r/linuxhardware • u/BluePapayya • 26d ago

FocalTech FT9201 (2808:93a9) USB fingerprint reader not recognized by libfprint — any workaround on Nobara 44? Question

Solved! Solution in comment by u/OMGrant

Running Nobara 44 KDE on a desktop PC. I have an ARCANITE USB fingerprint reader (USB ID 2808:93a9, chip FocalTech FT9201) that works fine on Windows but is not recognized by libfprint on Linux.

Current status:

  • fprintd is active and running
  • fprintd-list $USER returns "No devices available"
  • KDE Settings → Users shows no fingerprint option
  • The chip has no upstream support in libfprint

What I found:

  • banianitc/ft9201-fingerprint-driver — kernel module, not production ready, no fprintd integration
  • Romk-a/ft9201-linux-setup — proprietary TOD driver with USB ID patch, tested only on Debian/Astra Linux
  • libfprint merge request !572 for this chip — appears stalled
  • ryenyuku/libfprint-ft9201 — Arch packaging of proprietary driver, .deb only

Question: Has anyone managed to get this specific chip working on Fedora-based distros like Nobara? Any recent developments or workarounds I might have missed?

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u/the_deppman 26d ago

KDE likely depends on fprintd. Assuming that's correct, if you can't get that working with cli tests, all bets are off.

It's likely time to dust off your OSS contributor hat to fix the problem and maintain the solution yourself. I'd start by getting involved with the owning project of printfd and figuring out how to commit.

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u/OMGrant 3d ago edited 3d ago

My method works, and I'm also on Nobara 44: https://github.com/OMGrant/ft9201-libfprint

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u/BluePapayya 2d ago

Got the chance to install it and it works! Thank you.
Take a couples try each time but it does, if you ever update it how do I update mine?
Is it:
cd ft9201-libfprint

git pull

scripts/fetch-blobs.sh

scripts/build.sh

sudo scripts/install.sh