[Cryptography] Generate Random Data From Sound Card

[Tony Patti]

On Friday, March 6, 2026 at 3:12 PM, David Kane-Parry wrote:

> There's also, for example, the thermal noise that Intel uses as a part of
RDRAND.

Hi David,

According to page 289 of David Johnston's book "Random Number Generations -
Principles and Practices: A Guide for Engineers and Programmers" 
(which I highly recommend), he does NOT talk about the intel RDRAND entropy
source being THERMAL, quoting from that page:
"The entropy source is based on metastability of a latch with a differential
feedback circuit."
Section 2.4 of his book goes into more detail about the benefits, and
circuitry, of that feedback-stabilized metastable latch.
At least, through the lens of a circuit designer, the "hero" of the story is
the latch-and-feedback architecture, not the noise itself.

You are likely thinking of the intel i810 chipset (circa 1999), which
interestingly I was under NDA at the time, 
because of the software I had written and published for statistical testing
of (hopefully) random bit streams.

Tony Patti
https://cryptosystemsjournal.com/