Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed

On Sun, 3 Mar 2024 19:15:27 +0100
Chax Plore <ftilojim@tznvy.pbz> wrote:

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/

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