The program

This program only needs 'libusb-dev'...
The Makefile can look like this

ci2html: ci2html.c
      gcc -o ci2html ci2html.c -lusb

Maybe one needs to 'get the device' for the program to use, by (under Ubuntu)

$ sudo /etc/init.d/pcscd stop
$ sudo chmod 0666 /dev/bus/usb/003/002

And now, the 300+ lines program...

#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <usb.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
/*
**    (c) xof, may 2007
**    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
**    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
**    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
**    (at your option) any later version.
**
**    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
**    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
**    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
**    GNU General Public License for more details.
**
*/
fxdump(FILE *fp, char *txt, u_char *ucp, int len)
    {
    fprintf(fp, "%s : ", txt);
    while (len-- > 0)
        fprintf(fp, "%02x ", *ucp++);
    fprintf(fp, "\n");
    }
int    reader_status;    /* 0 == OK; card reader error code */
int    card_status;    /* 0x9000 == OK; card command status */
eid_error(char *txt)
    {
    perror(txt);
    fprintf(stderr, "reader_status : 0x%02x\n", reader_status);
    fprintf(stderr, "card_status   : 0x%04x\n", card_status);
    return(-1);
    }
/*----------- ACR38 Reader handling -----------*/
#define TIMEOUT 20*100 /*HZ*/
int ACR_xchange(struct usb_dev_handle* udp, u_char *outp, int out_len, u_char *inp, int in_len)
    {
    if (usb_bulk_write(udp, 0x02 /* EP_OUT */, (char *)outp, out_len, TIMEOUT) < 0)
        return(eid_error("usb_bulk_write"));
    if (usb_bulk_read(udp, 0x82 /* EP_IN */, (char *)inp, in_len, TIMEOUT) < 0)
        return(eid_error("usb_bulk_read"));
    if (reader_status = inp[1])
        return(eid_error("ACR_xchange"));
    return(0);
    }
int ACR_card_present(struct usb_dev_handle* udp)
    {
    u_char buf_out[] = { 0x01, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00 }; /* GET_ACR_STAT */
    u_char buf_in[64];

    if (ACR_xchange(udp, buf_out, 6, buf_in, 64) < 0)
        return(eid_error("ACR_card_present"));
//    fxdump(stderr, "GET_ACR_STAT:", buf_in, 20);
    return(buf_in[19] & 1);    /* card present */
    }
/*----------- Card handling -----------*/
int MCU_powerup(struct usb_dev_handle *udp)
    {
    u_char    MCU_EMV[]   = { 0x01, 0x07, 0x00, 0x01, 0x00}; /* [No EMV + No Mem Card] */
    u_char    MCU_TYPE[]  = { 0x01, 0x02, 0x00, 0x01, 0x00}; /* auto select */
    u_char    MCU_POWER[] = { 0x01, 0x80, 0x00, 0x00};
    u_char    buf_in[64];

    if (ACR_xchange(udp, MCU_EMV, 5, buf_in, sizeof(buf_in)) < 0)
        return(eid_error("MCU_EMV"));
    if (ACR_xchange(udp, MCU_TYPE, 5, buf_in, sizeof(buf_in)) < 0)
        return(eid_error("MCU_TYPE"));
    if (ACR_xchange(udp, MCU_POWER, 4, buf_in, sizeof(buf_in)) < 0)
        return(eid_error("MCU_POWER"));
    fxdump(stderr, "AnswerToReset:", &buf_in[4], buf_in[3]);
    return(0);
    }
int MCU_powerdown(struct usb_dev_handle *udp)
    {
    u_char    MCU_POWER_DOWN[] = { 0x01, 0x81, 0x00, 0x00};
    u_char    buf_in[64];
    
    if (ACR_xchange(udp, MCU_POWER_DOWN, 4, buf_in, sizeof(buf_in)) < 0)
        return(eid_error("MCU_POWER_DOWN"));
    return(0);
    }
/*----------- Accessing the card files -----------*/
/* the layers reader/card should be separated... */
int MCU_select_belpicfile_by_num(struct usb_dev_handle *udp, int dnum, int fnum)
    {
    const u_char MCU_FILE_SELECT[] = {0x01, 0xa0, 0x00, 0x0a,    /* <- reader header for APDUs */
        /* ISO  file_select -> */    0x00, 0xA4, 0x08, 0x0c, 0x04, 0xdf, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x10};
    u_char buf_in[128];
    u_char cmd[32];

    memcpy(cmd, MCU_FILE_SELECT, sizeof(cmd));
    cmd[ 9] = (dnum >> 8) & 0xff;    /* directory */
    cmd[10] = (dnum     ) & 0xff;
    cmd[11] = (fnum >> 8) & 0xff;    /* file */
    cmd[12] = (fnum     ) & 0xff;
    if (ACR_xchange(udp, cmd, 14, buf_in, sizeof(buf_in)) < 0)
        return(eid_error("MCU_file_select"));
//    fxdump(stderr, "MCU_file_select:", buf_in, 4+buf_in[3]);
    card_status = (buf_in[4+buf_in[3]-2]*256) + buf_in[4+buf_in[3]-1];
    if (card_status != 0x9000)
        return(eid_error("MCU_select_belpicfile_by_num"));
    return(0);
    }
int MCU_read(struct usb_dev_handle *udp, int address, u_char *buf, int len)
    {    /* length should be in the range 1..250 */
    u_char MCU_READ[] = {0x01, 0xa0, 0x00, 0x05,    /* <- reader header for APDUs */
        /* ISO read_binary -> */    0x00, 0xb0, 0x00, 0x00, 0xf0};
    u_char buf_in[512];
    u_char cmd[9];

    memcpy(cmd, MCU_READ, sizeof(MCU_READ));
    cmd[6] = (address >> 8) & 0xff;    /* file offset */
    cmd[7] = (address     ) & 0xff;
    cmd[8] = len;        /* number of bytes to read */

    if (ACR_xchange(udp, cmd, 9, buf_in, sizeof(buf_in)) < 0)
        return(eid_error("MCU_read"));
    if (buf_in[3]==2 && buf_in[4] == 0x6c) /* incomplete read; asking too much */
        {
        cmd[8] = buf_in[5]; /* number of available bytes */
        if (ACR_xchange(udp, cmd, 9, buf_in, sizeof(buf_in)) < 0)
            return(eid_error("MCU_read2"));
        }
//    fxdump(stderr, "MCU_READ:", buf_in, 4+buf_in[3]);
    card_status = (buf_in[4+buf_in[3]-2]*256) + buf_in[4+buf_in[3]-1];
    if (card_status != 0x9000 && card_status != 0x6b00)
        return(eid_error("MCU_read"));
    memcpy(buf, &buf_in[4], buf_in[3]-2);
    return(buf_in[3]-2);  /* number of bytes read */
    }
/*----------- Printing the result in an .html file -----------*/
char    *id_tags[] = {
    /*0*/    NULL,    /* file structure version */
    /*1*/    "Card number",
    /*2*/    NULL,   /* chip number */
    /*3*/    "Card validity from",
    /*4*/    "Card validity until",
    /*5*/    "Card delivery municipality",
    /*6*/    "National Number",
    /*7*/    "Name",
    /*8*/    "Given names",
    /*9*/    "(given 3)",
    /*10*/    "Nationality",
    /*11*/    "Birth Location",
    /*12*/    "Birth date",
    /*13*/    "Sex",
    /*14*/    "Noble condition",
    /*15*/    "Document type",
    /*16*/    "Special status",
    /*17*/    NULL    /* photo hash */
        };
char    *ad_tags[] = {
    /*0*/    NULL,    /* file structure version */
    /*1*/    "Street + Nr",
    /*2*/    "ZIP code",
    /*3*/    "Municipality"
        };
char *nn_fname(u_char *idp, char *suffix)
    {
    static char fname[20]; /* yymmddaaabb.html */

    while (*idp++ != 6) /* we are looking for tag6 */
        idp += *idp++;  /* skip this one */
    if (*idp++ != 11) /* NN length should be 11 */
        return("noname");
    memcpy(fname, idp, 11);
    strcpy(&fname[11], suffix);
    return(fname);
    }
#define nelem(p) (sizeof(p)/sizeof(p[0]))
html_dump(char *fname, u_char *idp, u_char *adp)
    {
    FILE    *fp;
    int    i;
    u_char    *ucp;

    if ((fp = fopen(fname, "w+")) == NULL)
        return(eid_error(fname));
    fprintf(fp, "<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN\">");
    fprintf(fp, "<html>\n<head>\n");
    fprintf(fp, "  <meta content=\"text/html; charset=UTF-8\" http-equiv=\"content-type\">\n");
    fprintf(fp, "  <title>Belgian Electronic Id Card (%s)</title>\n", fname);
    fprintf(fp, "</head><body style=\"background-color:rgb(140,208,165)\">\n");
    for (ucp = idp, i = 0; i < nelem(id_tags); i++)
        {
        if (id_tags[*ucp])
            {
            fprintf(fp, "<br><b>%s : </b>", id_tags[*ucp]);
            fwrite(ucp+2, ucp[1], 1, fp);
            }
        else    fxdump(fp, "<br>binary data : ", ucp+2, ucp[1]);
        ucp += ucp[1]+2;    /* skip */
        }
    fprintf(fp, "<hr>");
    for (ucp = adp, i = 0; i < nelem(ad_tags); i++)
        {
        if (ad_tags[*ucp])
            {
            fprintf(fp, "<br><b>%-20s</b>", ad_tags[*ucp]);
            fwrite(ucp+2, ucp[1], 1, fp);
            }
        ucp += ucp[1]+2;    /* skip */
        }
    fprintf(fp, "<hr><center><img src=\"%s\">\n", nn_fname(idp, ".jpg"));
    fprintf(fp, "</body>\n</html>\n");
    if (fclose(fp) != 0)
        return(eid_error(fname));
    return(0);
    }
jpeg_dump(char *fname, u_char *ucp, int size)
    {
    FILE    *fp;

    if ((fp = fopen(fname, "w+")) == NULL)
        return(eid_error(fname));
    if (fwrite(ucp, size, 1, fp) != 1)
        return(eid_error(fname));
    if (fclose(fp) != 0)
        return(eid_error(fname));
    }
/*----------- Doing the job -----------*/
int BEID_dump(struct usb_dev_handle *udp)
    {
    int    n, ofs = 0;
    u_char    buf_id[1024], buf_ad[256];
    u_char    buf_pic[5120];

    /*
    ** get Identity file
    */
    if (MCU_select_belpicfile_by_num(udp, 0xdf01, 0x4031) < 0) /* Id data */
        return(eid_error("selecting Id file"));
    for (ofs = 0; (n = MCU_read(udp, ofs, &buf_id[ofs], 0xf0)) > 0; ofs += n)
        continue; /* partial read == EOF */
    if (n < 0 && card_status != 0x6b00)
        return(eid_error("reading Id file"));
    /*
    ** get Address file
    */
    if (MCU_select_belpicfile_by_num(udp, 0xdf01, 0x4033) < 0) /* Address */
        return(eid_error("selecting Address file"));
    if (MCU_read(udp, 0, buf_ad, 0xf0) < 0) /* enough : file length is 0x75 */
        return(eid_error("reading Address file"));
    html_dump(nn_fname(buf_id, ".html"), buf_id, buf_ad);
    /*
    ** get the photo
    */
    if (MCU_select_belpicfile_by_num(udp, 0xdf01, 0x4035) < 0) /* Photo */
        return(eid_error("selecting Photo file"));
    for (ofs = 0; (n = MCU_read(udp, ofs, &buf_pic[ofs], 0xf0)) > 0; ofs += n)
        continue;
    if (n < 0 && card_status != 0x6b00)
        return(eid_error("reading Photo file"));

    jpeg_dump(nn_fname(buf_id, ".jpg"), buf_pic, ofs);
    return(0);
    }
//----------------------------------------------------------------
usage()
    {
    fprintf(stderr, "usage is 'ci2html [options]\n");
    fprintf(stderr, "\tno option (yet)\n\n");
    exit(-1);
    }
main(int argc, char **argv)
    {
    struct usb_bus *busses, *bus;
    struct usb_device *dev;
    usb_dev_handle *udp;

    usb_init();
    usb_find_busses();
    usb_find_devices();

    busses = usb_get_busses();
    for (bus = busses; bus; bus = bus->next)
        {
        for (dev = bus->devices; dev; dev = dev->next)
            {
            if (dev->descriptor.idVendor == 0x072f &&    /* ACS */
                dev->descriptor.idProduct == 0x9000)    /* ACR38 */
                break;
            }
        if (dev)
            break;
        }
    if (dev == NULL)
        {
        fprintf(stderr, "No ACR38-card-Reader on this system!\n");
        exit(-1);
        }
    if ((udp = usb_open(dev)) == NULL)
        {
        perror("usb_open");
        exit(-1);
        }
    for (;;)
        {
        fprintf(stderr, "\n\n\nInsert a belgian identity card, please.\n(<ctrl>-C to exit)\n");
        while (ACR_card_present(udp) != 1)
            sleep(1);    /* wait for card insertion */
        MCU_powerup(udp);
        fprintf(stderr, "Reading the card...\n");
        if (BEID_dump(udp) < 0)
            fprintf(stderr, "?Not a beId card?\n");
        else    fprintf(stderr, "*** .html file created. ***\n");
        MCU_powerdown(udp);
        fprintf(stderr, "Done.\n\n\nRemove the card, please.\n");
        while (ACR_card_present(udp) != 0)
            sleep(1);    /* wait for card extraction */
        }
    if (usb_close(udp) < 0)
        {
        perror("usb_close");
        exit(-1);
        }
    exit(0);
    }

---

Result
The result is an .html file with a photo. Something like

---

Trouble shooting
* "Operation not permitted" (you can't write on the device)

$ lsusb
...
$ sudo chmod 0666 /dev/bus/usb/003/002
    (with the right bus/device)

* "Device or resource busy" (the device is used by somethingelse)

$ sudo /etc/init.d/pcscd stop

* "Resource temporarily unavailable" (reader slow to catch on // bad card)
solves itself after a couple of retry // bad card

* ^C to exit