The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed

[Chax Plore]

Good day, everyone,

I am searching for untouched version of George Marsaglia's Diehard
CD-ROM. By "untouched" I mean bit-identical ISO copy of original CD-ROM
disc.

Of course I found many copies of CD-ROM contents in Internet, but I also
found that some of them are different between each instance - starting
from details like different EOL format in source code files, and up to
errors like some files totally omitted or being binary different from
each other. This is too much for my OCD. I don't trust Internet copies
I found anymore.

I think sci.crypt is a good place to ask for potential owners of this
disc. If it will be found, I plan to upload it to archive.org to
preserve for eternity this undisputably important piece of computer history.

I planned to post my request on sci.crypt.random-numbers, but it has no
activity.

More info, including photo of original disc is available at
https://github.com/jeffThompson/DiehardCDROM

With kindest regards,

Chax Plore

[Rich]

Post by Chax Plore
Good day, everyone,
I am searching for untouched version of George Marsaglia's Diehard
CD-ROM. By "untouched" I mean bit-identical ISO copy of original CD-ROM
disc.

How do you plan to validate that what you /might/ eventually receive is
in fact bit-identical to said original? Do you have hash values for
the originals to use to verify "identical"?

I.e., gaming this out, an 'interested' attacker could create and post
you a cdrom that looks visually identical to the original in every way,
but does not in fact contain bit-identical data to an actual original.

Post by Chax Plore
I planned to post my request on sci.crypt.random-numbers, but it has no
activity.

Do note that "no postings" does not equate perfectly with "no readers".
There could be people who would read and respond, but only in reply to
a post.

Post by Chax Plore
More info, including photo of original disc is available at
https://github.com/jeffThompson/DiehardCDROM

Unfortunately I do not have any copies to offer up.

[Chax Plore]

Post by Rich
How do you plan to validate that what you /might/ eventually receive is
in fact bit-identical to said original? Do you have hash values for
the originals to use to verify "identical"?
I.e., gaming this out, an 'interested' attacker could create and post
you a cdrom that looks visually identical to the original in every way,
but does not in fact contain bit-identical data to an actual original.

Well, there are good folks here, active for years, who, I assume, can be
trusted, unless they all are undercover NSA operatives ;)

More seriously, I would check for all differences between CDROM files
received and files from other copies. All differences I would analyse
if they are innocent format-only, like different newline standards,
or if they are much deeper differences, which I would treat with utmost
suspicion.

Post by Rich
Do note that "no postings" does not equate perfectly with "no readers".
There could be people who would read and respond, but only in reply to
a post.

Thank you for this suggestion, I will post my request also to other
groups as well.

[Byrl Raze Buckbriar]

On Sun, 3 Mar 2024 19:15:27 +0100

Post by Chax Plore
Good day, everyone,
I am searching for untouched version of George Marsaglia's Diehard
CD-ROM. By "untouched" I mean bit-identical ISO copy of original CD-ROM
disc.
Of course I found many copies of CD-ROM contents in Internet, but I also
found that some of them are different between each instance - starting
from details like different EOL format in source code files, and up to
errors like some files totally omitted or being binary different from
each other. This is too much for my OCD. I don't trust Internet copies
I found anymore.
I think sci.crypt is a good place to ask for potential owners of this
disc. If it will be found, I plan to upload it to archive.org to
preserve for eternity this undisputably important piece of computer history.
I planned to post my request on sci.crypt.random-numbers, but it has no
activity.
More info, including photo of original disc is available at
https://github.com/jeffThompson/DiehardCDROM
With kindest regards,
Chax Plore
--
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY FINGERPRINT-----
5745 807C 2B82 14D8 AB06 422C 8876 5DFC 2A51 778C
------END PGP PUBLIC KEY FINGERPRINT------

* bump *

Did you find your seek?

The project was tied to the National Science Foundation under grants DMS-8807976 and DMS-9206972.

If you pull the public grant info and contact the named authors and administrators, you might be able to get the whole food chain of everyone that contributed, then begin going down the list to contact them one-by-one.

See NSF grant award info:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8807976&HistoricalAwards=false

The NSF should have archived copies of the original CD-ROMs and research data. A FOIA request might help.

Also you might check with Florida State University's research and IT departments and track down the contacts named in the grant award.

Then there is the archived web site for the project:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160125103112/http:/stat.fsu.edu/pub/diehard/

[Chax Plore]

Post by Byrl Raze Buckbriar
On Sun, 3 Mar 2024 19:15:27 +0100

Post by Chax Plore
Good day, everyone,
I am searching for untouched version of George Marsaglia's Diehard
CD-ROM. By "untouched" I mean bit-identical ISO copy of original CD-ROM
disc.

<snip>

Post by Byrl Raze Buckbriar
* bump *
Did you find your seek?
The project was tied to the National Science Foundation under grants DMS-8807976 and DMS-9206972.
If you pull the public grant info and contact the named authors and administrators, you might be able to get the whole food chain of everyone that contributed, then begin going down the list to contact them one-by-one.
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8807976&HistoricalAwards=false
The NSF should have archived copies of the original CD-ROMs and research data. A FOIA request might help.
Also you might check with Florida State University's research and IT departments and track down the contacts named in the grant award.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160125103112/http:/stat.fsu.edu/pub/diehard/

FOIA seem to be an overkill for the task.
Web archive of project website contains files from disc (not all of
them) and no ISO image was provided.