True (not pseudo) random number generators. What's out there? [closed]

Question

I am looking for affordable solutions that generate true random numbers.

I have found LavaRnd, which is a cryptographically sound random number generator. Does anybody has experience in this field and/or knows about other solutions?

PS: IMHO the SO question True random number generator did not really cover this

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EDIT:

My curiosity is more of academic nature. I don't want to know about PRNGs that are good enough for practical applications. I know they exist and that they will do.

Of course, generating true random numbers will require hardware devices. That's why I tagged this with hardware.

Answer 1

You didn't specify an environment.

From the documentation for Linux's /dev/random

The random number generator gathers environmental noise from device drivers and other sources into an entropy pool. The generator also keeps an estimate of the number of bit of the noise in the entropy pool. From this entropy pool random numbers are created.

So this is a cryptographically secure random source, based on unpredictable input from such things as the arbitrary timings of ethernet packets, keyboard and mouse input, etc.

There's also Bruce Schneier's Yarrow PRNG server. Not truly random, but considered cryptographically secure.

... and also EGD, the Entropy Gathering Daemon. Written in Perl and hence portable across many platforms.

Answer 2

I've always wanted to buy either the PCI or USB Quantum Random Number Generator, but I have no idea what they cost, and frankly it might be a lot! They do deliver a staggering 16 Mibit/s and 4 Mibit/s respectively of random numbers, though, usable on both *NIX boxes and Windows. That's more than I'd ever need!

Other than that, how 'bout a book full of 'em? A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates is perhaps the coolest book they sell on Amazon! I've yet to buy it, but it's only a matter of time. Must be very handy to have such a stock of true random numbers on your book shelve!