• Introduction
• Problems
• What we do

Introduction

Unix machines have a collection of what we call device files. These normally reside in /dev and provide access to hardware connected to your computer such as disk drives, keyboards, displays, etc. These files are not normal files as they are handled by drivers for the hardware connected to them.

The devices we shall be focusing on are /dev/null, /dev/zero and /dev/random. Programs write information they are no longer using to /dev/null, and read streams of zeros out of /dev/zero. There is no corresponding /dev/one (though one is available on our download page), so software has to make sure that it doesn't throw away any ones that it needs. /dev/random is used by programs that require random numbers, as a source of randomness. This is a lot better than what used to happen, that boiled down to long sequences of numbers mathematically generated, and hence predictable. Predictability is precicely the property that random numbers must not have.

Problems

During the course of working, a lot of data is sent to /dev/null. A lot of this could be company sensitive data, that you wouldn't want lying around when a hacker breaks into your system, or on your system backups (not that many people back up /dev/null anyway). There is also the problem of what happens to all this data that is sent there, sometimes several GigaBytes a day. We need to do something with it, and the second law of thermodynamics, when couples with quantum theory and information theory will prove that you cannot destroy information. So there is a big pile of information sitting somewhere. Normally computers get rid of this excess information as heat, but these days computers are getting so hot that this isn't very efficient, and data can hang about. Not to mention the extra electricity used to run the air-conditioning with this extra energy (particularly important in California).

Another problem involving entropy is that of /dev/random becoming bare, and being reduced to predictable pseudo-randomness. There are many security problems that can be caused if Hackers can guess what your computer is thinking. This needs to be stopped, so you should keep a good pool of entropy in your /dev/random.

What we do

We will empty your /dev/null of data and recycle it for you, splitting it into its constituent ones and zeros. The zeros can then be used to top up /dev/zero, and then the ones recycled through our implementation of /dev/one, or disposed of safely (another service is that we will dispose of CDs and DAT tapes of ones mailed to us, other formats available on request).

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An added service is that, on supported operation systems, we will systematically top up your /dev/random remotely. This is a more expensive service, only applicable to Internet connected machines, and requiring your ISP's permission.

If you don't want the full service, and suspect /dev/zero of running low, then you can proactively top it up with the TerraByte of zeros available on our download site.