On 14 Oct 99, at 18:15, Chris Jefferson wrote:
> > Also one would have to ask what would be the incencitive for someone to act
> > as a backup server... or prevent them from "stealing the work" as it were, by
> > using high-speed computers to finish the test a month before the main person
> > does in hopes of getting the prize.
>
> I think that the new licence could stop people from doing this, or could
> quickly be altered to say so, as I assume that a new version would need to
> be bought out to support it possibly... or at least make it easier...
Surely this isn't really an issue. PrimeNet would surely recognise a
result submitted by a "poacher" as such & either disqualify it
automatically, or credit the actual owner of the assignment instead
of the "poacher".
>
> In my personal opinion, the best way of doing this would be to set up 3
> computers in a 'loop' all doing the same exponent. Then they could
> communicate at regular intervals. Although it would mean working at the
> slowest speed, it might be a good idea to, along with backing up, get the
> to cmpare exponents at the same time. This would fix the problem of one of
> them quitting, another could be 'bought in', and also would allow
> double=checking as the check went along. However, I suspect the
> programming would be quite difficult.....
Actually, it's not too hard. I suggested an algorithm which works
very similarly to this & submitted it several months ago.
I think the _real_ problem with a "partial results bank" is that it
might be possible for double-checkers to "cheat" by starting from a
late intermediate save file (unscramble the whole residual, pick a
different offset & re-write, start the run from there & get credit
for running a whole double-check). For this reason I'd suggest that
such a "results bank" be public write only. This would also make it
useless to individuals who might wish to use PrimeNet's filestore for
nefarious & possibly illegal purposes, like distributing pornography.
PrimeNet could mail the intermediate save file to the individual user
concerned when (s)he was given the assignment to complete the run on
that exponent.
Regards
Brian Beesley
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