Infrared scanners for recording fingerprints and Linux

[Gerald Combs]

Jonathan Hutchins wrote:

> A conventional scanner would give you the flexability to take fingerprints, 
> palmprints, and/or footprints.  That would probably be a better way to go.  
> The fingerprint scanners I've seen are mostly intended to take a single, 
> adult finger.

Does a conventional scanner have enough resolution and/or contrast to
pick up the ridges in a fingerprint?  Would it show all of the loops,
arches, and whorls, or a picture of a finger?