RFID login for your Windows 7 PC.

Last week I was approached by one of our vendors to help bring a new product to the Modding community. I was asked to give a RFID kit a review and supply my thoughts on the simplicity of installation. I was also asked to comment on how I thought the modding community would take to RFID in modding. The review will be published in a week or so. I wanted to make a post so the community could share their thoughts and opinions on adding RFID to your modders toolbox.

In addition to these request, I was asked if I knew of a modder who was willing to give the RFID kit a test drive and actually mod it into a PC case. So after some deliberation between OvRiDe and myself, we came to the conclusion that SXRguyinMA was the man for the job. So in this thread we will be posting our initial experiences with the kits and we would really like to know your opinions and thoughts on the kit and our uses.

The kit is the RedBee RFID experimenters kit by Trossen Robotics and Roboticsconnection.com. Very soon we should be able to purchase these kits from FrozenCPU.com

The kit comes with a few suggested projects like using RFID to unlock a deadbolt or fire safe, Using RedBee RFID kits + Xbee Wireless modules to create a king of the mountain type RC car race and my project of interest, using the Redbee kit to log you into your PC with just the swipe of a RFID tag, card, or even implant.

http://www.trossenrobotics.com/store...R-REDBEE-c.jpg

I am playing around with it right now and the setup is pretty easy. What I would like to know right now is does being able to log into your PC with the swipe of a card or even hand appeal to you?

Here is a little more info on the kit.

[quote=Trossen Robotics] RFID is an exciting new technology that is finding its way into a variety of different industries; pet identification, keyless entry, hospitals, inventory management and tracking, tollway collections, security, data collection, wildlife tracking, and much more. Now you can experiment on your own with this great starter kit.

This kit includes everything needed to get started:

* RedBee RFID reader
* RFID tag variety pack (13)
* Project CD with 5 Projects
* USB Cable


The RedBee RFID Reader is a ground breaking first in many areas. Capable of being used as a tethered device to a PC or microcontrollers OR as a preprogrammed stand alone device it is the only hobby reader with both. The RedBee comes default with USB and TTL serial with the ability to add Xbee for wireless communitcation.

http://www.trossenrobotics.com/store...P-KT-100-a.jpg

http://www.trossenrobotics.com/store...D-KT-TGKT4.jpg

I forgot to mention that this is not intended for use in applications where security is a necessity. You have to store your password in an unprotected text file so anyone using your PC can grab the data if they know where to look.

Also, from my conversations with Matt at Trossen Robotics, this is only available to be used with Windows 7 based systems. He told me that it was something that MS put into W7 that allowed this project to happen in the first place, and that element is not present in previous versions of Windows.

Another neat feature, this device has the ability to control external hardware (relays, etc), the the potential applications for this are HUGE :D

I'll keep you guys updated with my experiments/findings

Woah, he actually implanted those tags in his hands. Humanity takes one step closer to becoming cyborgs!

SWEET! lol. looks awesome.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oneslowz28

You have to store your password in an unprotected text file so anyone using your PC can grab the data if they know where to look.

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I'm glad somebody else noticed that. ;)

This looks like a neat board, especially with the built-in Xbee communications. Personally I wouldn't want one for logging into my PC, but it could be neat as a way of adding another layer of authentication for a door or something. Personally I would never replace any authentication system (lock, password, etc) with RFID, but that's just because I'm paranoid and know too much about the vulnerabilities of the systems. :P

There was some dude in Australia that got one put in so he could get rid of his keys....
Would be nice, but what happens when everybody starts doing it, then someone makes a portable scanner and goes around "stealing" ppls "keys"

Bump

Well I've set mine up and it works beautifully :D

You need to modify some .txt files and register some .dll's, but it's simple and the .pdf shows you step-by-step how to do everything.

One thing I noticed is the "save tag" function on the reader and software. This is used for projects other than the Windows 7 logon. I ran into issues with getting it to work, until I deleted the saved tags, then it worked perfectly :D

The only downside I see is related to their security issue. They say it's not very secure because anyone can modify the .txt file(s) once they're in. But there's another issue. When you set everything up, it adds another user to your login screen called RedBee with the RedBee logo. If you click on that user, it logs you right in without a password or needing to swipe!

I've got an email in to see if there is a way to hide that user or what needs to be done to disable that. other than that, it's a neat product.

And the fact that it has outputs to control things like relays make this a product I'm going to play with a lot more

I think it would be cool to set this up so when you walk into range of the wireless it boots your computer up so it is nice and ready when you get to it. just an idea.

man I need a SSD.