Paul Gilmartin wrote:
In a recent note, R.S. said:
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 22:38:15 +0200
No hardware or software (or both) generates random numbers. The numbers
are always pseudo-random. However the level (intensity) of "pseuso" is
different. Sometimes good enough. Sometimes even not known.
There is hardware available, perhaps not for z/Series, but for
PC's for a few hundred dollars which variously uses:
o A comparator driven by a hot resistor or noisy diode.
o A detector monitoring a nuclear radioactive source.
o A pair of detectors monitoring individual photons via
a half-silvered plate.
At least the last of these according to the Copenhagen interpretation
of Quantum Mechanics is physically random. According to David
Bohm's observationally equivalent interpretation, it's deterministic
but the initial state is unknowable.
What's your criterion for "random"?
It's partly a philosophical question.
Agreed. So, why to distinguish (good) pseudo-random and random
generators ? <g>
All of them are 'pretty good' random, most (or maybe all) of them are
physically pseudo-random.
IMHO z/Series crypto H/W gives you 'pretty good' pseudo-random numbers,
and I don't care whether they are really random or not. I don't need
"more random" numbers.
BTW: crypto H/W is the same as for iSeries, pSeries or xSeries. There's
PCI-X (or formerly regular PCI) card inside.
--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland
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