While I was there, I had another agenda item, creating a HOWTO for enabling a GPG SmartCard for use with SSH. Of course, the SmartCard can be used for both encryption and signing as well.

After finishing that HOWTO, I was talking about it with a few people within Fedora, and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest. It turns out there was quite a bit of interest, so I’ve decided to do a hackfest on Saturday at FUDCon to help move people over to GPG SmartCards. This is also going to be quite nice in that there will be a GPG key signing event after this hackfest.

Come Prepared – Equipment Required

It’s important you come prepared! If you have ever had interest in this sort of thing, there’s time to get equipment for the hackfest. Here’s what you need:

• SmartCard Reader, any will do. I recommend the Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 from kernelconcepts.de.
• An OpenPGP SmartCard. Several vendors have them. I recommend the OpenPGP SmartCard V2 from kernelconcepts.de.

Both pieces are required. Order ASAP, it takes about 10 days to ship. Consider even shipping to the FUDCon hotel if you are concerned or late. I know Petra will work hard to deliver them as fast as possible.

Doing a Little Prep Work

If you get your Token and SmartCard before FUDCon Lawrence and have a few spare minutes, feel free to read through my HOWTO. If you get through it, come to the hackfest and help others who might not have had time.

Cheers,

herlo