On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 08:16:51AM +0100, Cathal Garvey (Phone) wrote:
Accepted, entirely, but if "noisy diodes" are all you need for quantum entropy, why are designs for OSHW entropy generators so scarce?
Are they? http://www.maximintegrated.com/app-notes/index.mvp/id/3469 This is analog electronics 101. All you have is to sample that at sufficient rate on the cheap. That used to be a problem, but no longer is http://www.rtl-sdr.com/
I suggested smoke alarms not through radioactivity-fetishism but because of ubiquity and low cost, likely low difficulty to adapt.
We do not want a dinky little entropy drip. We want a regular firehose. The USB RTL samples at 1.4 MSamples/s. Total part costs is probably 20 USD, in bulk. Why is nobody selling a kit like that? Because worrying about sufficient entropy in crypto settings is a terribly niche thing. Sadly. Now try for a decent clock. (Hint: time-nuts. And did you know they use CSACs for IED trigger jamming?).