How much do you pay for your cards?
Look around in smartcardfocus.com, cryptoshop.com, smartcardsource.com etc. For cards in quantities the prices are of course cheaper.
I think I will have to pay 3.8$/piece in order to get the crypto functions I need. (ZC5.4 card - 16 kbyte, SHA256 and EC-211 on co-proc).
EC-211? Bitcoin uses secp256k1 curve ...
Would your package include your card code so I can steal/port it XD? I am planning to make mine open source.
Eventually. I must first figure out if/how I want to monetize it. The deal being that "whoever pays, also gets the source", but I might postpone opening the on-card software in the beginning and only distribute pre-made cards. I don't know yet.
If the cards you have are BasicCard-s, then I'd be "professionally interested" in learning more about them.
They are.
According to the producer they cost 1/3 of javacards/multiOS cards.
They use a version the Basic language which is DOS like.
The cards run near-byte code at the hardware level which supposedly means they require less EEPROM than javacards etc. (hence the price difference).
I don't know to what extent this is all true, but they SEEM cheap when I compare them to other cards on the net.
I've never seen a software stack for basiccards, thus I'd like to see how a) the source code of an application looks like b) building and loading looks like c) capabilities of the ecosystem feel like. Thus if you have things like sample code or hello world package, I'd like to have a look at it, if possible.
Regarding JavaCard vs MultOS (mostly dead these days, IMHO) vs bare cards vs basiccards...
I don't know if the chip they use is CC verified, it certainly does not exist in FIPS 140-2 list etc. Even though CC/FIPS somewhat contradicts bitcoin spirit, it actually has *some* meaning.
Regarding EEPROM: this is for user data, thus the execution environment should not matter that much.
"You get what you pay for" applies very often, very harshly.
A comprehensive manual/datasheet/Basic language tutorial is free for download on their site - the SDK just lets you have a cybermouse and some cards on top of all that otherwise free stuff.
Anything else just ask.
I tried surfing their site but did not find the language reference or datasheet in 2 minutes, except for the short example on
http://www.zeitcontrol.de/basiccard_gen.htmNevertheless, it might be an interesting option for people who require ease of use or cheap prices, but I have more confidence and experience in JavaCard-s.
And regarding BASIC: I think the last time I used it was when I was in early teens or so
Would be strange to go back in time...