Matt Blaze scribes:

My estimate is that an FPGA-based machine that can do a single DES key every four months (eight months to exhaust the whole keyspace) could be built with off-the-shelf stuff for comfortably under $50k (plus labor, plus software development costs). A prototype board should cost under $1000 and will help prove the concept and get a more accurate cost estimate. I expect to build such a prototype machine myself, and, if it works as I expect, maybe the whole thing.

-matt

If the price is reasonable, I for one would be willing to donate the bucks for a FPGA chip or two to see this get built: -------------------- | Chip donated by | | talon57@well.com | -------------------- The very existance of this device in the real world would make our point better than anything I've yet heard. Imagine being at a hearing and having the physical device sitting there before the judges...... Brian