is random really not so random?

[amgen]

if you could daisy-chain them with 1 wire to each, each one could wait until signaled that the downline started, wait x-milliseconds to start, then signal to the next up-line device..... etc.
Don

[dhouston]

I've never tried it on a PIC but on another MCU as well as on a PC I have used the modulus operator with a timer count to randomize a time-of-day event. With a PIC there might be enough variation in the different oscillators to give you a pseudo-random value with a 16-bit counter but probably not with an 8-bit counter. Perhaps you could do something along these lines with the watchdog timer.

[pedja089]

Use 1 pin for count, and put piece of wire on it to act as antenna, you should able to pickup noise from environment. I think that is real random...

[Charles Linquis]

Not if you are within 20 feet of an AC line.

[Charles Linquis]

How about using a Dallas 1-wire device? Each one has a globally unique serial number. Take the last 8 digits and reverse them, so that the LSB becomes the MSB. That way, if you get two that have sequential serial numbers, the result will still be significantly different.