Adem24 wrote:
> Is there any public remote RNG server running on the Internet?
> By this I mean a public service similar to the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
>
> It should generate for example 50 random numbers in the
> range 0 to 255 in string format in intervalls of a minute,
> and together with a timestamp make this record (ie. a line)
> publicly available. There should also be an open API for
> retrieving the RNG record for the specified datetime key.
>
> Such an independent public RNG service would be useful for
> online game operators and players; ie. for lotto, roulette and
> other chance games, but also for researchers.
>
> All the generated RNG records should also be archived and
> put online for manual downloading (for statistical tests etc.)
>
> The current situation of for example how the Keno lotto numbers
> are generated is not much trustworthy since it is in the hands of
> the Keno-organizers themselves. And there is a big mistrust
> by the players in this method, and there have also been some
> scandals because the game organizers know what the players
> have played and it is easy to generate numbers which would
> pay out the least prizes...
>
> So there is a public need for one or more trustworthy,
> independent and open public RNG servers around the globe
> for the benefit of everybody in the industry.

Even if there are noone here cares about it and it's off topic for this
newsgroup.

Danny

Danny Mayer wrote:
> Adem24 wrote:
>> Is there any public remote RNG server running on the Internet?
>> By this I mean a public service similar to the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
>>
>> It should generate for example 50 random numbers in the
>> range 0 to 255 in string format in intervals of a minute,

Random number generators typically generate values between 0 and 1.0.
You would have to multiply the values by 255 to get the range you want.
I never heard of a server offering such a service; typically it is a
function called "rand", "rnd" or something similar that you incorporate
in the software that needs the random values. The values are actually
pseudo random numbers since the function generates a sequence of random
numbers based on a starting "seed". The same seed will give you the
same sequence of random numbers every time.

If your computer has Fortran or C installed, you should have everything
you need. I think PL/1 probably has one also.

Richard B. Gilbert wrote:

>
> Random number generators typically generate values between 0 and 1.0.
> You would have to multiply the values by 255 to get the range you want.

The sort of random number generator he is talking about, like reading
/dev/random on Linux, is a cryptographic one and does generate random
bit patterns that are measured in bytes.

> I never heard of a server offering such a service; typically it is a
> function called "rand", "rnd" or something similar that you incorporate

That sort of function is generally pseudo random, although it might be
seeded from a more random source. It's not suitable for games, as
suggested in the question, or security.

Incidentally the original was posted with a set of followup newsgroups
that didn't include comp.protocols.time.ntp, so it is even possible that
the questioner is not seeing these replies.

mayer@ntp.isc.org (Danny Mayer) writes:

>Adem24 wrote:
>> Is there any public remote RNG server running on the Internet?
>> By this I mean a public service similar to the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
>>
>> It should generate for example 50 random numbers in the
>> range 0 to 255 in string format in intervalls of a minute,

That would be in general be a terrible idea. random numbers are usually
used for cryptographic purposes and letting someone else know what your
random numbers are is a HUGE hole.

Besides many operating systems already have random number generators.
/dev/urandom on linux systems for example. Just read as many bytes as you
want from it.

>> and together with a timestamp make this record (ie. a line)
>> publicly available. There should also be an open API for
>> retrieving the RNG record for the specified datetime key.

Why in the world would you want it?


>>
>> Such an independent public RNG service would be useful for
>> online game operators and players; ie. for lotto, roulette and
>> other chance games, but also for researchers.

You mean so everyone else could cheat you?\

>>
>> All the generated RNG records should also be archived and
>> put online for manual downloading (for statistical tests etc.)
>>
>> The current situation of for example how the Keno lotto numbers
>> are generated is not much trustworthy since it is in the hands of
>> the Keno-organizers themselves. And there is a big mistrust
>> by the players in this method, and there have also been some
>> scandals because the game organizers know what the players
>> have played and it is easy to generate numbers which would
>> pay out the least prizes...
>>
>> So there is a public need for one or more trustworthy,
>> independent and open public RNG servers around the globe
>> for the benefit of everybody in the industry.

And you would trust this organization that published this?


>Even if there are noone here cares about it and it's off topic for this
>newsgroup.

That is also true.

Since this thread is completely off-topic, but everyone else is
replying, I suppose I will too:

Check out http://www.random.org

Atmospeheric noise is the entropy source, "whitened" using the SHA
family of algorithms IIRC. This site is actually useful for things
like picking box numbers in the office Superbowl pool, as others can
witness (visually) that results were pulled directly from the
random.org site.

--
RPM

Ryan Malayter wrote:
> Since this thread is completely off-topic, but everyone else is
> replying, I suppose I will too:
>
> Check out http://www.random.org
>
> Atmospeheric noise is the entropy source, "whitened" using the SHA
> family of algorithms IIRC. This site is actually useful for things
> like picking box numbers in the office Superbowl pool, as others can
> witness (visually) that results were pulled directly from the
> random.org site.
>

Just responding to this message should provide sufficient randomness
since it's mostly useless comments.

Danny