From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S275259AbTHMPq4 (ORCPT ); Wed, 13 Aug 2003 11:46:56 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S275238AbTHMPqz (ORCPT ); Wed, 13 Aug 2003 11:46:55 -0400 Received: from fern.math.ucla.edu ([128.97.4.251]:39552 "EHLO fern.math.ucla.edu") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S275259AbTHMPpf (ORCPT ); Wed, 13 Aug 2003 11:45:35 -0400 Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 08:44:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Jim Carter To: "Theodore Ts'o" Cc: Jamie Lokier , Matt Mackall , James Morris , linux-kernel , Andrew Morton , davem@redhat.com Subject: Re: i810_rng.o on various Dell models In-Reply-To: <20030813035257.GB1244@think> Message-ID: References: <20030809173329.GU31810@waste.org> <20030810174528.GZ31810@waste.org> <20030811020919.GD10446@mail.jlokier.co.uk> <20030813035257.GB1244@think> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In response to a message of Theodore Ts'o dated 2003-08-12 (Subject was: [RFC][PATCH] Make cryptoapi non-optional?): I've recently come to the unpleasant conclusion that the reason i810_rng.o (kernel 2.4.20) doesn't load on various Dell models (on none of the numerous Dell models I've tried) is that the motherboards actually lack the hardware random number generator. The motherboard of a Dell Dimension 4100 has a SST 49LF004A firmware hub, not an Intel 82802AB, and among those chips plus the Winbond W39V040FA and the STM M50FW040, presumably most of the ones competing for that market, only the Intel chip has the random number generator. It's a violation of modularity plus a very effective marketing ploy for Intel to put the RNG on the BIOS flash RAM chip. Hiss, boo! Dell has a very effective procedure for discouraging customer feedback, and I have not been able to identify a useful recipient for product suggestions. If any of you people happen to have the ear of someone at Dell, could you please carry a message that there are people who depend on crypto, and will suggest to their management that all machines must have a hardware random number generator, and that would leave Dell out of the running. A similar suggestion might be made to Winbond, STM and SST. James F. Carter Voice 310 825 2897 FAX 310 206 6673 UCLA-Mathnet; 6115 MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095-1555 Email: jimc@math.ucla.edu http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc (q.v. for PGP key)