From: The Deviant <deviant@pooh-corner.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 18:43:14 -0800 (PST)
To: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
Subject: Re: Sound card as a random number source ??
In-Reply-To: <199611272052.PAA17382@homeport.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.94.961128023730.7011B-100000@random.sp.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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On Wed, 27 Nov 1996, Adam Shostack wrote:

> Have you tried it without a mike plugged in?
> Always think about failure modes.
> 
> Adam
> 
> 
> Pavel Korensky wrote:
> | Hello,
> | 
> | when I read about hardware random number generators in this mailing list, I got
> | one idea. Maybe it sounds crazy, but is it possible to use soundcard
> | (SoundBlaster for example) as a source for really random numbers ?
> | What if I connect the input line of the soundcard with some external source of
> | noise, like FM receiver or Dolby Surround decoder (with built-in white noise
> | generator) or tape recorder with blank (erased) tape. It is possible to sample
> | the sound (noise) and use the sampled values as a random numbers ? And how much
> | random is this source ? 
> | I tried to find some mentions about this method with altavista, but I didn't
> | found anything.
> | 
> | Bye PavelK
> | 

Also, try reading from the PC speaker (this is usually a device on the
sound card) without the speaker as input... the leads usually make enough
of an antena to get all of your hardwares RF emissions, which should be
a good source of random numbers.

 --Deviant
   PGP KeyID = E820F015 Fingerprint = 3D6AAB628E3DFAA9 F7D35736ABC56D39

The best way to accelerate a Macintoy is at 9.8 meters per second per second.


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