From: Seth Kurtzberg <seth@...>
Date: 2003-02-28T04:26:52+09:00
Subject: Re: Objectify the mersenne twister in 1.8?

On Thursday 27 February 2003 11:40 am, 
bbense+comp.lang.ruby.Feb.27.03@telemark.slac.stanford.edu wrote:
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> In article <200302270924.27763.seth@cql.com>,
>
> Seth Kurtzberg  <seth@cql.com> wrote:
> >Booker,
> >
> >Are you saying that the thermally generated random numbers on the P4 are
> > not truly random?
> >
> >> - - Depends on what they did. A really small gieger counter would
> >>   be ideal, I'm sure there are things you could do to get
> >>   randomness from some quantum effects. I have no ideal what
> >>   Intel has done though.
>
> _ Please read carefully ( okay I'm terrible at proofreading my own
>   writing, it should say.)
>
> "I have no idea what intel has done".
>
> _ I can't comment one way or the other on what's in the P4.
> If they are sampling a random physical process[1], then they
> <might> have something really useful. I'm just trying to get
> across the incredible difficulty of actually generating a
> truly random sequence on a computer. It's pretty hard to
> get one suitable for physical simulations, getting one that's
> crypto quality is an open problem.

I am aware of the difficulties.  Intel claims that with the P4 a physical 
temperature measurement is used as part of the generation of random numbers, 
and that this produce truly random random numbers rather than pseudo-random 
numbers.  I'm interested in independent verification (hopefully) or 
refutation of this claim, which is why I posted the question.

>
> - - Booker C. Bense
>
> [1]- These are much harder to find than you might think at
> first, particularly if you need a very large/fast random byte stream.
>
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-- 
Seth Kurtzberg
M. I. S. Corp.
480-661-1849
seth@cql.com