Alternative Entropy Sources

Question

Okay, I guess this is entirely subjective and whatnot, but I was thinking about entropy sources for random number generators. It goes that most generators are seeded with th

Answer 1

Some TPM (Trusted Platform Module) "chips" have a hardware RNG. Unfortunately, the (Broadcom) TPM in my Dell laptop lacks this feature, but many computers sold today come with a hardware RNG that uses truly unpredictable quantum mechanical processes. Intel has implemented the thermal noise variety.

Also, don't use the current time alone to seed an RNG for cryptographic purposes, or any application where unpredictability is important. Using a few low order bits from the time in conjunction with several other sources is probably okay.

A similar question may be useful to you.