Changes - j0ke.net Open Build Service

Changes of Revision 4

[-] [+]	Added	mprime.changes
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +------------------------------------------------------------------- +Sun Apr 17 10:26:20 UTC 2011 - cs@linux-administrator.com + +- update to release 2.6.5 +
[-] [+]	Changed	mprime.spec ^
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@ Name: mprime -Version: 2.5.11 +Version: 2.6.5 Release: 1 Summary: Mersenne prime Group: System License: see license.txt Url: http://www.mersenne.org/ %ifarch x86_64 -Source: mprime2511-linux64.tar.bz2 +Source: mprime265-linux64.tar.bz2 %else -Source: mprime2511.tar.bz2 +Source: mprime265.tar.bz2 %endif BuildRoot: %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-root
	Deleted	mprime2511.tar.bz2 ^
	Added	mprime265-linux64.tar.bz2 ^
[-] [+]	Changed	mprime265.tar.bz2/license.txt ^
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search -Research Computing Software v25.9 +Research Computing Software v26.5 END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
	Changed	mprime265.tar.bz2/mprime ^
[-] [+]	Changed	mprime265.tar.bz2/readme.txt ^
@@ -13,10 +13,9 @@ --------- readme.txt This file. -prime95.exe The program to factor and run Lucas-Lehmer tests on +mprime The program to factor and run Lucas-Lehmer tests on Mersenne numbers. -prime95.chm The help file in HTML help format. -whatsnew.txt A list of new features in prime95.exe. +whatsnew.txt A list of new features in mprime. stress.txt A discussion of issues relating to stress testing a computer. undoc.txt A list of formerly undocumented and unsupported features. prime.txt A file containing your preferences. The menu choices @@ -25,12 +24,12 @@ 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. +results.txt Mprime 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 & Intermediate files produced by prime95.exe to resume +pNNNNNNN & Intermediate files produced by mprime to resume qNNNNNNN computation where it left off. eNNNNNNN Intermediate files produced during ECM factoring. fNNNNNNN Intermediate files produced during trial factoring. @@ -47,59 +46,76 @@ a Lucas-Lehmer primality test. +COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS +---------------------- + +These command line arguments can be used to schedule mprime to +run only at certain times of the day or at a different priority. Note +that raising the program's priority will not make it run any faster +on an idle machine. + +-An Obsolete. + This is used to run two or more copies of mprime + from the same directory. Using this command line argument + causes mprime to use a different set of filenames for the + INI files, the results file, the log file, and the spool file. + Just use a different value of n for each extra copy of + mprime you start. +-c Contact the PrimeNet server then exit. Useful, for + scheduling server communication as a cron job or + as part of a script that dials an ISP. +-d Prints more detailed information to stdout. Normally + mprime does not send any output to stdout. +-m Bring up the menus to set mprime's preferences. +-t Run the torture test. Same as Options/Torture Test. +-v Print the version number of mprime. +-Wdirectory This tells mprime to find all its files in a different + directory than the executable. + + 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. Anyone with Internet access, including AOL, -CompuServe, and dial-up ISP users should use this method. You do not -need a permanent connection to the Internet. +and report your results. Anyone with Internet access, even dial-up users, +should use this method. 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. +If you are running this program at your place of employment, you should +first GET PERMISSION from your network administrator or boss. This is +especially true if you are installing the software on several machines. +Some companies are reluctant to run any software they are not familiar with. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE AUTOMATIC METHOD ------------------------------------- -1) Run the setup program, p95setup.exe or download and unzip prime95.zip. - You've probably done this already since you are reading this file. +1) Download and decompress mprime.tgz. You've probably done this already + since you are reading this file. 2) Connect to the Internet. Create an account at http://mersenne.org -3) Run prime95.exe. You will see 4 dialog boxes: -3a) In the welcome dialog box, choose "Join GIMPS!". -3b) In the second dialog box, enter your user id and optional computer name. - If you are using several computers, use the same user ID but a unique computer - name on each machine. An easy-to-remember user ID will be helpful if you - plan to visit the PrimeNet server's web page to view reports on your - progress. -3c) In the third dialog box, fill in roughly how many hours a day you leave - your computer running. Click OK. -3d) In the fourth dialog box, leave the "Use Primenet..." checkbox - checked. Do not turn this checkbox off even if you disconnect - from the Internet. Check the "Use a dial-up..." checkbox - if you use a modem to connect to the Internet. Note that prime95 - will not dial-up to connect to the Internet, rather it waits - for a time when you are already connected to contact the server. - Click OK. Prime95 will now contact the PrimeNet server to get some - work for your computer to do. -4a) If a proxy server is the causing connection troubles, see the - later section on "SETTING UP A PROXY SERVER". -4b) If the program will not connect to the server, then - you will have to use the manual method described below. -5) Disable screen savers or use the "blank screen" screen saver. If this - is not practical, consider raising prime95's priority to 4 or 5. - - The "Start at Bootup" menu choice (on by default) will run prime95 - every time you boot your computer. +3) Run mprime. You will be see 3 sets of questions: +3a) The first set gathers information about you. Enter your user ID and + optionally and computer name. If you are using several computers, + use the same user ID but a unique computer name on each machine. An easy-to-remember user ID will be + helpful if you plan to visit the PrimeNet server's web page to view + reports on your progress. +3b) The second set of questions gathers information about your machine. + Fill in roughly how many hours a day you leave your computer running. +3c) The third set of questions gathers information about using the + Primenet server. Note that mprime will never dial-up to connect to + the Internet, rather it waits for a time when you are already connected + to contact the server. Mprime will now contact the PrimeNet server to + get some work for your computer to do. +4) If you are using a proxy server you may need to do some further + configuration. See the later secion on "SETTING UP A PROXY SERVER". +5) Configure your startup scripts so that mprime runs every time you + boot your computer. MANUAL METHOD INSTRUCTIONS @@ -108,37 +124,30 @@ 1) Visit http://mersenne.org/update/ to create a userid for yourself and http://mersenne.org/manual_assignment/ to get an exponent or two to work on. Copy these exponents to a file called worktodo.txt. -2) Run prime95.exe. You will see 3 dialog boxes: -2a) In the welcome dialog box, choose "Join GIMPS!". -2b) In the second dialog box, fill in roughly how many hours a day you leave - your computer running. Click OK. -2c) In the third dialog box, uncheck "Use PrimeNet to get work and report - results", click OK. -3) Disable screen savers or use the "blank screen" screen saver. If this - is not practical, consider raising prime95's priority to 4 or 5. +2) Run mprime. You will be see 2 sets of questions: +2a) The first set of questions gathers information about your machine. + Fill in roughly how many hours a day you leave your computer running. +2b) The second set of questions gathers information about using the + Primenet server. Answer "No" to the first question. +3) Configure your startup scripts so that mprime runs every time you + boot your computer. 4) When done with your exponents, use the web pages again to send the file "results.txt" to the PrimeNet server and get more work. - The "Start at Bootup" menu choice (on by default) will run prime95 - every time you boot your computer. - NOTES ----- -Running prime95 may significantly increase your electric bill. The amount +Running mprime 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. +It can take many CPU days to test a large Mersenne number. This program +can be safely interrupted by using ^C or kill or shutdown 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, there are several utilities available (such as -TaskInfo2002, http://www.iarsn.com/) that can find programs that are -stealing prime95's CPU cycles. +web page http://mersenne.org/report_benchmarks/. You can get several reports of your PrimeNet activity at any time by logging in at http://mersenne.org/. @@ -150,30 +159,35 @@ 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. +running a Lucas-Lehmer test. Furthermore, the program may start factoring +exponents before a previous Lucas-Lehmer test completes. This is normal! +The program will resume the Lucas-Lehmer test when the factoring +completes. SETTING UP A PROXY SERVER ------------------------- -Choose the "Connection..." button in the Test/Primenet dialog box. Fill in -the proxy information. +Fill in the proxy information in the Test/Primenet menu choice. +For help, visit http://mersenneforum.org. Several knowledgeable members +will be glad to help if they can. -SETTING P-1/ECM STAGE 2 MEMORY ------------------------------- -Stage 2 of P-1 factoring step prior to running a Lucas-Lehmer test is -slightly more effective if it is given more memory to work with. However, -if you let the program use too much memory then the performance of ALL programs -will suffer. The good news is that 98% of the time the program uses a minimal -amount of memory. In fact, the program will work just fine if you never -let it use more than the minimum. +SETTING AVAILABLE MEMORY +------------------------ -So how do you intelligently choose the memory settings? Below +The P-1 factoring step prior to running a Lucas-Lehmer test is more +effective if it is given more memory to work with. However, if you let +the program use too much memory then the performance of ALL programs will +suffer. The good news is that 98% of the time the program uses less +than 8MB. In fact, the program will work just fine if you instruct the +program to use only 8MB or less. + +So how do you intelligently choose the available memory settings? Below are some steps you might take to figure this out: -1) Be conservative. It is better to set the memory too low +1) Be conservative. It is better to set the available memory too low than too high. Setting the value too high can cause thrashing which slows down all programs. Remember, the program will only use the extra memory in stage 2 of P-1 factoring (about 12 hours a month). @@ -189,9 +203,7 @@ value if you also run batch jobs at night. 4) Factor in the information below about minimum, reasonable, and -desirable memory amounts for some sample exponents. If you choose a -value below the minimum, that is OK. The program will simply skip -stage 2 of P-1 factoring. +desirable memory amounts for some sample exponents. Exponent Minimum Reasonable Desirable -------- ------- ---------- --------- @@ -200,12 +212,12 @@ 50000000 85MB 170MB 250MB For example, my machine is a dual-processor with 512MB of memory. -I guess Windows XP can survive on 100MB of memory. Thus, I set +I guess Linux can survive on 100MB of memory. Thus, I set the available memory to (512 - 100) or ~400MB. This is my nighttime setting. -During the day, I set memory to 80MB. I can always stop -prime95 if it is doing P-1 factoring and I detect memory thrashing. More +During the day, I set the available memory to 80MB. I can always stop +mprime if it is doing P-1 factoring and I detect memory thrashing. More casual users will probably want to set the daytime memory to 8MB so they -don't have to worry about prime95 impacting system performance. +don't have to worry about mprime impacting system performance. If at all in doubt, leave the settings at 8MB. The worst that will happen is you end up running a Lucas-Lehmer primality test when stage 2 @@ -217,57 +229,57 @@ 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. +Factoring M400037 to 2^54 is 3.02% complete. Clocks: 24235224=0.121 sec. + This means mprime 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 +Iteration: 941400 / 1667747 [56.45%]. Per iteration time: 0.109 sec. (21889762 clocks) + This means mprime 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. + took 21889762 "clock cycles" or 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 +M2123027 no factor to 2^57, WV2: 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 + to determine the primality of the Mersenne number. WV2 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 +M1992031 is not prime. Res64: 6549369F4962ADE0. WV2: 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 + this 64-bit result by rerunning the Lucas-Lehmer test. WV2 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 +M11213 is prime! WV2: 579A579A + This means 2^11213-1 is a Mersenne prime! WV2 is the program version number. 579A579A is a checksum to guard against email transmission errors. -RUNNING PRIME95 ON SEVERAL COMPUTERS ------------------------------------- +RUNNING MPRIME ON SEVERAL COMPUTERS +----------------------------------- -The easiest way to do this is to first set up prime95 on one computer. +The easiest way to do this is to first set up mprime on one computer. Next copy all the files to the second computer. Delete the local.txt file and worktodo.txt files. These files contain information that -is specific to the first computer. Start prime95 on the second -computer and use Test/Primenet to give the second computer a unique -computer name. Repeat this process for all the computers you wish to -run prime95 on. +is specific to the first computer. Start mprime on the second +computer and optionally use Test/Primenet to give the second computer +a unique computer name. Repeat this process for all the computers you +wish to run mprime on. If you do not follow the instruction above, be sure you use -Test/Primenet to give each computer the same -user id and different computer name. +Test/Primenet to give each computer the same user id and different +computer name. TEST MENU @@ -305,9 +317,7 @@ ------------- 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. +provided only for those who are curious to play with. 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 @@ -373,9 +383,7 @@ 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). +beeping like crazy, if a new Mersenne prime is found. The Torture Test choice will run a continuous self test. This is great for testing machines for hardware problems. See the file stress.txt @@ -385,76 +393,20 @@ 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 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 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. - - -COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS ----------------------- - --An Obsolete. - This is used to run two or more copies of prime95 - from the same directory. Using this command line argument - causes prime95 to use a different set of filenames for the - INI files, the results file, the log file, and the spool file. - Just use a different value of n for each copy of - prime95.exe you start. --t Run the torture test. Same as Options/Torture Test. --Wdirectory This tells prime95 to find all its files in a different - directory than the executable. - POSSIBLE HARDWARE FAILURE ------------------------- If the message "Possible hardware failure, consult the readme file." -appears in the results.txt file, then prime95's error-checking has +appears in the results.txt file, then the program's error-checking has detected a problem. After waiting 5 minutes, the program will continue testing from the last save file. -Could it be a software problem? If the error is ILLEGAL SUMOUT and you are -running Windows 95/98/Me, then there is some chance that this is a software -problem. A device driver or VxD may not be saving and restoring FPU state -correctly. Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista protects prime95 from bad device drivers. -In that case ILLEGAL SUMOUT is very likely a true hardware error. The good news -is that prime95 recovers very well from ILLEGAL SUMOUT errors. Try seeing -if the problem occurs only when a specific device is active or a specific -program is running. +Could it be a software problem? If the error is ILLEGAL SUMOUT, then +it is very likely a true hardware error. Although, it is impossible +to rule out an OS error corrupting part of mprime's address space. +The good news is that the program recovers very well from ILLEGAL SUMOUT +errors. The other two errors messages, SUMINP != SUMOUT and ROUND OFF > 0.40 are caused by one of two things:
[-] [+]	Changed	mprime265.tar.bz2/undoc.txt ^
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ At present, only Memory, MaxHighMemWorkers, PauseWhileRunning, LowMemWhileRunning, and PauseCheckInterval support this during/else syntax. Also note you can no longer edit these options from the user interface. To use this feature, -you must manual edit the prime.txt file. An example: +you must manually edit the prime.txt/local.txt file. An example in local.txt: Memory=500 during 1-5/17:30-24:00,1-5/0:00-8:30,6-7/0:00-24:00 else 200 The 1-5 and 6-7 refer to days of the week, with Monday=1 and Sunday=7. The time portion refers to the hours of the day based on a 24-hour clock. @@ -30,6 +30,23 @@ during the week from 5:30PM to 8:30AM and all day on weekends. Otherwise (weekdays from 8:30AM to 5:30PM), the program can use only 200MB. +You can control whether the program does extra error checking on every +iteration of a primality test. This runs a little bit slower. Windows +user can control these options from the Advanced Menu. Linux users must +add one or both of these lines to prime.txt to control these options: + ErrorCheck=0 or 1 + SumInputsErrorCheck=0 or 1 +The first line controls "ROUNDOFF > 0.4" error checks, the second line +controls "SUM(INPUTS) != SUM(OUTPUTS)" error checks. + +You can control how the "count of errors during this test" message +is output with every screen update. These messages only appear if +possible hardware errors occur during a test. In prime.txt set: + ErrorCountMessages=0, 1, 2, or 3 +Value 0 means no messages, value 1 means a very short messages, value 2 +means a longer message on a separate line, value 3 means a very long message +possibly on multiple lines. Default value is 3. + You can force the Options/CPU dialog to display times using AM/PM or a 24-hour clock format. Otherwise, the program will make its best guess as to the proper format. Add this line to prime.txt: @@ -75,6 +92,14 @@ line to prime.txt, where n is the number of seconds to sleep: BootDelay=n +Some machines report much better timings if the worker threads stagger +their starts. This was first noticed on Core i7 machines running Windows. +Presumably staggering starts improves timings due to each worker allocating +contiguous memory. You can control how long the program waits between +starting each worker. In prime.txt, enter: + StaggerStarts=n +where n is the number of seconds to wait. The default is 5 seconds. + The program supports 4 different code paths for LL testing depending on the CPU type. It also has a few different factoring code paths. You can force the program to choose a specific code path by setting the proper @@ -140,6 +165,11 @@ value is the InterimFiles value. In prime.txt enter: InterimResidues=n +By default P-1 work does not delete the save files when the work unit completes. +This lets you run P-1 to a higher bound at a later date. You can force +the program to delete save files by adding this line to prime.txt: + KeepPminus1SaveFiles=0 + You can force the program to skip the trial factoring step prior to running a Lucas-Lehmer test. In prime.txt add this line: SkipTrialFactoring=1 @@ -266,8 +296,9 @@ pauses 1 worker if decomp is running and 2 if mygame is running. LowMemWhileRunning is similar to PauseWhileRunning. This option does not -allow workers use a lot of memory. This example, will make sure the program -is using the minimum amount of memory possible while photoshop is running: +allow workers to use a lot of memory. This example in prime.txt will make +sure the program is using the minimum amount of memory possible while +photoshop is running: LowMemWhileRunning=Photoshop By default, the program will check the PauseWhileRunning list every 10 seconds. @@ -333,7 +364,7 @@ prime.txt set: OnlyRunStage2WithMaxMemory=1 -You can control the maximum prime.log file size. The default is 250K. Add +You can control the maximum prime.log file size. The default is 2MB. Add this line to prime.txt to change the default: MaxLogFileSize=n @@ -362,12 +393,18 @@ The benchmarking code by default only times a subset of the large FFT sizes. In prime.txt, set - FullBench=1 -to have the benchmarking code time all of the large FFT sizes. - -"AllBench=1" in prime.txt is used to time FFT implementations optimized for -other L2 cache sizes. This is only useful during the development cycle to -find the optimal FFT implementations for each CPU type. + MinBenchFFT=n + MaxBenchFFT=n + OnlyBench5678=0 or 1 + BenchAllComplex=0 or 1 or 2 + AllBench=0 or 1 +to alter these defaults. The first to specify the range of FFT length (in K). +Enter an n value between 1 and 32768. Set OnlyBench5678=0 to time FFT +lengths other than 52^n, 62^n, 72^n, and 82^n. Set BenchAllComplex to 0 for +timing real FFTs only, 1 for real and complex FFTs, 2 for complex FFTs only. +Set AllBench=1 to time FFT implementations optimized for other L2 cache sizes +and CPU architectures. This is only useful during the development cycle to find +the optimal FFT implementations for each CPU. If you want to run the program on several machines this is typically done by carrying the program and files around on portable media such as a floppy @@ -386,18 +423,24 @@ wany workers are allowed to use lots of memory. This occurs doing stage 2 of P-1 or ECM on medium-to-large numbers. Default is available memory / 200MB. -You can arbitrarily change how the program assigns affinity to CPUs. -The program makes its best guess at assigning workers and helper threads -to CPUs for optimal speed. However, new architectures or situations we -haven't considered may make different affinity setting desirable. In +The program makes its best guess at how the OS maps hyperthreaded logical CPU +numbers to physical CPUs. It also assigns workers and helper threads +to CPUs for optimal speed. However, bugs, new architectures, or situations we +haven't considered may make different affinity settings desirable. In local.txt set - AffinityScramble=string -Where the string "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV" is the "make no -changes" string. For example, let's say you have a system with 8 logical -cores with 4 workers each using a helper thread. The program would -ordinarily assign the worker and helper threads to [0,1], [2,3], [4,5], [6,7]. -However, if you think [0,2], [1,3], [4,6], [5,7] would give better performance, -you would set AffinityScramble=02134657 to test out your theory. + AffinityScramble2=string +Where the characters in "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz()" +represent 64 logical CPU numbers. For example, let's say you have a system +with 8 logical cores with 4 workers each using a helper thread. Also, assume +your system has logical CPUs 0 & 4 on the same physical CPU core, 1 & 5, etc. +If the program is properly determining which logical CPUs share the same physical +CPU, then the program internally generates an affinity scramble string of "04152637". +The program's default policy is to assign the worker and helper threads to the same +physical CPU. If the program is not properly determining which logical CPUs share the +same physical CPU, or you think a different affinity policy would result in better +performance, then set AffinityScramble2 accordingly. Let's say you think +running the helper threads on a different physical core would be better, then +you might set AffinityScramble2=02134657 to test out your theory. In the prime.txt file, the DaysBetweenCheckin value can be set to any value between 0.04 and 7.0. Some SeventeenOrBust users want to send updates hourly.
[-] [+]	Changed	mprime265.tar.bz2/whatsnew.txt ^
@@ -1,24 +1,70 @@ -New features in Version 25.11 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 26.5 of mprime +-------------------------------------- + +1) Minor bug fixes. +2) Starting in build 2, P-1 work will display the chance of finding a factor. + The worktodo.txt line must include how_far_factored using the new syntax: + Pminus1=k,b,n,c,B1,B2[,how_far_factored][,B2_start][,"factors"] +3) Starting with build 3, at startup the program tries to determine which + hyperthreaded logical CPUs comprise one physical CPU. If this isn't working + properly, see the AffinityScramble2 setting in undoc.txt. The previous + version's AffinityScramble setting is no longer supported! + +New features in Version 26.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- + +1) The 64-bit version supports 64 threads (up from 32). +2) The FreeBSD version supports setting thread affinity. +3) Affinity can now be set using the menus. +4) ECM time estimates improved. ECM may be a smidge faster. + +New features in Version 26.3 of mprime +-------------------------------------- + +1) A few crash bugs were fixed that affected only some CPU architectures and some + FFT lengths. Other minor bugs were fixed. + +New features in Version 26.2 of mprime +-------------------------------------- + +1) Faster FFTs for most SSE2-capable CPU architectures. +2) More FFT lengths supported. +3) Some of the new, faster FFTs don't let us do as much error checking on each iteration. + If you don't want to lose this error checking, look for "SUM(INPUTS) error checking" in + undoc,txt. This will slow down your tests by about 2-5%. +4) When a possible hardware error occurs during a test, the error message would + likely scroll off the screen unnoticed. Now, all future progress updates to + the screen will be followed by a message containing a count of the errors that + have occurred during the test. +5) Worker threads now stagger their starts. This improves timings for some + CPUs and operating systems. See undoc.txt to control this feature. + +New features in Version 25.11 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) PRP of kb^n+c where b > 2 will be faster in many cases. 2) Zero-padded FFTs are about 3-4% faster. These FFTs are used in projects like SeventeenOrBust. +3) Mprime automatically sets the program to nice priority. Technically, this + is not necessary since worker threads are set to the lowest possible priority. + However, sysadmins might be alarmed to see a CPU intensive program not running + at nice priority when executing a ps command (it takes a more complicated ps + command to see that the CPU intensive threads are running at a lower priority). -New features in Version 25.10 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 25.10 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) A bug that caused pfactor save file names to begin with the letter p was fixed. It now uses m like all other P-1 efforts. Old save file names are automatically upgraded. -2) Prime95 now recovers gracefully from more out-of-memory conditions +2) Mprime now recovers gracefully from more out-of-memory conditions when doing ECM or P-1. 3) We now do P-1 factoring one bit level before the trial factoring limit. The previous version started P-1 two bit levels before the trial factoring limit. -New features in Version 25.9 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 25.9 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Performance increases for the 64-bit version by taking advantage of the eight extra SSE2 registers. The 32-bit version may also be a bit faster @@ -47,27 +93,24 @@ file names. NOTE #3: The client now supports keeping three save files. 3) Miscellaneous minor bug fixes. -New features in Version 25.8 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 25.8 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Bug fixed in smart affinity on hyperthreaded CPUs. -2) Bug fixed in setting a thread priority other than 1. -3) Off-by-one-bit bug fixed in the benchmarking of trial factoring. +2) Off-by-one-bit bug fixed in the benchmarking of trial factoring. +3) Fixed bug in laptop battery detection. 4) In rare case an infinite loop could occur when the computer ID in the spool file did not match the current computer ID. 5) The "days between checkin" value now has a range of 1 to 7 days. In version 24, the range was 1 to 60 days with a default of 28 days. -6) Fixed bug where switching users on a Windows machine caused computer - GUIDs to be erroneously regenerated. You may need to suffer through - one more regenerated GUID before the fix takes effect. -7) A bug where some low memory situations on a multi-core machine resulted +6) A bug where some low memory situations on a multi-core machine resulted in one or more worker threads sat idle has been fixed. -8) A crash bug doing 61 and 62 bit trial factoring on Pentium CPUs that +7) A crash bug doing 61 and 62 bit trial factoring on Pentium CPUs that do not support the CMOV instruction was fixed. On these same CPUs a bug was fixed when factors smaller than 2^60 was found. -New features in Version 25.7 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 25.7 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Time= in ini files no longer supported. A during/else syntax can be unsed instead for some ini file options. @@ -84,11 +127,11 @@ use the executable with the old v4 server, add "UseV4=1" to the top of prime.txt. -New features in Version 25.5 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 25.5 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -1) Multiple LL tests can be run within a single prime95 instance. There is - no longer a need to run multiple instances of prime95 on multi-cpu +1) Multiple LL tests can be run within a single mprime instance. There is + no longer a need to run multiple instances of mprime on multi-cpu machines. 2) Uses a new version of the Primenet server. Features include user IDs that are different than team IDs. New work types. Ability to set some client @@ -101,17 +144,17 @@ not recommended as you will get more throughput by giving each CPU its own number to test. 6) ECM and P-1 now support B1 and B2 values above 4.29 billion. ECM now - pays attention to the memory settings in the Options/CPU dialog box. + pays attention to the memory settings in the Options/CPU menu choice. 7) Several files have been renamed so that they are not changed by Windows save/restore. Prime.ini is now prime.txt. Local.ini is now local.txt. Worktodo.ini is now worktodo.txt. The primenet.ini file has been deleted - it is now a section within the prime.txt file. 8) It is now legal to put comment lines in the prime.txt, local.txt, and worktodo.txt files. -9) In older versions, editing the worktodo.ini file while prime95 was running +9) In older versions, editing the worktodo.ini file while mprime was running sometimes had the desired effect. That is no longer the case. You can - create a worktodo.add file to add work to a running prime95. -10) WARNINGS: Previous versions of prime95 will not be able to read save files + create a worktodo.add file to add work to a running mprime. +10) WARNINGS: Previous versions of mprime will not be able to read save files generated by this version. This version will not be able to continue from P-1 save files generated by the previous version in the middle of stage 2. This version cannot read a prime.spl file generated by a previous version. @@ -124,30 +167,27 @@ known factors of kb^n+c. 12) The program no longer does a one-hour self-test before testing an exponent with a new FFT length. -13) You can now copy the contents of a window to the clipboard. -14) New icon colors. Green means "go". Red means "stopped". -15) The torture test dialog box lets you choose how many CPUs or cores you +13) The torture test dialog box lets you choose how many CPUs or cores you want to torture test. -16) The benchmark times both single-threaded and multi-threaded FFTs. -17) The Advanced menu no longer needs a password. - +14) The benchmark times both single-threaded and multi-threaded FFTs. +15) The -B command line argument is no longer supported. -New features in Version 24.15 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 24.15 of mprime +--------------------------------------- -1) To limit prime95's impact on computer responsiveness on a hyperthreaded +1) To limit mprime's impact on computer responsiveness on a hyperthreaded machine the program now pauses for 30 seconds if two successive iterations - take 40% longer than a typical iteration. You can adjust this feature - using the HyperthreadingBackoff setting described in undoc.txt. + take 40% longer than a typical iteration. You can adjust this feature using + the HyperthreadingBackoff setting described in undoc.txt. -New features in Version 24.14 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 24.14 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) A bug that caused the torture test to hang on 256K FFTs on SSE2 machines with 128K of L2 cache was fixed. -New features in Version 24.13 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 24.13 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) Celeron D (256K L2 cache) and Willamette (also 256K L2 cache) now have different implementations for several FFT sizes. This results in an @@ -156,8 +196,8 @@ with the server was fixed. 3) SSE2 trial factoring code had a bug when factoring very large exponents. -New features in Version 24.12 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 24.12 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) For SSE2 machines the larger FFTs have been changed to more effectively use a wide variety of L2 cache sizes. The previous version was optimized @@ -167,43 +207,36 @@ testing of exponents up to 596 million. Not recommended. 3) The factoring breakeven points have been recalculated using my 2 GHz P4. This version of prime95 will do less trial factoring. -4) Since server database crashes cause spurious error 3 messages, prime95 +4) Since server database crashes cause spurious error 3 messages, mprime will now ignore error 3 messages from the server for 72 hours. This should workaround the problem whereby a result is reported but no CPU credit is given and the reservation is not cleared. 5) Fixed crash bug trial factoring exponents above 286 million. -New features in Version 24.11 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 24.11 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) Faster FFTs for AMD64 using prefetchw in both 32-bit and 64-bit mode. You can expect about a 15% speed improvement. 2) Prime95 now detects support for 3DNow! instructions. See undoc.txt for overriding this detection with CpuSupports3DNow=n in local.ini. 3) Factoring entries in worktodo.ini now accept exponents up to 2 billion. -4) Improved checking for memory allocation errors during a torture test. - Better guessing of amount of memory to use in a blend test. -5) Added timeouts to PrimeNet communications in hopes of avoiding rare hangs +4) Added timeouts to PrimeNet communications in hopes of avoiding rare hangs when contacting the PrimeNet server. -6) Fixed rare bug where P-1's GCD could miss a factor. -7) Added trial factoring to the benchmark. +5) Fixed rare bug where P-1's GCD could miss a factor. +6) Added trial factoring to the benchmark. +7) Processor affinity is now supported. 8) Fixed bug in ECM when using zero-padded FFTs. 9) SSE2 macros optimized for an additional 1-3% improvement on P4 and AMD64 CPUs. -New features in Version 24.10 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 24.9 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -1) 64-bit version of prime95 available for 64-bit Windows. +1) Fixed mis-detection of some P3 and Celeron CPUs. -New features in Version 24.9 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Fixed crash when running on machines with "no-execute" protection. -2) Fixed mis-detection of some P3 and Celeron CPUs. - -New features in Version 24.6 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 24.6 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Athlon users should see a 20% to 30% speed increase. 2) Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium III users should see dramatically WORSE @@ -213,52 +246,35 @@ Pminus1=k,b,n,c,B1,B2 ECM2=k,b,n,c,B1,B2,curves_to_do[,specific_sigma] -New features in Version 23.9 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.9 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -1) The blend torture test now uses less memory by default to prevent - thrashing. The in-place torture test is now the default more cases - to reduce complaints dealing with memory allocation issues (no pagefile, - thrashing, etc.) -2) A bug in continuing after finding a factor when using AdvancedFactor was - fixed. +1) Fixed mprime crash bug that arose when Fedora users upgraded to + kernel 2.6.8-1.520. -New features in Version 23.8 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.8 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) A communication bug, Primenet Error 1, was fixed in the case where proxy software inserted the text "NetAnts: MaxConnection=1" in the HTML response from the Primenet server. -2) Fixed memory allocation bug in torture test when using 926MB of memory - on the 20K FFT size. -3) The program will now try both full and a relative URL in trying to +2) The program will now try both full and a relative URL in trying to contact the PrimeNet server. Some rare setups only work with full URLs and some only work with relative URLs. The small downside is there might be an increase in network traffic when the server is down. If this is - a concern you can use the UseFullURL option described in undoc.txt. + a concern you can use the UseFullURL option described in undoc.txt. -New features in Version 23.7 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A bug was fixed where the torture test used more virtual memory than - necessary, sometimes resulting in an "Out of memory" error. - -New features in Version 23.6 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.6 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Several changes have been made to the torture test. a) Machines faster than 1 GHz will use new test data that runs a lot more iterations. This will reduce time spent in initialization code, hopefully increasing stress on the CPU. b) The torture test stops after 100 ILLEGAL SUMOUT errors. - c) There are now 3 flavors of torture testing. One that operates on small - FFTs only, theoretically maximizing FPU stress. One that operates - in place on large FFTs only, maximizing heat and power drain. One that - runs a blend of tests using lots of memory, possibly catching errors - that might only occur at a specific memory address. -New features in Version 23.5 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.5 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Four changes have been made after GIMPS' first false positive report in 7 1/2 years of operation. @@ -284,8 +300,8 @@ and 10% for most FFT sizes. Warning: the new code is slower for Durons and Celeron's with small L2 caches for FFT sizes 1024K and above. -New features in Version 23.4 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Further performance improvements in the SSE2 FFT code. I've tried to do more work while data is in the L1 data cache. @@ -297,26 +313,29 @@ bug could affect ECM on exponents just below MAXIMUM_EXPONENT_FOR_FFTLEN - FFTLEN/2. -New features in Version 23.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.3 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Further performance improvements in the SSE2 code for FFTs larger than 640K. You should see about a 4% improvement in LL tests on a P4. However, FFTs between 40K and 512K might be a tiny bit slower. 2) Stage 2 of P-1 factoring has been recoded for more speed. WARNING: when - continuing from a save file created in stage 2 by a previous prime95 + continuing from a save file created in stage 2 by a previous mprime version, this version will restart stage 2 from the beginning. ALSO: the stage 2 P-1 save file format has changed - in dual boot scenarios you must upgrade mprime and prime95 at the same time. +3) Some prefetching improvements were made for the Athlon, Pentium 3, and + Celeron 2 processors. You can expect speed improvements between 3% + and 10% for most FFT sizes. -New features in Version 23.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.2 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Further performance improvements in the SSE2 code. You can expect about a 5% improvement in LL tests on a P4. -New features in Version 23.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 23.1 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Big SSE2 FFTs now take the L2 cache size into account. P4 Celeron (128KB L2 cache) is faster for FFTs between 512K and 2M. P4 Northwood (512KB @@ -326,15 +345,15 @@ 4) A 900 MHz P-III is now required to get first time LL tests by default. 5) Slightly faster SSE2 FFTs for lengths of 52^N and 72^N (e.g. 640K, 896K). -New features in Version 22.13 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.13 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) A P-1 and ECM QA suite was implemented. A bug in ECM for exponents below 172,700 and near the limit of an FFT size and using SSE2 code was fixed. -New features in Version 22.12 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.12 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) A bug was fixed that caused some factors to be missed in stage 2 of P-1 when the available memory did not let the program allocate 12 temporary @@ -343,43 +362,33 @@ setting was less than 72MB (6MB * 12 temporaries) then you were affected by the bug. Actual the program allocates some fixed tables so anything less than about 75MB triggered the bug. +2) The command line argument -s prints the current status and exits. -New features in Version 22.11 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.11 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) A bug that caused factors to be missed in the last stage of P-1 and ECM factoring was fixed. The bug was introduced in executables built after Sept. 28, 2002. -New features in Version 22.10 of prime95.exe --------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.10 of mprime +--------------------------------------- 1) When running a double-check assignment the preferred trial factoring depth is reduced one bit. This is done because finding a factor will save one LL test instead of the usual two LL tests. -2) On a Windows NT/2000/XP system, if prime95 is run by a user without - administrator privileges then prime95 cannot install itself as a service. - Thus, the Start at Bootup option will set prime95 to run at login time - rather than bootup time. -3) A crash bug when selecting "Start at Bootup" on Windows NT3 and Windows NT4 - systems was fixed. -4) Bug in starting more than one prime95 as NT services on multi-processor - machines was fixed. -New features in Version 22.9 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.9 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Error rate for a clean run is now estimated at 1.8% raising your chances of finding a Mersenne prime while double-checking. -2) You can now stop and continue testing from the system tray menu. -3) You can now pause prime95 when another program starts running. See the +2) You can now pause mprime when another program starts running. See the PauseWhileRunning option in undoc.txt. -4) Fixed bug introduced in 22.8 where No Icon did not work if Start at Bootup - was also specified in Windows 98. -5) A bug in unscrambling the proxy server password in primenet.ini was fixed. +3) A bug in unscrambling the proxy server password in primenet.ini was fixed. -New features in Version 22.8 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.8 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Soft FFT crossovers have been implemented. If you test an exponent that is within 0.2% of the old hard FFT crossover point, then 1000 test @@ -391,8 +400,8 @@ amount of memory specified in the Options/CPU dialog box. 3) Iterations with roundoff checking are a little faster for non-SSE2 CPUs. -New features in Version 22.7 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.7 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Trial factoring above 2^64 on a P4 now uses the SSE2 instructions. This is more than four times as fast as the previous version. @@ -401,43 +410,30 @@ problem as no one should be using this obsolete and unsupported feature. 3) Four more x87 FFT crossover changes as suggested by Brian Beesley's research. -4) You can now change the NT/2000/XP service name and service display name. - See undoc.txt for details. -5) Bug where found factors were silently truncated to 200 digits was fixed. - -New features in Version 22.6 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) The Start At Bootup option now runs prime95 as a Windows NT/2000/XP - service!! Normally Windows NT/2000/XP will not run GUI programs as - services, but several tricks have allowed us to get this working - almost flawlessly. -2) To reduce spurious error reports on x86 LL tests near the crossover + +New features in Version 22.6 of mprime +-------------------------------------- + +1) To reduce spurious error reports on x86 LL tests near the crossover points, the program now allows roundoff errors less than 0.40625 rather than less than 0.4. -New features in Version 22.5 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.5 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) A bug in P4 roundoff error recovery was fixed. Bug was present in version 22 executables dated between May 22 and June 18. -2) Prime95 now properly detects if the program is running by another - logged in Windows XP user. -3) When Tray Icon or Hide Icon is set, the "X" in the upper right corner - no longer closes prime95 rather it minimizes it. Also right clicking - the tray icon now brings up a popup menu. -4) Changed the way prime95 shuts down. Logoff in WinXP used to hang. -New features in Version 22.4 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) A little more tweaking of the FFT crossovers. 2) A GCD hang bug was fixed in case where there were a large number of entries in the lowm.txt file. Another GCD bug affecting ECM on F18 was fixed. -New features in Version 22.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.3 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Given more data, the roundoff error checking is now done on every iteration for exponents within 0.5% of the maximum that can be tested @@ -456,8 +452,8 @@ 7) To reduce wild fluctuations in the RollingAverage, it will be updated roughly twice per day. -New features in Version 22.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.2 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Factoring assignments go to machines slower than a 233 MHz Pentium. Double-checks are assigned machines slower than a 500 MHz P-III. @@ -472,15 +468,12 @@ roundoff error greater than 0.45 is found, then the iteration is repeated after shifting the FFT data. -New features in Version 22.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 22.1 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Some bugs in error handling when communicating with the server have been fixed. -2) Communicating with the server by RPC is no longer supported. The - HTTPNET.DLL and RPCNET.DLL have been deleted. Only "Basic" Proxy server - authentication is supported. Version 21 may have supported MS Proxy - Server 2.0's NTLM (NT Lan Manager) challenge/response authentication. +2) "Basic" Proxy server authentication is supported. 3) The program now uses a high resolution timer rather than the RDTSC instruction to time events. This should help the program display accurate timings on laptops with SpeedStep or desktops that can hibernate. You can @@ -493,17 +486,18 @@ when users upgrade or try several overclocking speeds. If the new algorithm fails, you can overide the settings as described in undoc.txt. 5) Benchmark now writes the program version, timing methodology, cpu type - and speed, L1 and L2 cache information to results.txt. It will refuse to + and speed, L1 and L2 cache information to results.txt. Refuse to benchmark if rdtsctiming is 10. -New features in Version 21.4 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- + +New features in Version 21.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Exiting the Torture Test now prints out how long it ran. 2) P4 error checking was relaxed slightly to reduce false alarms. -New features in Version 21.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 21.3 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) The program will now skip the P-1 factoring stage if another user has already performed this step. @@ -514,89 +508,58 @@ iteration. The end result was incorrect. The bug only affected the error recovery of the new P4 FFT introduced in the beta version 21.2. -New features in Version 21.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 21.2 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) The program now uses the SSE2 instructions introduced on the Pentium 4 CPU. This version is about 3 times faster than the previous version on a P4. 2) The program now uses the prefetch instructions on the Celeron 2, Pentium 3, and all Athlon CPUs. This results in about a 20% performance boost on these machines. -3) Process priority is now set to idle. Microsoft documentation says that - an idle thread priority overrides process priority. The program's - priority scheme has always worked well. However, several Win2K users - have reported that the program works better if the process priority is - also set to idle. -4) The program now delays calculations until 90 seconds after bootup. This - lets your machine boot up as fast as possible. This can be changed, see - undoc.txt. -5) The default crossover between double-check assignments and first-time +3) The default crossover between double-check assignments and first-time tests has been increased to a 400 MHz PII. -6) After 5 1/2 years, a help file now exists! It is HTML Help which may - have problems on older Windows machines. If so, try downloading - hhupd.exe from Microsoft's web site. -7) The program used to do factoring and P-1 testing on new exponents before +4) The program used to do factoring and P-1 testing on new exponents before completing LL tests on older exponents. This was confusing to many. The program now processes the worktodo.ini file in sequential order. See undoc.txt on how to restore the old behavior. -8) Error messages such as ILLEGAL SUMOUT, SUMINP != SUMOUT, etc. are no +5) Error messages such as ILLEGAL SUMOUT, SUMINP != SUMOUT, etc. are no longer sent to the server since the final result contains a count of how many errors occured during the LL test. -9) Some of the FFT crossover points have changed slightly. -10) Test/Status now outputs the day of the week each work item will complete. -11) Interim output lines have changed - hopefully, so they are more useful +6) Some of the FFT crossover points have changed slightly. +7) Test/Status now outputs the day of the week each work item will complete. +8) Interim output lines have changed - hopefully, so they are more useful especially to newbies. By default, output lines no longer contain the clocks count. Lines now contain a timestamp. Benchmark timings are now output in milliseconds. These defaults can be changed using options in undoc.txt. -12) A new welcome screen for new users will encourage stress testers +9) A new welcome screen for new users will encourage stress testers to use the program without reserving exponents. -13) There is now a menu choice that lets you unreserve a specific exponent. +10) There is now a menu choice that lets you unreserve a specific exponent. This is for knowledgable users only. You might do this if the server assigned a small exponent and you'd rather be testing larger ones. Or the prime95 you set up on another machine had a hard drive failure. -14) The Windows 9x Service menu choice has been replaced by the more general - Start at Bootup menu choice. This choice now sets registry entries to - autostart prime95 on any Windows machine. WARNING: Using this option - will delete any StartUp menu shortcuts so the registry entry and startup - menu do not both try to start prime95. -15) Prime95 will now ask for confirmation if you enter a CPU speed that - differs from the computed CPU speed by more than 4%. -16) The self-test menu choice was deleted - use the torture test instead. -17) A benchmark menu choice has been added. -18) The torture test code now includes more FFT lengths including smaller +11) The self-test menu choice was deleted - use the torture test instead. +12) A benchmark menu choice has been added. +13) The torture test code now includes more FFT lengths including smaller ones that run completely in the L2 cache which may increase CPU temperatures. Each FFT size is tested for 15 minutes by default. There are now several options in the undoc.txt for fine tuning the torture test's behavior. -New features in Version 20.6 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A crash bug was fixed. If you did P-1 factoring followed by trial - factoring, then if you found a factor unallocated memory was accessed - usually resulting in a crash. - -New features in Version 20.5 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A rare error was fixed. When the memory settings changed during the - GCD step in P-1 or ECM factoring, then a spurious "ERROR: Factor - does not divide N!" error was raised. - -New features in Version 20.4 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 20.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) If stage 2 of P-1 was postponed because of insufficient memory, the program did not restart stage 2 when nighttime started. This bug was fixed. -2) By default, PII-300's and faster get first-time LL tests, P-90 and faster +2) The -B switch, now properly documented in readme.txt, takes an optional + parameter for the number of mprime instances to run in background. +3) The undocumented RouteRequired INI setting was added. +4) By default, PII-300's and faster get first-time LL tests, P-90 and faster get double-checking work, and all slower machines get factoring work. -3) An ECM bug during stage 2 init on huge exponents caused false ILLEGAL - SUMOUT errors. This bug was fixed. -New features in Version 20.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 20.3 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Another fairly uncommon ECM bug was fixed. The bug caused "Factor does not divide N!" errors. @@ -605,19 +568,19 @@ estimating the memory required in P-1 stage 2. Finally, although P-1 stage 2 working set size is unchanged, the program allocates less memory in stage 2. -3) Prime95 no longer searches for a smaller factor when trial factoring +3) Mprime no longer searches for a smaller factor when trial factoring discovers a factor. The reasons are two-fold. 1) Version 19 had a bug where stopping and restarting the program bypassed the search for smaller factors. Thus, my database may already be missing smaller factors. 2) As we factor larger exponents to a deeper depth it may no longer be a quick job to determine if there are smaller factors. Note, that version 20 will still look for smaller factors if you are - looking for factors below 2^60 with the FactorOverride option in undoc.txt. + looking for factors below 2^60 with the undocumented FactorOverride option. 4) The undocumented AMPM feature controls how times are formatted in the Options/CPU dialog box. -New features in Version 20.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 20.2 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) If P-1 stage 1 completed and there was not enough memory to start stage 2 immediately, then an incorrect save file was generated. This @@ -630,28 +593,8 @@ settings. 3) A bug in ECM testing was fixed. -New features in Version 20.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A bug in the new GCD code was fixed. -2) Timings in the P-1 stage are no longer cumulative. There is a new - feature in undoc.txt for those that prefer cumulative timings. -3) Messages are now output prior to beginning the lengthy GCD. -4) The FactorOverride undocumented feature (not for use with PrimeNet) now - supports factoring to a deeper level than prime95 would ordinarily factor. -5) A bug where the worktodo.ini entry was not removed if P-1 found a factor - was fixed. -6) If P-1 finds a factor it now deletes any Lucas-Lehmer intermediate files. -7) A crash bug when continuing from a P-1 stage 2 save files with - different available memory parameters was fixed. -8) Resuming an LL test now outputs a line to the screen, -9) The Test/Status display now correctly calculates the estimated completion - time for an LL test when P-1 factoring is in progress. -10) Advanced/Factor menu choice was deleted. -11) A bug in computing P-1 stage 2 percentage complete was fixed. - -New features in Version 20.0 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 20.1 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) The program now does some P-1 factoring prior to running first time and double-checking Lucas-Lehmer tests. This will increase overall @@ -668,30 +611,38 @@ 7) The "send new completion dates" checkbox was moved from the Test/Primenet dialog box to the Advanced/Manual Communication dialog box. 8) A bug in estimating time remaining for a factoring job was fixed. -9) AdvancedFactor now writes a line to the worktodo.ini - just like all - the other work types. +9) The Advanced/Quit GIMPS menu option now defaults to NO. 10) ECM and P-1 are now consistent with Lucas-Lehmer testing in the use of the "Iterations between screen outputs" setting. An iteration is defined as the time it takes to do a squaring. If you are doing ECM on small exponents you will probably want to increase this setting. +11) Timings in P-1 are no longer cumulative. There is a new + feature in undoc.txt for those that prefer cumulative timings. +12) The FactorOverride undocumented feature (not for use with PrimeNet) now + supports factoring to a deeper level than prime95 would ordinarily factor. +13) Resuming an LL test now outputs a line to the screen, +14) Advanced/Factor menu choice was deleted. +15) A -B switch was added to run mprime in the background. -New features in Version 19.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A bug in factoring exponents above 35.79 million was fixed. - -New features in Version 19.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 19.1 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) A new undocumented feature, Stage1GCD, lets you speed up P-1 tests on large exponents - see undoc.txt for details. 2) K6 CPUs now default to the Pentium code path instead of the Pentium Pro code path. This is faster on the K6. -3) The rolling average formula was adjusted to work better on machines +3) A bug that caused negative elapsed time on 486 and Cyrix CPUs has been + fixed. +4) The rolling average formula was adjusted to work better on machines that are not on 24 hours a day. +5) You can now put EntropiaIP=207.104.25.155 in primenet.ini to work + around error 2250 problems when using the statically linked mprime + on older Linux versions. +6) An alignment bug that caused factoring to be slower than the Windows + program was fixed. -New features in Version 19.0 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 19.0 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Faster - in some cases as much as 10% faster!. The FFTs were recoded for improved memory and TLB efficiency. Furthermore, optimizations @@ -704,140 +655,92 @@ chance of a fatal rounding error has been reduced. 4) P-1 factoring has been added. Although it is not very practical for large exponents because of a slow GCD routine, it can be used to - find new factors of exponents below a few million or so. + find new factors of exponents below a million or so. 5) ECM can now run on large exponents. Once again, the slow GCD routine - and high memory requirements might make this impractical for large - exponents. + might make this impractical for large exponents. 6) ECM and P-1 factoring now support save files. Very handy on lengthy runs. The count of completed ECM curves is maintained in the save file instead of the worktodo.ini file. 7) ECM and P-1 factoring lets you specify the amount of memory to use. - In some cases, more memory can improve execution speed slightly. + More memory can improve execution speed slightly. 8) A bug in guessing the CPU speed on initial install has been fixed. -9) The preferences dialog now has an option to pause prime95 when a laptop - is running on its battery. -10) Error checking has been improved slightly. -11) Factoring is now "layered". That is, prime95 now factors to 2^50, then +9) Error checking has been improved slightly. +10) Factoring is now "layered". That is, prime95 now factors to 2^50, then 2^51, 2^52, and so forth up to the appropriate limit. The factoring output lines have been changed to show percent complete in the current "layer". -12) A bug in running two or more self or torture tests in the same directory - has been fixed. -13) Trial factoring above 2^64 is now supported. -14) More trial factoring is now done to take into account the cost of +11) A bug in running two or more self or torture tests in the same directory + has been fixed +12) Trial factoring above 2^64 is now supported. +13) More trial factoring is now done to take into account the cost of double-checking. -15) Title now contains percent complete when LL testing. By default, the - percent complete value is now displayed to 2 decimal places. You can - change this by setting PercentPrecision in prime.ini to a value - between 0 and 6. -16) Affinity and service name settings moved from prime.ini to local.ini file. - Prime95 will automatically move these settings for you. -17) An option to get only 10,000,000 digit numbers to run primality tests +14) By default, the percent complete value is now displayed to 2 decimal + places. You can change this by setting PercentPrecision in prime.ini + to a value between 0 and 6. +15) An option to get only 10,000,000 digit numbers to run primality tests on has been added to the Test/Primenet dialog box. See http://www.mersenne.org/prize.htm for rules on claiming the EFF award for finding a 10,000,000 digit prime. -18) The Advanced/Clear primes menu choice has been deleted. -19) The prime95 icon turns yellow when the program is idle. After an - error such as ILLEGAL SUMOUT, the icon will blink for 10 seconds. -20) The User Information dialog box allows you to request newsletters and +16) The User Information dialog box allows you to request newsletters and form a team user ID where the team members cannot alter the team name. -21) A bug in the reporting of error counts in the results.txt file has +17) A bug in the reporting of error counts in the results.txt file has been fixed. -22) The server can now broadcast important messages to the prime95 client. - Prime95 will blink the icon until prime95 is activated and then it will - display the message. -23) A computer ID will be generated for computers that do not have one. If +18) The server can now broadcast important messages to the mprime client. +19) Mprime now tries to prevent two copies of mprime from running + simultaneously. Although not foolproof, it should greatly reduce + the chances of corrupting the intermediate files. Note, multi-processor + systems are not affected due to using the -An switch or running in + different directories. +20) The -c option allows you to run mprime, have it communicate with the + PrimeNet server, and then exit. +21) A computer ID will be generated for computers that do not have one. If you want to assign your own computer ID, please try to make each computer ID using the same user ID unique. -New features in Version 18.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Added code so that server can distinguish between a v17 and v18 client. -2) Only v17 save files above 4194304 are deleted. - -New features in Version 18.0 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 18.1 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Bug fixed in Lucas-Lehmer testing of exponents above 4194304. +2) Added code so that server can distinguish between a v17 and v18 client. -New features in Version 17.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Faster 2^N+1 ECM factoring. - -New features in Version 17.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 17.1 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -1) The -T command line switch has been deleted. -2) You can now fine tune your control of the program by adding Time= +1) You can now fine tune your control of the program by adding Time= lines to your prime.ini file - see the readme.txt file. -3) ECM factoring for 2^N+1 is now available. -4) By default, ECM factoring stops if a factor is found for exponents +2) ECM factoring for 2^N+1 is now available. +3) By default, ECM factoring stops if a factor is found for exponents above 5825 and continues (if the cofactor is composite) for exponents below 5825. You can override this behavior by setting ContinueECM=0 or 1 in prime.ini. -New features in Version 17.0 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 17.0 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -1) Prime95 can now be used to double-check its own results. +1) Mprime can now be used to double-check its own results. 2) Machines less powerful than a P133 will default to double-checking assignments. 3) The total number of errors that occur during the Lucas-Lehmer test are now output in results.txt. -New features in Version 16.5 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A new httpnet.dll can provide Scott Kurowski with debugging information. - Simply create a primenet.ini file with these lines: - [Debug] - PacketLog=1 - Output file is pnHttp.txt. -2) The old network retry time has been replaced by two settings. - The modem retry time (default 2 minutes) controls how often prime95 - polls your modem to see if you are connected to the Internet. - The network retry time (default 60 minutes) controls how long prime95 - waits after a failed attempt to contact the server. -3) A timestamp and program version number is written to the prime.log file. -4) You can now switch between HTTP-based and RPC-based PrimeNet protocols - from the Test/Primenet dialog box. - -New features in Version 16.4 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 16.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Lucas-Lehmer testing output now shows percent complete. -2) Windows NT users can now set processor affinity on multi-CPU systems. -3) ECM factoring is available for small exponents. See +2) ECM factoring is available for small exponents. See http://www.mersenne.org/ecm.htm for a list of exponents that need factoring. -4) A bug that prevented 486 & Cyrix machines from factoring above 2^62 +3) A bug that prevented 486 & Cyrix machines from factoring above 2^62 has been fixed. -5) The LockUserInfo feature no longer sends user info every time prime95 +4) The LockUserInfo feature no longer sends user info every time prime95 starts up. -6) A bug in setting minimized or maximized window in a shortcut to prime95 - is fixed. -7) Test/Status now shows expected completion dates. - - -New features in Version 16.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) The LockUserInfo=1 setting is now sent to the server so that no - member of a team can accidentally transfer the credit for work - previously performed by the team. - -New features in Version 16.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +5) Test/Status now shows expected completion dates. -1) Bug in calculating estimated time to factor a number has been fixed. +New features in Version 16.3 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -New features in Version 16.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Prime95 can now test exponents up to 20.5 million. -2) Prime95 can now find factors up to 2^64. +1) Mprime can now test exponents up to 20.5 million. +2) Mprime can now find factors up to 2^64. 3) The program now reports to the PrimeNet server new completion dates every 28 days (actually user adjustable from 1 to 60 days). This will improve the reclaiming of exponents that are not being actively tested. @@ -846,245 +749,133 @@ 5) Intermediate files are now less likely to fail. If an error occurs during the writing of an intermediate file, the program continues on trying to write the intermediate file every 10 minutes. -6) A bug in the rolling average code has been fixed. Prime95 now modifies +6) A bug in the rolling average code has been fixed. Mprime now modifies the rolling average when factoring too. 7) The prime.log file is now limited in size to 256K bytes. 8) The user information dialog box now has a checkbox to tell the server not to send email. 9) Setting LockUserInfo=1 in prime.ini will make the user information - dialog box inaccessible. -10) Trying to run a second copy of prime95 will now start the already - running copy of prime95. This makes the Hide Icon feature a bit more - useful. - -New features in Version 15.4 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Quit GIMPS choice moved to the Advanced Menu (so novice users do - not confuse it with exit). -2) A bug in httpnet.dll was fixed. It now works for even more - proxy servers and firewalls. - -New features in Version 15.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) More errors in detecting whether you are connected to the Internet have - been fixed. -2) Minor bugs fixed. - -New features in Version 15.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A new primenet.dll that uses HTTP to communicate with the server is - available. This should allow prime95 to work in environments that - have firewalls installed. -2) An option that allows you to write a progress line to the results file - every N iterations is available. -3) A dialog box lets you tell prime95 when you go on vacation. This - will prevent the server from reassigning your exponents when you're - on an extended vacation. -4) Some errors in detecting whether you are connected to the Internet have - been fixed. -5) An option for you to initiate all contact with the Primenet server - is now available (in case I didn't find all the problems mentioned - in number 4 above!) -6) Support for Windows 95 services has been added. -7) To get Windows 95 service support to work, prime95 now changes its - working directory to the same directory that prime95.exe is located. - If you must run prime95 from a different directory than the rest of the - files, then use new -W switch. - -New features in Version 15.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Better support for dial-up users to the Internet. -2) Prime95 no longer contacts the PrimeNet server at startup. -3) Prime95 will no longer let you select Pentium Pro or Pentium CPU type - unless your CPU supports the process-specific instructions. -4) Bug where AMD-K6s were using the Pentium Pro factoring code (and - crashing because of it) is fixed. + dialog box inaccessible. This setting is also sent to the server + so that no member of a team can accidentally transfer the credit + for work previously performed by the team. -New features in Version 15.0 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 15.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -1) Prime95 can now contact a central server to get exponents to test, +1) Mprime can now contact a central server to get exponents to test, report results, and change your email address. No database is required! The old manual reservation system is still supported. - This has led to a major reworking of the user interface. - See the readme file for more details. -2) The Pentium factoring code (up to 60 bit factors) is about 4.5% faster. -3) You can now change how often prime95 saves intermediate files to disk. -4) You can now select one save file or two. -5) The auto-continue option is gone. The program now does an auto-continue - by default. -6) -Q switch removed. The preferences dialog box lets you select whether - the program should be quiet if a new Mersenne prime is found. -7) -H switch removed. Use the Hide Icon menu choice instead. -8) -P switch removed. The advanced menu now has a dialog box - that lets you change the priority. -9) -A switch added. This allows you to run multiple copies of prime95 - from the same directory. This is useful on multi-processor machines. -10) Prime95 no longer uses a prime95.ini file in the Windows directory. - All information is kept in 3 local ini files: prime.ini, local.ini, - and worktodo.ini. Eventually, all ports to other operating systems - will use these same ini files. -11) The CPU dialog box now has an entry for the AMD K6 and an entry +2) The command line interface is replaced by a series of menus and + questions to control your preferences. These menus are similar + to the menus in the Windows executable. All preferences are + now stored in local INI files that are compatible with the Windows + program. This should make mprime easier to use, especially for those + users running both operating systems. +3) The Pentium factoring code (up to 60 bit factors) is about 4.5% faster. +4) The CPU menu now has an entry for the AMD K6 and an entry for how many hours per day you expect to be running the program. -12) The time estimate in the Status dialog box now takes into account +5) Mprime will no longer let you select Pentium Pro or Pentium CPU type + unless your CPU supports the process-specific instructions. +6) You can now change how often prime95 saves intermediate files to disk. +7) You can now select one save file or two. +8) -A switch added. This allows you to run multiple copies of prime95 + from the same directory. This is useful on multi-processor machines. +9) Mprime now changes its working directory to the same directory that + mprime is located. This makes it easier to launch mprime from startup + scripts. If you must run mprime from a different directory than the + rest of the files, then use the new -W switch. +10) The time estimate in the Status menu choice now takes into account the time you've invested in the current Lucas-Lehmer test. It also takes into account how many hours per day you are running the program. It also adjusts its time estimate if your computer seems to be running faster or slower than expected. -13) Timestamps in the results.txt file. -14) The results file is now named results.txt, not results. +11) Timestamps in the results.txt file. +12) The results file is now named results.txt, not results. -New features in Version 14.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 14.4 of mprime +-------------------------------------- -1) The Pentium Pro factoring code is nearly twice as fast compared - to version 14.2. +1) The Pentium Pro factoring code is nearly twice as + fast compared to the previous version. -New features in Version 14.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 14.2 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) Corrected floating point round-off bugs in the factoring code that affected testing factors larger than 2^59. 2) The Pentium factoring code is 5-10% faster. -3) When an error is detected the program now waits 5 minutes before +3) When an error is detected the program now waits 5 minutes before restarting from the last save file. 4) The detection of corrupt save files has improved. -5) The Advanced/Time feature now displays the estimated time to test - an exponent. -New features in Version 14.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 14.1 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) The Pentium factoring code is 5% faster. -New features in Version 14.0 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 14.0 of mprime +-------------------------------------- 1) The program can now check exponents up to 5.26 million! To test these big exponents, you will need a new database and great patience. 2) The per-iteration error checking code has been improved. It will detect more errors and automatically restart from the previous save file. -3) Options/Tray Icon can be used to have prime95 occupy just a small - part of the taskbar. -4) Options/No Icon can be used to have prime95 removed from the taskbar. - Read the warnings in the readme file before using this feature. -5) Options/Preferences now has a checkbox to let you send results to - a file called "results.txt" rather than "results". -6) Options/CPU now has a Cyrix checkbox. There is no Cyrix-specific - code. This change provides better estimates in Range/Status. -7) Options/Torture Test runs a continuous Self Test. This is great - for "burning in" a new machine. -8) The Round-off checking menu choice (which should be turned off) - was moved to the Advanced menu. -9) The estimates in Range/Status have been changed slightly. Hopefully, - these new estimate are a little more accurate. -10) The Options/Self Test option now takes nine hours. - -New features in Version 13.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Minor adjustments made to the per-iteration error checking code. - It was occasionally raising a FATAL ERROR when it should not have been. - -New features in Version 13.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Faster! Prime now supports a wider variety of FFT run lengths. - This means Lucas-Lehmer tests on exponents between 1.33M and 2.33M - will be 13 to 40% faster. +3) The -c option now has a number for Cyrix machines. There is no + Cyrix-specific code. This change does provide better estimates in + status option. +4) There is a machine torture test option which runs a continuous Self Test. + This is great for "burning in" a new machine. +5) The time estimates in status option have been changed slightly. + Hopefully, the new estimates are a little more accurate. +6) The self test option now takes nine hours. -New features in Version 12.4 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- +New features in Version 13.3.2 of mprime +---------------------------------------- + +1) It's smaller. Mprime is no longer linked + with the static C runtime library. The staticly + linked version is still available for a.out Linux systems. +2) Improved error checking should detect more + hardware problems with fewer false alarms. + +New features in Version 13.1.2 of mprime +---------------------------------------- + +1) Faster! Support for non-power-of-2 FFT lengths + has been added. +2) The -I switch has been added. This switch prints + a status line to the results file every N iterations. + For example, -I50000 will print a line to the results + file after Lucas-Lehmer iteration 50000, 100000, etc. +3) The program now creates two backup files in case one + is corrupted during a system crash. + +New features in Version 1.3 of mprime +------------------------------------- + +1) A minor bug in the status report code is fixed. +2) The -L and -P switches have been implemented, but + not tested. The -L switch takes a floating point + number as an argument. If the load as reported in + /proc/loadavg rises above this threshold, then the + program pauses for as many seconds as specified by + the -P switch. This allows you to free up mprime's + memory for other tasks to use during high load + conditions. + +New features in Version 1.2 of mprime +------------------------------------- 1) A minor bug in the Pentium factoring code has been fixed. -2) When creating an intermediate file, instead of deleting the previous - intermediate file it is renamed just in case there is a machine crash - before the new intermediate file is written to disk. -3) Factoring is now 6% faster. -4) The program is now "network-enabled". See network.txt for more details. - -New features in Version 12.3 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) The -h command line argument is now available. - -2) Save files are generated every half-hour when factoring. - -New features in Version 12.2 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) A minor bug in the factoring code has been fixed. - -New features in Version 12.1 of prime95.exe -------------------------------------------- - -1) Command line arguments are now available to help you run the program - on your co-worker's machines! - - -New features in Version 12 of prime95.exe ------------------------------------------ - -1) The program is faster! Expect to see improvements of 8 to 15%. - The faster your CPU, the more improvement you should notice. - The program also uses less memory. -2) There are now 5 separate hour-long self tests - one for each - possible FFT length. You will run one of the new one-hour - self tests even if you passed the self test in the previous version. -3) The program can now test exponents as high as 2,630,000! -4) The user interface has changed. - a) You no longer enter a 3 or 4 digit range. Rather you enter - an explicit starting and stopping point. For example, in - the previous version you would enter 1234 for the range. - In this version you enter a starting point of 1234000 and - an ending point of 1234999. - This makes it much easier to "check out" just part of a range. - It also makes it easier to split a range among two or more - machines. - b) The "Only Find Factors" checkbox has been replaced. Use - the Range / Factor menu choice instead. - c) The Range / Double Check menu choice has been added for those - of you who are double checking previously checked exponents. - d) The Advanced / Password menu choice is now used to activate - the rest of the Advanced menu. -5) The program now performs two new error checks every iteration! These - will help guard against memory errors or "cosmic ray" errors. - These new checks will not catch all such problems but should catch the - vast majority. - - -New features in Version 10 of prime95.exe ------------------------------------------ - -1) The program will now undergo an hour long self-test before - running any Lucas-Lehmer tests in your selected range. - This self-test is also available from the menus. You might - want to run this when you install new hardware or device - drivers. -2) You can now get a status report on your range. Choose Range - Status from the menus to get a report on the number of Mersenne - numbers left to test, expected time to completion, etc. This - information is also displayed whenever you choose a new range - with Range Start or Range Next. -3) The File menu has been renamed Range - it seems clearer to beginners. -4) The Advanced menu has been disabled. You must read the readme.txt - file to learn how to activate it. This is designed to keep novice - users out of trouble. There is no reason, other than curiosity, for - you to use any of the Advanced menu choices. -5) A bug in stopping and continuing when factoring in Version 8 has - been fixed. +New features in Version 1.1 of mprime +------------------------------------- -New features in Version 8 of prime95.exe ----------------------------------------- +1) Factoring is now 6% faster due to a 16 pass + process rather than a 2 pass process. -1) Factoring speed has been doubled for Pentiums. 486 machines will - notice a 15% improvement when factoring. -2) The program will now automatically determine your CPU type and speed. - This information is used in choosing the optimal factoring algorithm. +New features in Version 1.0 of mprime +------------------------------------- +1) Initial release - all features are new!