System Requirements and Installation

System Requirements

Really Random Numbers requires the following:

• Any version of Windows 95 through Windows XP.
• A Pentium class or other 32 bit x86 compatible CPU, 16 MB of RAM, and 10 MB free on the hard disk.
• A sound card and cheap analog microphone (microphone may be optional).

Note: you can sometimes use unpowered speakers plugged into the microphone jack instead of a microphone. Also, some systems work even with just a sound card and no microphone as low-level analog white noise is picked up by the analog-to-digital audio converter. Fastest performance is generally achieved with a microphone.

• Other memory and hard disk requirements depend on your buffer settings.

Installing Software

Installing Really Random Numbers is easy. The software uses only your existing Windows components and will not install any additional Windows components (drivers or DLL files) other than an update for HTML Help (required for Win95/98 users).

To install the Evaluation Edition, simply download the installation file and run it.

To install Standard Edition or other paid versions:

• Download the installation file provided or e-mailed to you.
• Enter the password for the installation package from your e-mail.
• During installation you will be asked for your registration name and password. Copy these EXACTLY from your registration e-mail.
• The software will be enabled for operation.

If you would like to run Really Random Numbers at Startup, create a shortcut to it in your Startup program group.

Configuring the Sound Card

Really Random Numbers depends on your sound card to drive the random data generation process. If your sound card is configured improperly, non-random data could result. Generally speaking here are the required settings:

• Choose the maximum bits per sample resolution natively supported by your sound card in hardware. For example, if you have a 24-bit sound card, do not use 16-bit resolution.
• Choose the maximum sample rate natively supported by your sound card in hardware. For example, if the sound card samples at a maximum of 48 kHz, selecting 96 kHz is a bad idea.
• Use either no microphone or a cheap analog microphone. Many, but not all, computers will generate fine random data without a microphone. Do not use a microphone that actively alters the sound input, for example a noise reducing microphone.
• Make sure the volume settings for the microphone (accessible through Start... Settings ... Control Panel ... Sounds and Multimedia... Audio... Recording device) are set at a maximum. This should prevent the multimedia drivers from altering the input stream.
• If using a microphone, you can pretty much leave the microphone anywhere there would be random background noise - an office, next to the computer, outside in the garage, it doesn't seem to matter.

Testing Sound Card configuration

An improperly configured or unusable sound card is easy to spot:

1. Start the software. Set the data buffer to some small value, say between 4,000 and 3,0000.
2. Press Start to start data generation.
3. Wait for the data buffer to fill, click the Analyze button. Note the p-value of the Chi-squared test statistic.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 a eight-ten times.
5. If more than half your p-values are either above 90 or below 10, be suspicious that the sound card is not configured properly. Try changing settings and testing again.