Hardware RNG (was Re: spinner entropy)

[Steve Reid <steve@edmweb.com>]

> Anyway I am in the middle of putting together a portable RNG that will should 
> consist of nothing more than a photoelectric tube, 9volt battery, and a bit of 
> wiring. It will connect through the serial port. Just put your favorite 
> radioactive substance near it and your set. before people freak out, there are 

Why not just use a sound sample? "Please blow into the microphone"...
You've got the randomness of the sound itself, along with the minute
errors produced by the analog/digital converter. Should be able to get
plenty of entropy. Maybe even just use background noise.

Even if you don't have a sound card, you could probably fix something up 
that plugs into a port.

Seems like a good idea, but I'm no expert on entropy.

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