From: Eric Hollander <hh@soda.berkeley.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 01:09:12 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: mac pgp
Message-ID: <9211120909.AA19359@soda.berkeley.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



I uploaded MacPGP to my powerbook, and used it to generate a key pair.  The
user interface is easier than the Unix user interface, so I have no problem
with that, but I do have a big problem with speed.

It expects me to type in my pass phrase at about 20 words per minute.  It
beeps me if I type it faster than that.  This makes it too annoying to be
used regularly.  It should be able to accept full-speed typing on a
powerbook 100.  I know that a 100 is not a very fast machine, but still,
this is just basic keyboard input.

My powerbook is about as secure as you can get (it's with me close to 24
hours a day and probably emits very little radiation and it's not on any
kind of net), so ideally it would be my main crypto machine, but I don't
want to type my pass phrase at 20wpm, so for now I'll stick with the IBM
RS/6000 I normally use PGP on, despite its much weaker security.

The other speed problem is key generation.  This is very slow.  Maybe I am
spoiled by the RS/6000, which is extremely fast, but I still feel like it
should be faster.

Also, it does not allow itself to be backrounded properly under system 7
during key generation.

However, I must say that I am glad that Fiedorowicz and others are working
on this port.  It's a good start.

e