I am trying to build a hardware random number generator. I had already built the hardware portion of the RNG. I was planning to use the Teensy 3.1 as the interface between the PC and the RNG, but I could never get anything to work right. I switched over to the Velleman K8050N (K8050-2) since it had dedicated digital inputs. In my search for a K8050, I found an older version, K8050-1, as well as the newer K8050-2, on Amazon.com, so I bought both in kit form.
I built the K8050-1 first and it worked with the downloaded demo program from the Velleman.eu website. I got the K8050-2 later and it worked as well. After heavily modifying the original hardware of the RNG and getting everything connected, I finally got it all to fit into a 7.38” x 7.38” x 2.48” Hammond 1590F Diecast Aluminum Case.
In the included files for the K8050D.dll library, I wanted to try to code using the C++ language since it had the best explanation in the DLL manual PDF. However, this is where I got stuck. Searching the Velleman forum and almost everywhere else on the Internet, I am unable to find any decent example of using the digital input portion of the K8050.
I am using digital input 5 of my K8050-2 board and would like (!) a Windows app that would continuously display the digital reading from input 5. I hope to find a 4-bit binary to hexadecimal code to add to the Windows app to display hex characters continuously. I have no C++ IDE to code the app myself.
Could somebody help me correctly create a Windows app for my hardware RNG? I realize the read speed is listed at 20 milliseconds (50 bits/second theoretical speed). If I could find a much faster USB interface that was as easy to use as the Velleman K8050, I would go in that direction.
(Since I already rejected the Teensy 3.1, anyone that mentions ‘Arduino’ will be politely ignored.)