Re: [Fed-Talk] Still no CAC reader for Mac Book Pros?
Re: [Fed-Talk] Still no CAC reader for Mac Book Pros?
- Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] Still no CAC reader for Mac Book Pros?
- From: Joel Esler <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:56:17 -0400
I doubt that Apple will ever build a CAC card reader into any laptop. Ever. It's a niche need. (Meaning on the Government [and only certain entities in the goverment] at this time have it widely deployed.)
Apple probably feels that USB add-ons are sufficient. (heck they got rid of modems!)
Have you ever taken apart a macbook pro? Seen how tight the components are in there to get a laptop down to that size? That's why they went with a full 2 centimeters of removal. Plus, Apple doesn't hang on to old tech very long (PCMCIA), they went with ExpressCard.
Heck, they've removed their OWN standard from several of their machines (firewire).
J
On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 9:58 AM, Michael Kluskens
<email@hidden> wrote:
The MacBook Pro and a great many other laptops come with a expansion slot (PCMCIA, ExpressCard/54, ExpressCard/34). DoD laptop users expect to use that slot for their CAC card reader, my supervisor and his sponsor certainly do. That they have carry yet another USB device around to use an Apple laptop does not win any points with them. I've seen the wear and tear USB smart card readers take when carried constantly by laptop users, they become throw away devices.
If the Apple designers had bothered to check the availability devices for ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54 they might have noticed that certain expansion devices were not available for ExpressCard/34 and were rather impractical for ExpressCard/34. Explain how saving 20 mm in the layout of the Mac Book Pro was so critical. Given there is no third-party solution by now it seems Apple should have developed a solution by now.
The issue about ExpressCard/34 smart card readers was discussed heavily 3 years ago and still there is no solution, other then the comment
On May 17, 2006, at 4:49:29 PM, Shawn Geddis wrote:
Physical insertion of your Smart Card inside your laptop is not the best of conditions, since the card / reader typically stick out.
There are other technical means that are more elegant and more Apple-like.
I don't see where the USB smart card reader is a more elegant solution than a ExpressCard/54 slot and reader, and the USB is all we have after three years so therefore obviously Apple has no other solution.
Michael
On Mar 11, 2009, at 10:30:54 AM, Hayes, Dennis wrote:
Michael -
There are several USB readers out there, including ones on keyboards by
both Dell and HP.
We've (EDS/HP) posted instructions on how to use CAC cards, update
drivers, configure OS X, etc. to gain access to DoD OWA email at
http://idisk.mac.com/dp.hayes-Public/
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:04 AM
To:
email@hidden
Subject: [Fed-Talk] Still no CAC reader for Mac Book Pros?
As near as I can tell there is still is no CAC/Smart Card reader for
use with the Mac Book Pro's?
All I found were ExpressCard/54 smart card readers, and the DoD
approved Bluetooth CAC readers only have drivers for Windows and
Blackberry.
Does OS X 10.5.6 come with drivers for any of the DoD approved
Bluetooth CAC readers?
What happened to the "better" solution that Shawn suggested was on
it's way.
To save 20 mm on the side of the Mac Book Pro Apple locked DoD users
out of insertable smart card readers.
Michael
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