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For a cheap truly random number generator, bias a diode near the switch voltage (around .7V for silicon, if my hazy memory serves.) Take the result through an A/D converter. Should be Gaussian (or Poisson, I forget); you could generate a good approximation to a uniform distribution by inverting the source function (see e.g. Knuth, "Seminumerical Algorithms" for an algorithm for producing Gaussian variates from a pair of numbers drawn from a uniform distribution.)
Yes, I have heard of using diodes for white noise production. Hoewver, I am
conserned as to the nature of this noise. Is it some property of the silicon
or is it just amplified radio noise that is bringing the diode above
threshold??
--
Vercotti: I was terrified of him. Everyone was terrified of Doug. I've seen
grown men pull their own heads off rather than see Doug. Even
Dinsdale was frightened of Doug.
Interviewer: What did he do?
Vercotti: He used sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony,
metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire.
-- Monty Python, Episode 14
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