Re: Mersenne: NT / 2000 / XP users
At 06:57 PM 04-09-01 -0400, George Woltman wrote: > I've just discovered a free utility that lets you run prime95 as >a service under the above operating systems. The good news is you >will now have access to prime95's user interface to monitor progress! > > To try it, follow the instructions at http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm >They are near the v20 download info, but it will work for v21 too. Hi, it's me, the anti-geek again. Can someone explain to me why (and if) it's better to run Prime95 as a service under these OSs? Is there a speed advantage? Also, who would be serving whom? Referrals to relevant FAQs will also be appreciated. _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: New v21 beta
At 10:52 PM 29-08-01 -0400, George wrote: >The world's longest beta test continues. New beta of prime95 is at >http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm Great! Now, if you could please tell me the filename? All I could find was p95v21a.zip, which is the previous beta version ... isn't it? Please forgive if I'm being dense again. Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.magicnet.net/bmetcalf _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: Prime95 shutdown mystery.
At 01:32 PM 7/27/00 -, Brian J. Beesley wrote: >On 27 Jul 00, at 0:04, Bruce A Metcalf wrote: > >> Having made thsi change, the program now runs, but I can't get any >> response from PrimeNet other than: >> >> ERROR 2250: Server Unavailable. > >Since it seems to be working OK for me, it's possible you have a name >lookup problem. > >If you don't have an entry for entropia.com in your hosts file ... try >adding the following line to it: > >216.120.70.80 entropia.com Tried -- no change. >If it _still_ doesn't work, try tracing your route to 216.120.70.80 >using the traceroute tool in linux, or a suitable Windows utility Windows [tracert] found 216.120.70.80 without problem. Thanks to all for the efforts to date. Please continue, as I'm sure this is something we can overcome. Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.magicnet.net/bmetcalf _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.exu.ilstu.edu/mersenne/faq-mers.txt
Re: Mersenne: Prime95 shutdown mystery.
Several folks have responded privately about my problem with Prime95 crashing, much thanks. All recommended: >In prime.ini, change/add the line: > >UseHTTP=1 Having made thsi change, the program now runs, but I can't get any response from PrimeNet other than: ERROR 2250: Server Unavailable. And a referral to a faq that recommends the same change. Any ideas about what I should try next? Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.magicnet.net/bmetcalf _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.exu.ilstu.edu/mersenne/faq-mers.txt
Re: Mersenne: Prime95 shutdown mystery.
At 08:13 AM 7/26/00 -0700, Bob Margulies wrote: >I have just finished a case (M9836773) and expected Prime 95 (version >20.6, running under Win 98) to begin another. Instead I have the message >"This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." >Under "Details" it reports exception 6d9H in module RPCRT4.DLL at >0187:7fb953e3. I have not been able to restart it. Oh goodie! So I'm *not* the only one. My system just crashed the same way. Even a cold boot and reinstalling from the prime95.zip file doesn't fix it. I've got a Pentium 150 running Prime 95 ver. 20.6 under Windows 95. And advice will be most appreciated. Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.magicnet.net/bmetcalf _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.exu.ilstu.edu/mersenne/faq-mers.txt
Mersenne: Rolling Average in Prime95
Greetings, I'm running Prime95 on three slow Windoze95 systems. Just to keep track of system utilization, I periodicaly check the Rolling Average for each machine, with the intent of helping me decide which is in greatest need of an upgrade. I've noticed lately that all three systems -- including one used only as a network dialup server -- have seen abrupt drops in their Rolling Average value, with one system dropping to nearly 500. While I might be using half of all available CPU cycles for other applications, it being only a Pentium 150MHz, it doesn't explain the sharp drops in the Rolling Average of the other two systems which have a constant application load. Is it possible that something in either version 20.4 is miscalculating Rolling Averages, or should I assume that some application of mine is gobbling CPU cycles at a much higher rate than before? Thanks for any insights y'all might care to offer. Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.magicnet.net/bmetcalf _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: error
At 09:57 AM 5/17/00 +0200, Benny.VanHoudt wrote: >I've been using prime95 since sept. 1998 and never had any problems. >Until yesterday I was testing an exponent in the 9.5 - 10 million >range, but suddenly an error appeared while contacting the Primenet >server (the exponent was almost finished +98%). > >I got the commen windows 95 error message: This program has performed >an illegal operation and will be shut down. I had a similar incident this past week running Prime95 version 20.4.1 under Windoze95 testing in the 4.7M range. Since it *is* a Windoze machine, I first tried just rebooting, only to get the same failure immediately upon Prime95 starting. I then reinstalled Prime95 from the download zip file and have been running fine since. No corruption of the data files were observed, and no reptition of the crash has yet occurred. I wasn't going to offer it as a bug report until it happened again, but it looks like I'm not alone. If there is any data I could collect on the occasion of another crash that could help analysis of the bug, please let me know and I'll try to secure and report same. Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.magicnet.net/bmetcalf _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Mersenne: GIMPS in Science News
Sorry to be slow with this - I'm behind in my reading. GIMPS was mentioned favorably in an article in the 4 March 2000 issue of "Science News" under the title "Great Computations." It includes commentary on a variety of distributed computing projects, and in addition to GIMPS it mentions George's software, our recent prime discoveries, Scott's Entropia.com, and even some contrite advice from Aaron. The entire article is presently online at <http://www.sciencenews.org/2304/bob1.asp>. Thought you'all might be interested in the coverage. Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.magicnet.net/bmetcalf _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Mersenne: ReCache for Windoze (was: mprime startup at boot-time)
At 08:06 AM 10/23/99 +0100, Brian J. Beesley wrote: >Conversely (or perhaps perversely), Windows >needs ReCache, _especially_ just after a fresh boot, to make Prime95 >run at its best speed. Hello, I must have missed the discussion of ReCache the last time around. Would someone be willing to explain where this can be obtained, how to install, and the likely benefits to Prime95? I'd also be particularly interested in an automatic routine, as my Windoze box crashes 3 or 4 times a day. (Yes, I know -- but I've only read through chapter 3 in "Linus for Dummies" so far.) Bruce A. Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.magicnet.net/~bmetcalf/ _ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: Error: Illegal Sumout
At 05:09 PM 10/28/98 -0800, Luke Welsh wrote: >>[...] "ERROR: ILLEGAL SUMOUT" [...] Any suggestions? > >It happened to me. Turned out to be bad tag RAM. Luke, could you explain what "tag RAM" is please? Help in identifying same would be nice too, if possible. Bruce Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.magicnet.net/~bmetcalf/
Re: Mersenne: A short gdunken on Aaron B's situation
At 09:44 AM 9/18/98 -0600, Aaron Blosser wrote: >>We have been having quite a bit of discussion on what to do with >>Aaron's results, given that U.S. West claims that he didn't have >>premission to use the machines in question. > >Maybe I can end this right now. Ah, if it were only that simple. >Remember, it's about finding primes! Correct! Not about something so petty as what level of morality this committe decides to take it upon themselves to enforce. >At any rate, it wouldn't do any good to throw out the *results* of the work >done (even if they were *only* trial factoring results). But I give my >hearty approval that, if you all think my credit should be removed for the >work done on US WEST machines, then do it. If, Aaron, you are some day charged and convicted of some civil or criminal tort in this matter, then I think that might be a reasonable part of the punishment. However, I believe that in civilized societies, we follow the sequence of having the trial *first, and *then the punishment. (No, as a matter of fact, I *don't consider the FBI's wanton confiscation to be within the bounds of "civilized society".) >From all I can tell from this distance, you attempted to secure approval for loading the program, and obtained it. Perhaps US West should be pursuing your supervisor who may have incorrectly granted it. It also seems clear to me that loading NTPrime on so many systems all at once, and with the 2 minute recall default, was an improper and inconsiderate action. The good folks trying to maintain the PrimeNet server had a good deal of difficulty as a result of your dumping so many new systems on all at once -- you should have thought of that, and ramped up the number of systems with greater care. Perhaps whoever set the redial default to just 2 minutes ought to rethink their decision as well. It's the programmer's responsibility to try to predict and prevent foolish or ill-advised actions by the users. I can also realisticly imagine that hundreds of systems all pinging ever 2 minutes might well plug up a firewall gateway pretty severely, and that such might have impacted the local system. Aaron, I know you've pointed out the lack of similar failures in other locations, but perhaps Phoenix was the weak link in the system, or possibly the routing used by those other cities might have passed through Phoenix for some reason. I don't know, it's just a guess. But you should have tested for that possibility first -- blaming US West for having a flaky system isn't an honorable defense. A few things are clear to me, however: * Aaron acted without malicious intent, thus criminal charges are highly unlikely to be filed or sustained. * US West has a problem with internal and external authority and access to their computer systems. * US West overreacted to the situation in calling in the FBI without sufficient knowledge or data. * The FBI overreacted to the situation by confiscating Aaron's equipment without sufficient knowledge or data -- of either the existance of a crime or of the equipment being confiscated. * US West, if it is still convinced that Aaron is accessing their network, has worse security than the average 7-Eleven. * Most reporters can't tell a prime number from the prime directive, and worse, they don't seem to care. * George and this community have here an excellent opportunity to publicise and promote both GIMPS and a better public understanding of prime numbers. One of us has already taken a step in this direction, the rest of us should also consider how we might best turn this incident to good purposes. and finally, * The powers that be in GIMPS and PrimeNet shouldn't emulate these fools by leaping to any of own unfounded and unjustified actions. Aaron, I hope you'll stick with this group, and with the search. I also hope you'll keep us informed of your status as the situation permits -- heaven knows we won't get your side of the story through the media. Now could we all just go back to the math and stop filling up everybody's mailbox please? Bruce Metcalf mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.magicnet.net/~bmetcalf/
