Generating Entropy From Radioactive Decay With PiGI

Continuing on the final aspect of JamesT's very nice exploration of PiGI, we want to further examine the possibilities to create randomness from the output of a Geiger-counter. Of course we are using a PiGI as testbed for our experiments. True randomness, in the sense of “provably unpredictable” is not easily available on a computer. Good arguments can be made that the available sources of entropy like clock jitter, floating analog inputs, network traffic etc, combined with the algorithmic magi…

PiGI - Raspberry Pi Geiger-Müller Interface

Geiger counters are basically just devices which enable us to measure ionizing radiation. In the context of human activity we have to deal with “natural” radiation sources and “artificial” ones. Some of the materials emitting ionizing radiation are used for medicinal purposes (Radiation-Therapy), as an additive in paint and even in smoke-detectors but the majority of it is used to create electricity in nuclear power plants and to stockpile thermonuclear weapons of mass destruction (well, except …

PiGI PCBs are now available on pcbs.io

Nordrunner produced and shared PiGI - Raspberry Pi Geiger-Müller Interface PCBs on pcbs.io, which are now available for everyone. If you haven't had a chance to get PCBs from fehlfarbe or shipping from Germany wasn't an option for you, you can check it out on <https://pcbs.io/share/r1Dq6>.