Studio 1537, fingerprint reader, and Firefox

Despite the flurry of updates in recent months, I've stuck with Firefox 3.6 since it supports - with a hacked extension - the Dell Studio 1537's DigitalPersona fingerprint reader, which has become a staple of my laptop usage. But now Firefox, via updates and the ultimate threat cessation of continued updating of 3.6, is starting to get insistent that I upgrade. And I would like to anyway.

The trouble is, I haven't managed to find any further hacked updates for the DigitalPersona extension. Doesn't mean there aren't any, but maybe my Google-Fu is just weak today. DigitalPersona themselves have long since stopped updating their software, at least on the consumer level, and Dell obviously don't have anything. I seem to recall finding a driver for an HP machine or somesuch that used the same device, but my memory is fuzzy. Not sure if that'd be problematic on a Dell anyway.

The only alternative I've found - indeed the only thing tagged with "fingerprint reader" in Firefox's Add-Ons page - is Fingerfox (SE), but it seems to be clunky and not yet ready for primetime.

I don't know how many people here are still using laptops as old as the 1537, but mine is still my main PC and will remain so for the forseeable future. It's served me well for nearly three years and there's life in the old dog yet.

If anyone has any suggestions (aside from "get used to typing your logins/passwords again"!), I'd be grateful.

 

Follow-up: amazingly, DigitalPersona just popped up with an update, dated back in May or somesuch, I forget now. It even mentioned Firefox 4 in the notes. Alright, thought I, update time.

It got an error during the install, and then rolled back changes. Or so it told me.

What it actually did was completely remove the software altogether, including all my saved passwords.

Not happy at all.

 

I've never had my fingerprint reader working.

 

Was this ever resolved?