Linux NFC Device Driver Installation

Communicating with NFC hardware in the Linux operating system requires a few generic drivers to be installed on the system as well as the device’s manufacturer-provided drivers. In addition to the generic and device drivers, the Linux generic “PN533_USB” driver needs to be disabled.

Installing Generic Linux Dependencies
Disabling Generic PN533_USB Driver
Installing Device-Specific Drivers

Installing Generic Linux NFC Hardware Dependencies

In order for the Linux operating system to communicate with NFC hardware, there are four dependencies that need to be installed on the system:

1. libusb-1.0-0-dev or later
2. libpcsclite-dev
3. pcscd
4. pcsc-tools

Open a terminal and install the above dependencies as sudo.

For example, running the below will install the first dependency.

- sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0-dev

Repeat until all four dependencies have been successfully installed.

Disabling PN533_USB Generic Linux NFC Drivers

The Linux operating system has a generic driver to communicate with NFC hardware. However, this generic driver is outdated and interferes with current NFC hardware communication.

Run the following command in a terminal in order to permanently disable this generic driver.

- echo “blacklist pn533_usb” | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-libnfc.conf

This will add the PN533_USB driver to a “blacklist” that is checked during system start-up and will prevent the driver from being loaded into the Linux kernel.