Resources, Links

Standard Documents

Smart cards are defined in ISO 7816 standards. You need to buy those from ISO, but some pages have overviews on what is in those standards.

PC/SC Workgroup defines the PC/SC standard that is used on windows, but thanks to PC/SC-Lite software also on Linux, Mac OS X and BSD. You can download all parts of the specification.

The Multifunctional Card Terminal specification suite includes CT-API and it's co-specification CT-BCS. The whole suite is available for download in english and german.

Public Key Cryptography was partialy defined by the RSA Labs in the PKCS series. Important standards are:

Personal Identification Cards it an upcoming standard in the USA. NIST has a document with details.

Software

OpenCT implements drivers for several smart card readers. OpenSC can use OpenCT directly without the need for an additional middleware, and this combination is preferred by some authors and tested all the time, works perfectly.

The M.U.S.C.L.E. project offers the open source software PC/SC-Lite and links to many drivers in ifdhandler format, and also to some applications.

Some drivers in CT-API format are available for download at Gregor's CT-API-Page.