how to know whether the device is connected in parallel port?

[Sridhar]

Hi Friends,

i want to know whether the dongle(matlab tool dongle) is connected
in parallel port or not programatically using vc++6.0..
i searched the net but i didnt find any where..

Thansk in advance..

[Victor Bazarov]

Post by Sridhar
i want to know whether the dongle(matlab tool dongle) is connected
in parallel port or not programatically using vc++6.0..
i searched the net but i didnt find any where..

You should probably ask the Matlab folks. They might have some kind of
API allowing you to check if the version is legit (via accessing the
dongle). Perhaps an attempt to initialize Matlab's library (libraries)
in your code would fail with some error condition "security device
missing" or "unlicensed version"... Generally speaking, it is unlikely
you will find any information on manipulation of those devices because
it's highly sensitive and a well-kept secret. Otherwise some folks
would just go around writing parallel port drivers that would pretend
that the dongle is there while nothing is attached. I do sincerely hope
that it's not what you need the information for.

V

[Tim Roberts]

Post by Sridhar
i want to know whether the dongle(matlab tool dongle) is connected
in parallel port or not programatically using vc++6.0..
i searched the net but i didnt find any where..

You can't do this yourself. If the vendor provided a utility for checking
for the dongle, you can use that, but otherwise you're talking about
reverse engineering. Since dongles are security devices, the manufacturers
take a fair amount of care to prevent them from being reverse engineered.

[Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]]

Security through obscurity is not security at all.

I imagine most of these use a challenge/response, and the vendor has no
(valid) reason to hide the format of these. As long as you don't care
whether the response is correct you can detect the presence. And if they
use asymmetric encryption then they can even share how to validate the
response without enabling anyone else to synthesize it.

Post by Tim Roberts

Post by Sridhar
i want to know whether the dongle(matlab tool dongle) is connected
in parallel port or not programatically using vc++6.0..
i searched the net but i didnt find any where..

You can't do this yourself. If the vendor provided a utility for checking
for the dongle, you can use that, but otherwise you're talking about
reverse engineering. Since dongles are security devices, the
manufacturers
take a fair amount of care to prevent them from being reverse engineered.
--
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.