CF-27 Smartcard reader?

I've been meaning to ask about this for a while - my CF-27's got a DVD/CDRw drive, but it's also got a serial connector.
This serial connector goes into what seems to be a fairly poorly made Gemplus (now Gemalto) serial smartcard reader.
The markings on the top of the "pocket" are;

Code:

CF-VDD273Z
0GKSA00029
SAMPLE

Is this a common thing to see on the 27? What's the significance of "SAMPLE"? If internal pics are wanted I'll post them too.
(Sorry about bad focus in some pics, camera was refusing to focus and N1kon forgot about manual focus)

 

Does the camera have a switch/selector for macro? Also it will help the helpers if you resize the images. 640x480 works well for download speed and has enough clarity when expanded from the thumbnail. The left side of these images is on the screen and the right side is in the kitchen.
I am not being critical o.k. just trying to help.
I take my pictures, hook up to the computer, copy/drag the ones I want to the desktop, batch resize and then send them on. That way the original image is intact (my daughter is a pro photographer and likes all the pixels). It's scary what she can do with Photoshop. Never save changes to the original image if it's a good one. JPG arbitrarily removes and therefore loses pixels.
Presently I am using Ubuntu 10.04, the camera has a usb cable and when plugged in and the camera turned on Ubuntu offers me F-spot. I say no and look for the Canon folder on the desktop.
Forgive me if I'm telling you what you know already.
G'luck with your smartcard reader.

Jeff

 

Not sure if I replied already, I must have done but it isn't showing up :|
Anyways the camera has a button to activate/deactivate macro mode but the autofocus obviously finds taking pictures of toughbooks all day a bit boring.
I wasn't happy with F-Spot resizing my pictures as it took far too long, and I couldn't be bothered to resize them under Gimp so I just let imageshack do it for me. Thanks for the advice on the 640x480, I'll do that next time.

 

Grab Nautilus-image-converter from the package manager. It adds resize to the right button selection. Hard to write that down. Anyway, tell F-Spot to shove it and I would be curious to know if you have a file labeled Nikon on your desktop. Drag and drop onto the the desktop from that file. Batch resize by selecting them all and re-size will be in the menu on the right button. Select 640 x 480 and bob's your uncle.
After loading Nautilus etc. you may have to re-boot. I think I did.
I thought I hurt your feelings. But I was tired of scrolling around all over the ranch.

Jeff

How,s the smartcard gig going?

 

I'll install nautilus-image-converter and resize the internal pictures in a minute. You could probably saved youself from restarting by "sudo killall nautilus".
At the moment I'm trying to get my PCMCIA NIC to work on the 27 so I can't download a package that's meant to tell the reader to read.
I put in my debit card and catted the serial port but it wasn't giving any info out, so perhaps it needs to be told to read by a command string?
When I eventually get the NIC working I'll install the driver ( libgempc410) and see what happens...