Rander box and other stuff

[pmetzger@shearson.com (Perry E. Metzger)]

>From: crunch@netcom.com (John Draper)

>   I think I have a rough description of the hardware serial random
>generator I want to build.    I want to call it the "Rander box" for
>lack of a better name.

>   It will have two serial connectors,   one an input,  and other the
>output,   and connect to a modem or serial port.   Physically,  it should
>have dip switch to select baud rate,   and an on-off switch.

>   When switched on,   and a "cr" (or some other character) is sent to it,
>random bytes will stream out continiously.   Another "cr" will stop the
>byte stream.    At least this is ONE approach.   If anyone can think of
>a better way,  Pse speak up.

Why two serial connectors? RS232 is bidirectional, so you could send
control signals down the same pipe the output comes off of. Also, why
bother decoding the CRs? Seems like overkill. You could just have
CTS/RTS or other lines on the connector control whether bits are
clocked out or not. 

Perry