readme.txt

download thing faster

Create a file in the same local folder as Prime95.exe, called "primenet.ini".
Add these text lines, substituting the appropriate proxy server URL and port:

[PrimeNet Proxy]
ProxyHost=http://proxy.megacorp.com:8080

If the proxy is secured by a userid/password, add the following two text
lines, substituting the appropriate values:

ProxyUser=whatever_the_userid_is
ProxyPass=whatever_the_password_is

After the first time PrimeNet is contacted through a secure proxy, the proxy 
password is encoded and a new parameter 'ProxyMask=1' set.  To change the 
password, simply change the ProxyPass= value, and either delete the ProxyMask 
text line or set ProxyMask=0.


SETTING AVAILABLE MEMORY
------------------------

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 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).

2)  Start with how much memory is installed in your machine.  Allow a
reasonable amount of memory for the OS and whatever background tasks
you run (say 24 or 32MB).  This represents the maximum value you should use.
The program won't let you enter more than 90% of installed memory.

3)  Assuming you run your machine 24 hours a day, what hours of the
day do you not use your computer?  Make these your nighttime hours and
let the program use a lot of memory during these hours.  But reduce this
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.

	Exponent	Minimum		Reasonable	Desirable
	--------	-------		----------	---------
	 6000000	 12MB		   23MB		  33MB
	10000000	 19MB		   36MB		  53MB
	33000000	 65MB		  125MB		 185MB

For example, my machine is a dual-processor with 128MB of memory.
Each CPU runs an LL test on an exponent near 10 million.  On the off
chance that both CPUs wind up doing P-1 factoring at the same time,
I don't want to set the available memory to more than half of the
128MB.  I guess Windows NT can survive on 24MB of memory.  Thus, I set
the available memory to (128 - 24) / 2 or 52MB.  This is my nighttime setting.
During the day, I set the available memory to 24MB.  I can always stop
prime95 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 it.

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
of P-1 factoring would have found a factor.


PROGRAM OUTPUT
--------------

On screen you will see:

Factoring M400037 to 2^54 is 3.02% complete. Time: 0.121 sec.
	This means prime95 is trying to find a small factor of 2^400037-1.
	It is 3.02% of the way though looking at factors below 2^54.  When
	this completes it may start looking for factors less than 2^55.
Iteration: 941400 / 1667747 [56.45%].  Per iteration time: 0.109 sec.
	This means prime95 just finished the 941400th iteration of a
	Lucas-Lehmer primality test.  The program must execute 1667747
	iterations to complete the primality test.  The average iteration
	took 0.109 seconds.

The results file and screen will include lines that look like:

M2645701 has a factor: 13412891051374103
	This means to 2^2645701-1 is not prime.  It is divisible
	by 13412891051374103.
M2123027 no factor to 2^57, WV1: 14780E25
	This means 2^2123027-1 has no factors less than 2^57.  The Mersenne
	number may or may not be prime.  A Lucas-Lehmer test is needed
	to determine the primality of the Mersenne number.  WV1 is
	the program version number.  14780E25 is a checksum to guard
	against email transmission errors.
M1992031 is not prime. Res64: 6549369F4962ADE0. WV1: B253EF24,1414032,00000000
	This means 2^1992031-1 is not prime - a Lucas-Lehmer test says so.
	The last 64 bits of the last number in the Lucas-Lehmer sequence
	is 6549369F4962ADE0.  At some future date, another person will verify
	this 64-bit result by rerunning the Lucas-Lehmer test.  WV1 is the
	program	version number.  B253EF24 is a checksum to guard against email
	transmission errors.  1414032 can be ignored it is used as part
	of the double-checking process.  The final 00000000 value is a set
	of 4 counters.  These count the number of errors that occurred during
	the Lucas-Lehmer test.
M11213 is prime! WV1: 579A579A
	This means 2^11213-1 is a Mersenne prime!  WV1 is the program
	version number.  579A579A is a checksum to guard against email
	transmission errors.


RUNNING PRIME95 ON SEVERAL COMPUTERS
------------------------------------

The easiest way to do this is to first set up prime95 on one computer.
Next copy all the files to the second computer.  Delete the local.ini
file and worktodo.ini files.  These files contain information that
is specific to the first computer.  Start prime95 on the second
computer and optionally use Test/User Information to
give the second computer a unique computer ID.  Repeat this process
for all the computers you wish to run prime95 on.

If you do not follow the instruction above, be sure you use 
Test/User Information to give each computer the same
userid and password.  Failure to do this will result in all 
your work being credited to different user IDs.


TEST MENU
---------

The PrimeNet menu choice lets you configure the type of work you get
from the server.  The "Use PrimeNet..." option can be turned on to
switch from the manual method to the automatic method.
The "Request whatever..." box should be left checked.  However, if you
are running a slow computer and don't mind waiting several months for
a single Lucas-Lehmer test to complete OR you are running a faster
computer and would rather do factoring, then uncheck this box and
choose a different type of work to do.  The "Always have at least
this many days of work queued up" value should be changed based on
how often you connect to the Internet.  As long as you connect at least
once in the given time period, prime95 will have an uninterrupted stream
of work.  However, the program will not checkout more than 20 exponents
no matter what this value is set at.

The User Information menu choice lets you change your name and email
address.  Your name will be used in credits and "top producers"
web pages.  Your email address may be used to send you a
newsletter once every few months.  Select the "Receive occasional
newsletters..." checkbox to enable these emails.  The userid you
use will appear in the status pages on the PrimeNet server.  You can
also set the ComputerID field if you have several computers and want
to keep track of which computers produced which results.  You can create
a team by choosing the "Create a team..." checkbox.  The user name you
entered becomes the team name and a message is sent to the server which
prevents the team name from changing.  Thus, you can handout the userid
and password for others to join your team and these team members are not
able to accidentally or maliciously change the team name that appears
on the statistics page.

The Vacation/Holiday menu choice lets prime95 update the expected completion
dates on the PrimeNet server.  This will prevent one of your exponents
from being reassigned while you're gone.  Also, if you are taking a
long vacation, prime95 will get extra exponents to test.  For example,
if you are leaving for a 6 week vacation, connect to the Internet and
choose 42 days.

The Status menu choice will tell you what exponents you are working on.
It will also estimate how long that will take and your chances of finding
a new Mersenne prime.

The Continue menu choice lets you resume prime95 after you have stopped it.

The Stop menu choice lets you stop the program.  When you continue,
you will pick up right where you left off.  This is the same as hitting
the ESC key.


ADVANCED MENU
-------------

You should not need to use the Advanced menu.  This menu choice is
provided only for those who are curious.  To avoid confusion for
novice users, most of the choices in the Advanced menu have been grayed.
Please read this section if you want to know what the Advanced menu choices
do.  To turn on the Advanced menu, use the Advanced Password dialog box
and enter a value of 9876.  Also note that many of the menu choices are
grayed while testing is in progress.  Choose Test/Stop to activate
these menu choices.

The Test choice can be used to run a Lucas-Lehmer test on one Mersenne
number.  Enter the Mersenne number's exponent - this must be a prime
number between 5 and 79300000.

The Time choice can be used to see how long each iteration of a Lucas-Lehmer
test will take on your computer and how long it will take to test a
given exponent.  For example, if you want to know how long a Lucas-Lehmer
test will take to test the exponent 876543, choose Advanced/Time and
enter 876543 for 100 iterations.

The ECM choice lets you factor Mersenne numbers using the
Elliptic Curve Method of factoring.  Select a few exponents and bounds
to factor from the http://www.mersenne.org/ecm.htm web pages.
Note:  You do not reserve exponents to work on, several people can
do ECM factoring on the same exponent.  The program uses a random
number generator to select elliptic curves to test.  You must email
results to me at [e-mail] - primenet does not support ECM
factoring.  WARNING:  ECM does not adhere to the memory limits specified
in the Options / CPU dialog box.  ECM requires a minimum of 192 times
the FFT size.  Thus, ECM factoring of F20 which uses a 64K FFT will use