax RFID card reader (USB)</a> • Here I'm not quite sure about the Linux support. The manual PDF from that link ("useful links") references <a href="http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this vendor page</a> which says that all devices except FT2232H and FT4232H are supported by stock kernels > 2.6.9. The aforementioned PDF does not seem to say which exact chip is being used. Stock kernel support would give me a lot more peace of mind than some vendor link that's here today, and gone (or incompatible with new kernels) tomorrow.</li>
  <li><a href="http://www.brooks-rfid.com/rfid-reader/rfid-reader-hf-1356-mhz/hf20-special-tools/rfid-reader-usb.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Brooks RFID Reader (USB) HF20</a> • This one uses the well-supported CP210X USB&lt;->Serial chip, but it's kinda pricey. What I've seen of its protocol so far is very nice, though.</li>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.hidglobal.com/technology.php?tech_cat=19&amp;subcat_id=10&amp;headerType=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HID OMNIKEY 5321 USB</a> • This one seems nice, too, and very affordable, but I'm not sure what the quality of its Linux support through pcscd is. Being able to use affordable, but well-standardized mifare transponders would be a plus, I guess.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Those three would require using them with an embedded PC to drive them, so I also looked at the following ("and now for something completely different" ;)) solution:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.gigatms.com.tw/products-detail.asp?pid=100" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FAT800AR</a> / <a href="http://www.gigatms.com.tw/products-detail.asp?pid=152" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FAT810R/-FL/-W</a> • Basically little telnet-like terminals that use a central host-server, which seems to require fewer points-of-failure, but OTOH cannot even cache data for a while if the network connection is down.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I'd be extremely grateful for feedback on those (or similar) RFID solutions and also about the mentioned vendors (reliability, fair dealing…).</p>
  
  <p>I'd be especially happy if you have real-world experience with such solutions, anything is of interest: TCO benefits/drawbacks of going a specific route, how easy the over-the-wire protocols are to program and how the available wrapper libraries (if any) worked out for you, hardware (and hardware combinations)  that failed especially often/spectacularly, … anything, really.</p>
  
  <p>I'd also appreciate if you could point me to tests in reputable publications. I always seem to end up on horrible industry websites…</p>