I have been using the Vasco smartcard reader since quite some time. Already in Ubuntu 13.04 I was experiencing some problems (I always had to plug it out and in again to make it work). Now, I have upgraded to Ubuntu 13.10 it does not work at all anymore. (opensc-tool -a returns no smart card readers).

When I plug it in, the green led is on for a few seconds and then it goes out again.

The kernel still recognizes it. The output of lsusb is:
Bus 008 Device 014: ID 1a44:0001 VASCO Data Security International Digipass 905 SmartCard Reader

I have verified on an old Ubuntu 10.04 the smart card reader is still working.