RE: Want a random entropy source?

[Folkert van Heusden]

> I was astonished to see that the resulting signal is a white-noise
> pattern with a slight emphasis at the high end (when sampled at 44
> kilosamples per second). In short, it looks like diode noise with a
> 4 kilohertz square wave thrown in.
> "That suggests to me that this would make a fair source of random samples,
> especially after you slot out the interfering signal.
JB> How can you guarantee that you are sampling noise, though, what if a
JB> sound card was picking up 50 Hz mains hum, for example,  that would
JB> de-randomise the data quite a bit.

Well, the 50hz from the mains isn't a perfect 50hz; it has random (yes)
fluctuations.