X-Git-Url: https://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/64bcbca0e24d51f0ec5184a2e63d133c6c875ff2..a1c8926cfbb8ef725b6c6ddf804a5f46c2b2575f:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index ae743ba3b1..95965d7f56 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -6,6 +6,71 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + Unlimited randomness with the ChaosKey? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html + Wed, 1 Mar 2017 20:50:00 +0100 + <p>A few days ago I ordered a small batch of +<a href="http://altusmetrum.org/ChaosKey/">the ChaosKey</a>, a small +USB dongle for generating entropy created by Bdale Garbee and Keith +Packard. Yesterday it arrived, and I am very happy to report that it +work great! According to its designers, to get it to work out of the +box, you need the Linux kernel version 4.1 or later. I tested on a +Debian Stretch machine (kernel version 4.9), and there it worked just +fine, increasing the available entropy very quickly. I wrote a small +test oneliner to test. It first print the current entropy level, +drain /dev/random, and then print the entropy level for five seconds. +Here is the situation without the ChaosKey inserted:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \ + for n in $(seq 1 5); do \ + cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + sleep 1; \ + done +300 +0+1 oppføringer inn +0+1 oppføringer ut +28 byte kopiert, 0,000264565 s, 106 kB/s +4 +8 +12 +17 +21 +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>The entropy level increases by 3-4 every second. In such case any +application requiring random bits (like a HTTPS enabled web server) +will halt and wait for more entrpy. And here is the situation with +the ChaosKey inserted:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \ + for n in $(seq 1 5); do \ + cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + sleep 1; \ + done +1079 +0+1 oppføringer inn +0+1 oppføringer ut +104 byte kopiert, 0,000487647 s, 213 kB/s +433 +1028 +1031 +1035 +1038 +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>Quite the difference. :) I bought a few more than I need, in case +someone want to buy one her in Norway. :)</p> + + + Detect OOXML files with undefined behaviour? http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detect_OOXML_files_with_undefined_behaviour_.html @@ -684,54 +749,5 @@ the mean time I provide an override in isenkram.</p> - - Oolite, a life in space as vagabond and mercenary - nice free software - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oolite__a_life_in_space_as_vagabond_and_mercenary___nice_free_software.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oolite__a_life_in_space_as_vagabond_and_mercenary___nice_free_software.html - Sun, 11 Dec 2016 11:40:00 +0100 - <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-12-11-nice-oolite.png"/></p> - -<p>In my early years, I played -<a href="http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Classic_Elite">the epic game -Elite</a> on my PC. I spent many months trading and fighting in -space, and reached the 'elite' fighting status before I moved on. The -original Elite game was available on Commodore 64 and the IBM PC -edition I played had a 64 KB executable. I am still impressed today -that the authors managed to squeeze both a 3D engine and details about -more than 2000 planet systems across 7 galaxies into a binary so -small.</p> - -<p>I have known about <a href="http://www.oolite.org/">the free -software game Oolite inspired by Elite</a> for a while, but did not -really have time to test it properly until a few days ago. It was -great to discover that my old knowledge about trading routes were -still valid. But my fighting and flying abilities were gone, so I had -to retrain to be able to dock on a space station. And I am still not -able to make much resistance when I am attacked by pirates, so I -bougth and mounted the most powerful laser in the rear to be able to -put up at least some resistance while fleeing for my life. :)</p> - -<p>When playing Elite in the late eighties, I had to discover -everything on my own, and I had long lists of prices seen on different -planets to be able to decide where to trade what. This time I had the -advantages of the -<a href="http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Main_Page">Elite wiki</a>, -where information about each planet is easily available with common -price ranges and suggested trading routes. This improved my ability -to earn money and I have been able to earn enough to buy a lot of -useful equipent in a few days. I believe I originally played for -months before I could get a docking computer, while now I could get it -after less then a week.</p> - -<p>If you like science fiction and dreamed of a life as a vagabond in -space, you should try out Oolite. It is available for Linux, MacOSX -and Windows, and is included in Debian and derivatives since 2011.</p> - -<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - - -