Tony,

You could try to use a few unitialized RAM locations. On power-up,
they would probably contain random values. But the problem is that
the compiler clears all registers on power-up, so the start-up
routine should be modified, which might be tricky though...

 Nikolai

Tuesday, August 14, 2001, 10:17:59 AM, Tony Pan wrote:
> Hi,

> In our project, several identical boards are connected together. Normally,
> on the application of power, they will be turned on at the same time and
> starting running at the same time. But we don't want that to happen. If all
> boards are running at the same time, they will consume too much power and
> cause a problem.

> So, we want to impose a lockout time at the beginning of the software; the
> lockout time should be random for each board (though they use the same
> software). Only after the lockout time expires would the program start
> running. Thus the boards will start at different time and won't cause a
> power shortage.

> My question is: how to generate a "truly" random number on the application
> of power. The number should not be determined upon the compilation of the
> software, but should be upon the initial powerup of the chip. (Or, it should
> be determine by each individual chip.)

> Help?

> (By the way, I write my program in C and use PICC compiler.)

> Thanks in advance.

> Tony Pan

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