Can Linux use Hardware RNG devices? Are these devices able to generate enough bits of randomness to work for boot?
So yes, Linux can use hardware RNGs. Your second question probably is better stated as whether those can generate random bits at a sufficient rate. I would expect hardware RNGs of being capable of that for typical use cases.
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux...
not sure that's used for /dev/random/ but I thought it was, but the question is when because early in the boot process that may not be loaded. There was also a general distrust of vendor specific hardware randoms in the past IIRC.