A dumb reader is one that has no smarts in it (other than the smartcard
itself). It has the card I/O pin wired (through a duplexer) directly to the
rs232 TD and RD pins. The host computer is responsible for setting its uart
to match the card parameters, usually 8/E/2, and dealing with things like
inverse convention and T=1.

A "smart" reader interposes some kind of processor, usually a PIC but
sometimes a full-blown microprocessor, between the host and the card. The
processor takes care of electrical and timing issues, and often part of the
card protocol too.

A dumb reader is often the best choice, because smartcard reader
manufacturers tend to be a secretive bunch and sometimes they won't let you
use their products (other than giving you a useless Windows driver). But it
does require that the host have a good uart and a full set of modem control
lines, which are used for card detection and reset. So it can be hard to
write a dumb reader driver for Palm/OS, for example.
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