desk-reminder/README.md

desk-reminder

Simple C program that listens for events from the Alcor Micro AU9540 USB smartcard reader.

• USB device: 058f:9540 (Alcor Micro Corp. AU9540 Smartcard Reader)
• Implementation: raw USB using libusb-1.0

The program opens the reader by VID/PID, locates the first interrupt IN endpoint, and prints any data received (typically slot change / card insertion or removal notifications). It does not implement full CCID or smartcard protocols, but is useful for observing low-level traffic.

Build

On Debian/Ubuntu and similar, install the development package:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0-dev

Then build the program:

cd desk-reminder
make

This produces a desk_reminder binary.

Run

You may need root or appropriate udev rules to access USB devices directly:

cd desk-reminder
sudo ./desk_reminder

Expected behavior:

• The program prints which bus/device it opened.
• It reports which interrupt IN endpoint it is listening on.
• When the AU9540 reports an event (for example, card insertion/removal), the program prints the raw bytes received.

Press Ctrl+C to stop the program.

Notes

For higher-level smartcard operations (APDU exchange, PIN verification, etc.), you would typically use PC/SC (pcscd, libpcsclite) instead of talking to the reader via raw USB. This example focuses on listening to the USB interrupt endpoint.