[cooper12]

Regarding the SSH randomart, it's enabled by adding `VisualHostKey=yes` to your ssh config or adding the flag `-o VisualHostKey=yes` on the command line. It was announced with OpenSSH 5.1 (http://lists.mindrot.org/pipermail/openssh-unix-dev/2008-Jul...) and there's also a paper on it (http://www.dirk-loss.de/sshvis/drunken_bishop.pdf). You can find the code/comments in `key.c` under `key_fingerprint_randomart()`. (http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/key...)

[mangodrunk]

Sure, but what is the point of that? It's not as if I would remember all the different images. And it checks with the previous one, so what's the purpose (genuinely asking, as it looks pretty cool).

[dijit]

It's for people to recognise differences in art, between runs.

[lmm]

The idea is that you may not "remember" it but you'd subconsciously notice if the image was different. I'm not sure it's any better than a hex key in that regard - either way people usually just go "yes" the first time they connect - but I can imagine it might be easier for some people to notice.