For what it's worth, linux boxes [perhaps others] have a /dev/random with entropy collected from the system. That's a decent source as well. /dev/srandom is a larger source built from /dev/random.
-rj
-----Original Message----- From: Steve Wart [mailto:swart@home.com] Sent: Sunday, May 02, 1999 8:35 AM To: patrickl@gemstone.com; Squeak List Subject: RE: Random Numbers
Thanks for the pointer. I thought about "stocking up", but I decided not to because I wanted something small that would more or less deal with the numbers "running out".
The CORBA interface definitely sounds better than HTTP, but I like the fact that the SGI folks are crypto geeks (meaning the quality of the data is very good). However, I don't like the fact that the seed buffer I get is publicly available for a full minute before the next one comes along.
Is anyone doing CORBA in Squeak? I used the Url class to read the HTTP stream; originally I wanted a Random class in GemStone, but there is nothing there except basic socket support.
Steve
Patrick Logan wrote:
There are a few sources of true random numbers on the Internet, so your system could have some redundancy. See http://www.random.org
Also at this particular site is a source of random numbers in bulk via HTTP or CORBA, so you could "stock up" on random numbers and use them as you need them.