From: Erik Max Francis <max AT alcyone DOT com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: real random numbers
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 18:21:35 -0800
Organization: Alcyone Systems
Lines: 23
Message-ID: <35186A2F.66FBE025@alcyone.com>
References: <m0yHU7T-000S2iC AT inti DOT gov DOT ar>
NNTP-Posting-Host: charmaine.alcyone.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Precedence: bulk

Salvador Eduardo Tropea (SET) wrote:

> Are you kidding! The noise generated in a diode junction IS NOISE and
> is
> generated by the combination of electrones, if you can predict it ...
> man
> you'll gain the next 100 Nobel prices ;-))). Using a diode junction
> (amplifying
> the signal to the A/D range) and taking A/D samples is an EXCELENT way
> to
> generate real ramdom values.

It's probably a good way to get pretty darn random numbers, but it is
almost _certainly_ not a good way to get random, _uniformly-distributed_
numbers.

-- 
         Erik Max Francis, &tSftDotIotE / mailto:max AT alcyone DOT com
                       Alcyone Systems / http://www.alcyone.com/max/
  San Jose, California, United States / icbm:+37.20.07/-121.53.38
                                     \
        "I've got the fever for the / flavor of a cracker"
                                   / Ice Cube