Mersenne Digest Saturday, June 2 2001 Volume 01 : Number 858 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 14:13:27 +0100 From: "Thomas Womack" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Mersenne: Various ways of changing horses in mid-stream I have a P4/1300 which doesn't have an Internet connection. So, to get work units to and from it, I copy the whole prime95 directory to my K6/333 laptop which *does* have an Internet connection, and then run prime95.exe to get it to talk to the server. The K6/333 is something like a factor 24 slower than the P4/1300, and is often turned off, so I don't run any prime95 computations on it at all. The problem is, the P4 code in prime95.exe obviously won't work on the laptop. So when I run on the laptop, it rewrites local.ini to indicate that it's a Pentium [though it _doesn't_ change the MHz figure], and then collects work units as if it were a Pentium/1300. All I can think of is telling the K6/333 that it's actually a K6/8000, waiting for it to contact the server and collect work sized for a K6/8000, which the P4 should be able to run through at the correct rate, and then copying the worktodo.ini file obtained by this subterfuge to the P4 to get the work done. This seems somehow inelegant, particularly in that my account report now says that I have an 8000MHz K6 machine called Tom_s_P4 ... what's the right way of doing it? As another point, I have five Athlon/850 machines in the computer lab at college; so I've installed mprime in five separate directories on the shared file space, and let it allocate its own computer names. Yesterday I got fed up with trying to remember that CA1C7B916 was actually the machine called ouzo, so I stopped mprime on each machine, edited local.ini to change the name, and restarted mprime. Has this confused everything horribly? _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 15:39:37 +0200 From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Mersenne: Re: Various ways of changing horses in mid-stream On Thu, May 31, 2001 at 02:13:27PM +0100, Thomas Womack wrote: >This seems somehow inelegant, particularly in that my account >report now says that I have an 8000MHz K6 machine called Tom_s_P4 ... what's >the right way of doing it? If not getting credit is OK for you, you might consider using the PrimeNet manual check-out/-in forms. >As another point, I have five Athlon/850 machines in the computer lab at >college; so I've installed mprime in five separate directories on the shared >file space, and let it allocate its own computer names. Yesterday I got fed >up with trying to remember that CA1C7B916 was actually the machine called >ouzo, so I stopped mprime on each machine, edited local.ini to change the >name, and restarted mprime. Has this confused everything horribly? Possibly, yes -- but I don't think it's critical, as long as you didn't switch usernames, PrimeNet should still accept the result. However, the right thing to do this is (as far as I know) simply to edit the computer information from the mprime menu (mprime -m) -- if you do that, mprime will (again, as far as I know :-) ) tell the PrimeNet server about the change. /* Steinar */ - -- Homepage: http://members.xoom.com/sneeze/ _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 08:29:40 -0700 From: "Aaron Blosser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Mersenne: Re: Various ways of changing horses in mid-stream > >As another point, I have five Athlon/850 machines in the computer lab at > >college; so I've installed mprime in five separate directories on the shared > >file space, and let it allocate its own computer names. Yesterday I got fed > >up with trying to remember that CA1C7B916 was actually the machine called > >ouzo, so I stopped mprime on each machine, edited local.ini to change the > >name, and restarted mprime. Has this confused everything horribly? > > Possibly, yes -- but I don't think it's critical, as long as you didn't > switch usernames, PrimeNet should still accept the result. However, the > right thing to do this is (as far as I know) simply to edit the computer > information from the mprime menu (mprime -m) -- if you do that, mprime > will (again, as far as I know :-) ) tell the PrimeNet server about the > change. I've changed my computer names before just by editing the local.ini file. No problems... next time it updates the info on the server or checks in results, it'll reflect the changed name. And even if it didn't, no big deal anyway. _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 20:04:03 -0000 From: "Brian J. Beesley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Mersenne: Various ways of changing horses in mid-stream On 31 May 2001, at 14:13, Thomas Womack wrote: > I have a P4/1300 which doesn't have an Internet connection. > > So, to get work units to and from it, I copy the whole prime95 > directory to my K6/333 laptop which *does* have an Internet > connection, and then run prime95.exe to get it to talk to the server. Here's what I'd do. (I've used this method on many occasions in the past to feed systems which can't use PrimeNet, usually because they're running MacLucasUNIX, Mlucas or Glucas). 1) On your Primenet-connected system, in the Test/PrimeNet menu, uncheck "Request whatever type of work makes most sense", and check the "primality tests" box in the "Type of work" section (which will become active once you've unchecked "makes most sense"). 2) Now set "days of work" to more than you actually have at the moment. Check "Contact PrimeNet server now" in the Advanced/Manual Communication menu (after connecting to the net, if neccessary). The client will now pull a new LL test assignment. (linux users note, "mprime -c" causes an immediate server connection.) 3) Reset the "most sense" & "days of work" back to their previous values. Print the contents of worktodo.ini then delete the last line from it using a text editor (this is the assignment you just pulled for the other system). The PrimeNet connected system will now run normally, as though nothing had been done - except that the assignment you just got will show in your personal account under its system name. 4) Add the assignment to the end of worktodo.ini on the unconnected system by copying the line from your printout to it using a text editor. 5) If you wish, you can use the PrimeNet manual assignment form to change the expected completion date, and set the system name if desired. The unconnected system will probably show up as "type unknown" in your personal report, but this doesn't matter. 6) Finally, the result can be submitted using the PrimeNet manual assignment form - or, since you will be using Prime95 or mprime, you could copy a very late Pnnnnnnn save file to the connected system using "sneakernet", add the assignment line back into its worktodo.ini file _at the beginning_ then stop & restart the client so that the last few iterations are run on the connected system (as well as the unconnected system) & the result sent automatically. This latter method is a bit messier but does let you get the CPU credit. > > As another point, I have five Athlon/850 machines in the computer lab > at college; so I've installed mprime in five separate directories on > the shared file space, and let it allocate its own computer names. > Yesterday I got fed up with trying to remember that CA1C7B916 was > actually the machine called ouzo, so I stopped mprime on each machine, > edited local.ini to change the name, and restarted mprime. Has this > confused everything horribly? Probably not. But you could simply have used mprime -m to get at the menu & changed the computer system name there. PrimeNet will be informed the next time mprime checks in, or immediately if you use mprime -c having exited the menu. Regards Brian Beesley _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 13:40:21 -0700 From: "Aaron Blosser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Mersenne: Various ways of changing horses in mid-stream > 6) Finally, the result can be submitted using the PrimeNet manual > assignment form - or, since you will be using Prime95 or mprime, you > could copy a very late Pnnnnnnn save file to the connected system > using "sneakernet", add the assignment line back into its > worktodo.ini file _at the beginning_ then stop & restart the client > so that the last few iterations are run on the connected system (as > well as the unconnected system) & the result sent automatically. This > latter method is a bit messier but does let you get the CPU credit. George and/or Steve would probaby roll over in their ... well, not a grave since they're both quite alive... Here's what I do. I just copy the prime.spl file from my non-connected machine to my connected machine, and it'll send the result from that one. No muss, no fuss. Your credit screen shows that the machine you connected from is actually the one that did the work, but oh well. I only know this because my home network is currently lacking it's DSL connection (darn Telocity!) so I dialup from another machine and copy results from each of my 6 other boxes. Of course when my DSL works, it all goes through a router. _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 06:22:40 -0000 From: "Brian J. Beesley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Mersenne: Various ways of changing horses in mid-stream On 31 May 2001, at 13:40, Aaron Blosser wrote: > Here's what I do. I just copy the prime.spl file from my > non-connected machine to my connected machine, and it'll send the > result from that one. No muss, no fuss. Your credit screen shows that > the machine you connected from is actually the one that did the work, > but oh well. Yes, that makes more sense than my suggestion - if only because prime.spl isn't big enough to cause complications due to fragmentation when using conventional 1.44 MByte sneakernet packets ;-) However, if (as in my case) the client is something other than mprime or Prime95, the savefile isn't transferrable anyway. The systems do have network connection, so the sensible thing is to use that to submit results through the manual assignments forms. As for my suggestion being dangerous - well, I don't see how it's any more dangerous than stopping & restarting on the same system at the same point - and, if you follow my suggestion of allowing the assignment to complete on the "remote" system, you will have an entry in results.txt there as well. > > I only know this because my home network is currently lacking it's DSL > connection (darn Telocity!) so I dialup from another machine and copy > results from each of my 6 other boxes. Of course when my DSL works, > it all goes through a router. (OT) What's up with DSL in the US at the moment? There seems to be a sudden spate of problems with several DSL service providers! Regards Brian Beesley _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 23:38:23 -0700 From: "Aaron Blosser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Mersenne: Various ways of changing horses in mid-stream > > Here's what I do. I just copy the prime.spl file from my > > non-connected machine to my connected machine, and it'll send the > > result from that one. No muss, no fuss. Your credit screen shows that > > the machine you connected from is actually the one that did the work, > > but oh well. > > Yes, that makes more sense than my suggestion - if only because > prime.spl isn't big enough to cause complications due to > fragmentation when using conventional 1.44 MByte sneakernet > packets ;-) The way I figured it, that prime.spl file simply has the results to send to the server, so it wouldn't really matter if it was sent from the server that actually did the work or not. Doesn't seem to make any difference, so I'm happy. I'd be happier with my DSL connection back. :( > (OT) What's up with DSL in the US at the moment? There seems to be a > sudden spate of problems with several DSL service providers! Good question. My problem is because I was a PhoenixDSL customer that was sold to Megapath and then sold to Telocity. Telocity is now DirectTV DSL. Good grief... changing hands that many times, I'm not surprised they've had me out of service for a month and a half. When I made my daily call to tech support to URGE them to do something, the recorded message mentioned an outage in (Chicago maybe?) it said that it was expected to be down for about a week. A whole city out for maybe a week. Yow! My guess is that the economy, being in this tech downturn, is having an effect now. Companies are laying off employees since that's usually the easiest short term way to cut costs. Of course this creates other long term hassles, like service tickets piling up beyond belief, but aren't the shareholders happy? :) _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2001 17:04:15 +0200 From: "Dieter Schmitt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Mersenne: Exponents not assigned for factoring This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01C0EB86.0DC911C0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hello, since several weeks PrimeNet doesn't assign (or reassign?) all exponents = for factoring. Between 13,4 M and 16,3 M there are already 2,240 = exponents left unassigned. May be IPS needs some tweaking ? Dieter Schmitt - ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01C0EB86.0DC911C0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.50.4522.1800" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#d8d0c8> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Hello,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>since several weeks PrimeNet doesn't = assign (or=20 reassign?) all exponents for factoring. Between 13,4 M and 16,3 M there = are=20 already 2,240 exponents left unassigned.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>May be IPS needs some = tweaking ?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Dieter Schmitt</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> - ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01C0EB86.0DC911C0-- _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers ------------------------------ End of Mersenne Digest V1 #858 ******************************
