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Readme
Readme
To use this program you must agree to the terms and conditions,
prize rules, etc. at http://mersenne.org/legal/
In case you ever forget, the GIMPS web site is at http://mersenne.org
My email address is woltman@alum.mit.edu. For networking questions,
contact Scott Kurowski at primenet@mersenne.org.
FILE LIST
---------
readme.txt This file.
prime95.exe The program to factor and run Lucas-Lehmer tests on
Mersenne numbers.
whatsnew.txt A list of new features in prime95.exe.
stress.txt A discussion of issues relating to stress testing a computer.
undoc.txt A list of undocumented and unsupported features.
prime.txt A file containing your preferences. The menu choices
and dialog boxes are used to change your preferences.
local.txt Like prime.txt, this file contains more preferences.
The reason there are two files is discussed later.
worktodo.txt A list of exponents the program will be factoring
and/or Lucas-Lehmer testing.
results.txt Prime95.exe writes its results to this file.
prime.log A text file listing all messages that have been sent
to the PrimeNet server.
prime.spl A binary file of messages that have not yet been sent to
the PrimeNet server.
pNNNNNNN,pNNNNNNN.buN Intermediate files produced by prime95.exe to resume
computation where it left off.
eNNNNNNN,eNNNNNNN.buN Intermediate files produced during ECM factoring.
fNNNNNNN,fNNNNNNN.buN Intermediate files produced during trial factoring.
mNNNNNNN,mNNNNNNN.buN Intermediate files produced during P-1 factoring.
INSTRUCTIONS
------------
There are two ways to use this program. The automatic way uses
a central server, which we call the PrimeNet server, to get work to do
and report your results. You do not need a permanent connection to the Internet
.
The second method is the manual method. It requires a little more work
and monitoring. I recommend this for computers with no Internet access
or with some kind of firewall problem that prevents the automatic method
from working.
If you are running this program at your place of employment, you must
first GET PERMISSION from your network administrator, boss, or both.
This is especially true if you are installing the software on several machines.
Many companies have policies that prohibit running unauthorized software.
Violating that policy could result in termination and/or prosecution.
NOTES
-----
Running prime95 may SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE YOUR ELECTRIC BILL. The amount
depends on your computer and your local electric rates.
It can take many CPU weeks to test a large Mersenne number. This program
can be safely interrupted by using the ESC key to write intermediate results
to disk. This program also saves intermediate results to disk every 30 minutes
in case there is a power failure.
You can compare your computer's speed with other users by checking the
web page http://mersenne.org/report_benchmarks/. If you are much slower
than comparable machines, utilities such as Task Manager are available
that can find programs that are using CPU cycles.
You can get several reports of your PrimeNet activity at any time
by logging in at http://mersenne.org/.
If you have overclocked your machine, I recommend running the torture
test for a day. The longer you run the torture test the greater the
chance that you will uncover possible problems caused by overheating
or overstressed memory.
Depending on the exponent being tested, the program may decide that it
would be wise to invest some time checking for small factors before
running a Lucas-Lehmer test.
PROGRAM OUTPUT
--------------
On screen you will see:
Factoring M400037 to 2^54 is 3.02% complete. Time: 0.121 sec.
This means prime95 is trying to find a small factor of 2^400037-1.
It is 3.02% of the way though looking at factors below 2^54. When
this completes it may start looking for factors less than 2^55.
Iteration: 941400 / 1667747 [56.45%]. Per iteration time: 0.109 sec.
This means prime95 just finished the 941400th iteration of a
Lucas-Lehmer primality test. The program must execute 1667747
iterations to complete the primality test. The average iteration
took 0.109 seconds.
The results file and screen will include lines that look like:
M2645701 has a factor: 13412891051374103
This means to 2^2645701-1 is not prime. It is divisible
by 13412891051374103.
M2123027 no factor to 2^57, WV1: 14780E25
This means 2^2123027-1 has no factors less than 2^57. The Mersenne
number may or may not be prime. A Lucas-Lehmer test is needed
to determine the primality of the Mersenne number. WV1 is
the program version number. 14780E25 is a checksum to guard
against email transmission errors.
M1992031 is not prime. Res64: 6549369F4962ADE0. WV1: B253EF24,1414032,00000000
This means 2^1992031-1 is not prime - a Lucas-Lehmer test says so.
The last 64 bits of the last number in the Lucas-Lehmer sequence
is 6549369F4962ADE0. At some future date, another person will verify
this 64-bit result by rerunning the Lucas-Lehmer test. WV1 is the
program version number. B253EF24 is a checksum to guard against email
transmission errors. 1414032 can be ignored it is used as part
of the double-checking process. The final 00000000 value is a set
of 4 counters. These count the number of errors that occurred during
the Lucas-Lehmer test.
M11213 is prime! WV1: 579A579A
This means 2^11213-1 is a Mersenne prime! WV1 is the program
version number. 579A579A is a checksum to guard against email
transmission errors.
TEST MENU
---------
The PrimeNet menu choice identifies your computer to the server.
The "Use PrimeNet..." option can be turned on to switch from the
manual method to the automatic method.
The Worker Threads menu choice is used to choose the type of work
you'd like to execute as well as adjust priority and affinity.
You should not need to change the priority. You might raise the priority
if you just cannot live without a screen saver, or if you are running some
ill-behaved program that is using CPU cycles for no good reason.
The work type should usually be left set to "Whatever makes the most sense".
However, if you are running a slow computer and don't mind waiting several
months for a single Lucas-Lehmer test to complete OR you are running a faster
computer and get better thoughput if one core does an easier type of work,
then choose a different type of work to do.
The Status menu choice will tell you what exponents you are working on.
It will also estimate how long that will take and your chances of finding
a new Mersenne prime.
The Continue menu choice lets you resume prime95 after you have stopped it.
The Stop menu choice lets you stop the program. When you continue,
you will pick up right where you left off. This is the same as hitting
the ESC key.
The Exit menu choice lets you exit the program.
ADVANCED MENU
-------------
You should not need to use the Advanced menu. This menu choice is
provided only for those who are curious. Note that many of the menu choices
are grayed while testing is in progress. Choose Test/Stop to activate
these menu choices.
The Test choice can be used to run a Lucas-Lehmer test on one Mersenne
number. Enter the Mersenne number's exponent - this must be a prime
number between 5 and 560000000.
The Time choice can be used to see how long each iteration of a Lucas-Lehmer
test will take on your computer and how long it will take to test a
given exponent. For example, if you want to know how long a Lucas-Lehmer
test will take to test the exponent 876543, choose Advanced/Time and
enter 876543 for 100 iterations.
The ECM choice lets you factor numbers of the form k*b^n+c using the
Elliptic Curve Method of factoring. ECM requires a minimum of 192 times
the FFT size. Thus, ECM factoring of F20 which uses a 64K FFT will use
a minimum of 192 * 64K or 12MB of memory. You can also edit the
worktodo.txt file directly. For example:
ECM2=k,b,n,c,B1,B2,curves_to_run[,"comma-separated-list-of-known-factors
"]
The P-1 choice lets you factor numbers of the form k*b^n+c using
the P-1 method of factoring. You can also edit the worktodo.txt file
directly. For example:
Pminus1=k,b,n,c,B1,B2[,"comma-separated-list-of-known-factors"]
The PRP choice, available from the menus only in the Mac OS X version, lets you
do a
probable prime test on numbers of the form k*b^n+c. On all OSes, you can edit
the worktodo.txt file directly. For example add:
PRP=k,b,n,c[,how_far_factored,tests_saved][,"comma-separated-list-of-kno
wn-factors"]
where the how_far_factored and tests_saved values are used to pick
optimal bounds for P-1 factoring prior to running the PRP test.
SUM(INPUTS) error checking. Selecting this option will run an extra error
check on every iteration. This will slow down the primality test slightly.
Round off checking. This option will slow the program down by several percent.
This option displays the smallest and largest "convolution error". The
convolution error must be less than 0.49 or the results will be incorrect.
There really is no good reason to turn this option on.
The Manual Communication menu choice should only be used if the
automatic detection of an Internet connection is not working for you.
Using this option means you have to remember to communicate with the
server every week or two (by using this same menu choice).
The Unreserve Exponent choice lets you tell the server to unreserve
an exponent you have been assigned. You might do this if a second computer
you had been running GIMPS on died or if you had been assigned an exponent
of one work type (such as a first-time-test) and now you have switched to
another work type (such as double-checking). Any work you have
done on the unreserved exponent will be lost.
The Quit GIMPS menu choice is used when you no longer want this computer
to work on the GIMPS project. You may rejoin at a later date.
If you are a PrimeNet user your unfinished work will be returned to the
server. If you are a manual user, you need to send me email containing
your results.txt file.
OPTIONS MENU
------------
The CPU menu choice tells you what CPU the program has detected and
lets you set how much memory the program can use (see the earlier section
on "Setting available memory".
The Preferences menu choice lets you control how often a line is
written to the main window and how often a line is written to
the results file. It also lets you change how often
intermediate files (to guard against power failure and crashes)
are created. You can control how often the program checks to
see if you are connected to the Internet. The program polls
whenever it has new data to send to or work to get from the PrimeNet
server. If you are low on disk space, you can select one intermediate
file instead of two. However, if you crash in the middle of writing
the one intermediate file, you may have to restart an exponent from
scratch. You can also tell the program to be quiet, rather than
beeping like crazy, if a new Mersenne prime is found. You can also
make prime95 go idle whenever your laptop is running on battery power
(may not work under Windows NT/2000/XP).
The Torture Test choice will run a continuous self test. This is great
for testing machines for hardware problems. See the file stress.txt
for a more in-depth discussion of stress testing and hardware problems.
The Benchmark choice times the program on several FFT lengths. You can
then compare your computer's speed to others list at
http://mersenne.org/report_benchmarks/
The Tray Icon choice will cause prime95 to have a small icon on the taskbar
when it is minimized. You can activate or hide the program by double-clicking
on the small icon. If you place the cursor over the small icon, a tooltip will
display the current status.
The No Icon choice is only enabled if the Advanced Menu is activated
with the password. Using this menu choice means there will be no
prime95 icon on the taskbar once you minimize the program - making it very
hard to reactivate! You can reactivate the program by trying to execute
prime95 a second time. Alternatively, you can turn this feature off by
editing prime.txt and change the line "HideIcon=1" to "HideIcon=0",
then reboot.
Checking the "Start at Bootup" menu choice will run prime95 as a service
that starts when your computer boots up. Windows NT/2000/XP users need
administrator privileges to use this feature. Vista has eliminated support
for running prime95 as a service. Running prime95 as a service is better than
creating a shortcut to prime95 in the startup folder because services run even
when no one is logged on. These are the details you should be aware of:
In Windows 95/98/Me:
The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
registry entry is created. You will not be able to tell any difference between
prime95 running as a service and prime95 running as an ordinary process.
Windows Vista/7/8 and Windows NT/2000/XP without admin privileges:
In this case the menu text is changed to "Start at Logon". The
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registry entry
is created. Prime95 will run only when you are logged in.
In Windows NT/2000/XP with administrator privileges:
There are a few minor quirks when running as a service. You shouldn't run
into these quirks in normal operation. You can only change this option once
and it will take effect when you exit the program. The prime95 window will
only appear on one user's desktop. Finally, if you are worried about giving
users access to a GUI service running in the Local System account, you can
turn off the "Allow service to interact with desktop" option in the services
control panel applet or run the GUI-less NT service version available at
http://mersenne.org/freesoft/ These options are more secure than
using the No Icon menu choice.
LUCAS-LEHMER DETAILS
--------------------
This program uses the Lucas-Lehmer primality test to see if 2**p-1 is prime.
The Lucas sequence is defined as:
L[1] = 4
L[n+1] = (L[n]**2 - 2) mod (2**p - 1)
2**p-1 is prime if and only if L[p-1] = 0.
This program uses a discrete weighted transform (see Mathematics of
Computation, January 1994) to square numbers in the Lucas-Lehmer sequence.
DISCLAIMER
----------
THIS PROGRAM AND INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THANKS
------
Happy hunting and thanks for joining the search,
George Woltman
woltman@alum.mit.edu