Quantum random numbers

Posted Apr 26, 2012 15:42 UTC (Thu) by yokem_55 (subscriber, #10498)
Parent article: Quantum random numbers

This looks pretty cool. If there was a documented way to make one of these at home accessible via USB it would even better. You can only get so much entropy out of a smoke detector and a webcam ccd.

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Quantum random numbers

Posted Apr 27, 2012 4:39 UTC (Fri) by nowster (subscriber, #67) [Link] (1 responses)

A "home accessible via USB" quantum random number generator is available. It uses two quantum bandgap effect (avalanche noise) sources, checks for correlation between them, whether the entropy generated passes randomness tests, and shuts down if there is a failure to be random enough. At the start of its life, it generates a little over 32 kilobits of entropy per second, which slowly degrades as the doping ions in the semiconductor migrate into the PN junction. It's also a little more portable, being about the size of a USB memory stick.

Quantum random numbers

Posted Apr 27, 2012 15:44 UTC (Fri) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

And, to crosslink to another thread, the daemon that reads from the USB key has all the code that reads data from external sources written in Lua, on the grounds that it's both more customizable and more secure than doing it in C. (Also on the grounds that the author of the daemon is extremely fond of Lua.)