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 at home.com]
> Sent: Sunday, May 02, 1999 8:35 AM
> To: patrickl at 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.
> >
>
>
>