2^p-1
Internet PrimeNet Server
Parallel Technology for the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search

PrimeNet World Test Status, Updated Hourly PrimeNet Individual Account Reports PrimeNet Top Producers Awards, Updated Hourly PrimeNet News and Information PrimeNet Statistics Charts PrimeNet Frequently Asked Questions GIMPS Home

Serious research. Totally for fun.
Join a search of mathematical discovery and become a part of Internet history.

USD $100,000.00 Research Discovery Contest

• v22.12 Mersenne Research Software Released
  
  8 November 2002 - GIMPS distributes v22.12 update of Prime95
  Download from Mersenne.org
  
  Even faster primality tests on Mersenne numbers to almost 24 million digits long, v19 opens up the first organized attempt to tackle the second Electronic Frontier Foundation Cooperative Computing Award for $100,000.00.
  
  

• About PrimeNet
  
  PrimeNet is the grid system for the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). PrimeNet comprises tens of thousands of home and office PCs, servers and laptops with either LAN or dialup Internet connections. Since 1996 a global community of users has emerged dedicated to performing real research on a massive scale using ordinary Internet-connected home and office computers connected through the Internet. Thousands of thoughtful individuals, businesses, teams, schools, universities and other agencies offer their spare CPU time to this math research.
  
  This amazing and fun computing effort is being applied by people from around the entire planet, producing research results that promote theoretical studies in mathematical number theory, cryptography and parallel computing. It also fosters a growing international spirit of Internet cooperation for research.
  
  Anyone with an Internet-connected Windows, Linux, Mac or OS/2 PC or server, or FreeBSD or Solaris UNIX box can participate using our free, easy to use research software.  The software has been carefully crafted to use only unused, spare CPU time.  The testing cycle proceeds as outlined in this Mersenne number testing cycle diagram.   Your contributed CPU time accumulates under your account ID.  Each machine you add to your account increases your chances of finding the next Mersenne prime.  Teams have formed to pool their credit using computers located anywhere on the Internet.
  
  *Measured in calibrated P5 90Mhz, 32.98 MFLOP units: 25658999 FPO / 0.778s using 256k FFT.

Free Mersenne Research Software
for GIMPS on PrimeNet
Entropia.com's Parallel Technology for the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search

Disclaimers: It is up to you to get your employer's permission before installing this software on any office machines. Many companies have a strict policy against running any non-business software, however hundreds of companies and other large organizations are participating successfully in the GIMPS research project. Your network administrator, MIS or IT manager is welcome to contact us about this software at primenet@mersenne.org. Every effort has been made to ensure that you will be assigned an exponent that no one else has tested or is testing. We are not responsible for lost prize money, fame, credit, etc. should someone accidentally or maliciously test the number you are working on and find it to be prime. We are not responsible should the program determine a number composite even though it is prime - the program's heavy use of memory and FPU could trigger an error that goes undetected. You should decide beforehand how you are going to split any prize money if you are using a company, friend's, or co-worker's machine. Finally, as with all freeware, the program is provided "as is". However, please do send bug reports and suggestions for improvements to us.

Installation and configuration technical support, primenet@mersenne.org.

Apple PCs, Solaris Workstations, Alpha Servers Currently available only for use with manual testing web page forms
iMac / G3	PowerPC 7000, 8000, 9000	Mac 603, 601
G3 MacGIMPS 1.05b 12 March 1999 Ontario Canada download MacGIMPS Page To Install: 1. Create a folder 2. Un-hqx all files into it 3. See Quick Start in     the user's guide Coming soon - Internet version in development	604 MacGIMPS 1.05b 12 March 1999 Ontario Canada download MacGIMPS Page To Install: 1. Create a folder 2. Un-hqx all files into it 3. See Quick Start in     the user's guide Coming soon - Internet version in development	603 MacGIMPS 1.05b 12 March 1999 Ontario Canada download 601 MacGIMPS 1.05b 12 March 1999 Ontario Canada download MacGIMPS Page To Install: 1. Create a folder 2. Un-hqx all files into it 3. See Quick Start in     the user's guide
Linux	Solaris, generic UNIX	Alpha
Mers MacLucasUNIX Coming soon	Mers MacLucasUNIX Coming soon	APrime Coming soon - Internet version in development

PrimeNet News
Entropia.com's Parallel Technology for the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search

• US $100,000.00 for First 10 Million Digit Prime
  
  On 31 March 1999 the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced a prize of USD $50,000.00 for the next research discovery of a million-digit prime number. On 23 June 1999 GIMPS announced PrimeNet found it! To help the discoverer claim the prize, GIMPS will publish how it was found in a peer-reviewed journal.
  
  GIMPS has set its sights on making the historic mathematics research discovery of the first 10 million digit prime, prized by the EFF at USD $100,000.00!  Join GIMPS, do research and hunt for the winning prime! Visit the EFF awards rules for details.
  
  

• 38th Mersenne Prime M6972593 Discovered on PrimeNet
  Qualifies for $50,000.00 Prize
  
  4 July 1999 - GIMPS announces the June 1 discovery of 2^6972593-1 as the known 38th Mersenne prime, also the largest known prime and eligible for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's $50,000 award! The 2 million+ digit number was first  reported by PrimeNet immediately upon validating the digital signature of the received result.

  Official Press Release PrimeNet's discovery notification message The Oregonian follow up article with details The San Jose Mercury News broke detailed news on the SciTech front page The Oregonian pre-release news of a new find The Seattle Times news article Chris Caldwell's Prime Pages writeup and updated Top 10 Record Primes

• Red Hat Linux 6.0 for Intel Research Test Software Released
  
  MPrime with Red Hat Linux 6.0 support for PrimeNet has been released! Check out the software download section above.
  
• UNIX FreeBSD 3.0 for Intel Research Test Software Released
  
  MPrime with native FreeBSD 3.0 support for PrimeNet has been released! Check out the software download section above.
  
  
• Manual Testing Web Forms
  
  Got a PC that just sits there without an Internet connection?  Official GIMPS exponent testing reservations and results check-ins now use PrimeNet's manual testing web page.
  
  The forms include exponent reservations and time extensions, results check-ins, exponent release, and manual PrimeNet accounts. As always, manual test results receive credit on the GIMPS Top Producers Awards, but not on PrimeNet's Top Producers Awards.  Networked computer PrimeNet users can also use the forms, when necessary, however please note: PrimeNet does not credit manually submitted tests.
  
  
  
• 37th Mersenne Prime M3021377 Discovered on PrimeNet
  
  On 27 January 1998, Roland Clarkson, "rclarkson423", successfully computed the 37th Mersenne prime, 2^3021377-1.
  

  Science News of 1998, Mathematics and Computers (6th item) 909526 digit prime press release San Jose Mercury News article, scooping the discovery CNet News.com PC World UK Guardian Online article March/April 1998 American Scientist article and discovery update Los Angeles Times YSA Sydney Australia Chris Caldwell's Prime Page

Tips for Testing at Peak Performance

• Tuning Prime95, NTPrime and MPrime v18 for Optimal Throughput
  
  Now that you have your PrimeNet account, and your testing has put you onto the Top Producer Awards, what can you do to fine-tune your Mersenne prime hunting work?
  
  Here are a few simple suggestions.  For more detailed answers to the most popular questions, please see the Frequently Asked Questions page.
  
  
  • Adjust the Days of Assigned Work to Your Internet Connection
    
    Prime95 v18 puts you into the Mersenne testing driver's seat, letting you choose what kind of assignments to accept from IPS, and how many to get at a time.
    
    Selecting an appropriate number of days of work determines how often Prime95 needs to connect to PrimeNet, and how many assignments you acquire. The PrimeNet Mersenne testing objectives are to return results as soon as possible, and reduce the risk of lost work. More assignments at one time increases the risk of losing* an assignment or result.
    
    For this reason, fewer assigned exponents is generally better, however dial-up connections may make this inconvenient. Depending upon your connection type, here's how to best balance this tradeoff:
    
    If you have a direct Internet connection like those typical in offices, take only a few days of work at a time. Direct connections are fast and can interact with PrimeNet frequently.
    
    If you have a dial-up connection, take about as many days work as there are between dial-up connections, or a minimum of a few days.
    
    *Note: Internet PrimeNet Server eventually expires lost assignments, and reissues them to other accounts.
    
    
  • Choose a Good Balance of Mersenne Testing Work
    
    If you are using more than one client, choose more primality tests than factoring tests.  In fact the ideal test mixture is about 10:1 of primality test time to factoring test time.  This will move you up the Top Producer Awards list.  In terms of numbers of exponents, the ratio reverses, 1 Lucas-Lehmer primality test for every 10 factoring tests.
    
    This is intended as a guideline, but it's up to you what you will test. Factoring is about 10 times shorter than primality tests, quickly producing tangible results.  Yet factoring does not count as much for equivalent CPU time credit as primality tests because it does not determine a number is prime*.  Only Lucas-Lehmer primality tests can determine a Mersenne number is prime. Even a single primality test can put you half-way up the list above accounts that perform factoring alone.
    
    *Note: Only primality test results are eligible for the Million Digit 38th Mersenne Prime Discovery Contest prize.
    
    
  • Use Your Individual Account Report
    
    Periodically check on the state of your test clients using the individual account report web form. Think of it as a remote monitoring tool for your Mersenne testing work.
    
    Your account report can alert you to a potential problem with one of your test machines, without having to visit them. Checking on test clients will keep your test results accumulating at a steady clip!
    
    
    
  • Reduce CPU Consumption by Screen Savers and Other Applications
    
    When was the last time you really looked at your screen saver, taking notice of what it was doing instead of just letting its motion catch your blank attention? Animated screen savers are the #1 CPU time consumer in the world.
    
    Using any non-animated screen saver, like slide-show styles, periodically-'jumping' images, blank screens, etc., each use much less CPU time, freeing this time so your testing credit can accumulate more quickly.
    
    If you must keep a busy screen saver, how about letting Prime95 take some time from it? The readme.txt file that accompanies Prime95 describes the menu options for changing the execution priority of Prime95. It uses the Advanced, Priority... setting, available once you unlock the menu. Please refer to the readme.txt file for details.
    
    Other CPU-intensive applications include games, video and audio processing, and older 16-bit application software.
    
    
    
• Setting Up Your PrimeNet Account in Prime95
  
  When you use the Prime95 v17 PrimeNet option, Prime95 contacts the Internet PrimeNet Server to establish or verify an existing unique account to track and credit your test work. There are several ways to take advantage of the server's features to build up test results to your account.
  
  Use Prime95's Test... User Information... menu option to setup or change your PrimeNet account.
  
  
  • New Accounts
    
    Note: Account IDs and passwords are case-sensitive. Pay extra attention to upper-lower case letters. For example, 'myuserid', 'MyUserId', 'MYUSERID' and 'myUserId' are all different account IDs.
    
    You can specify an account name and password of your own, or let the server assign a generic unique "S00000" series ID and password for you. If you elect to choose your account name, the name you choose must be available. Prime95 will report an error condition regarding the user ID and password if the ID you choose has already been taken. Account information is used soley for GIMPS project operation.
    
    
  • Shared Accounts
    
    Note: Changing your account ID in Prime95 transfers all assignments and test credit to the new account ID unless LockUserInfo=1 is set in your prime.ini file..
    
    Build a team account! Any number of machines can share a single account, regardless of type, speed or location. Enter the same account User ID and password on each machine that shares the account. You can change the account for a test program in progress without quitting GIMPS.
    
    
  • Personalizing or Changing Account Names
    
    Note: Changing your account ID in Prime95 transfers all assignments and test credit to the new account ID.
    
    Simply change your account ID to a name of your choosing. PrimeNet will move all your current account's testing credit and assignment work to the new account ID. Your old account will remain on PrimeNet for a period of at least 90 days.
    
    
  • Recovering a Lost PrimeNet Account ID or Password, or Changing Account Passwords
    
    If you ever lose or forget your PrimeNet account ID or password, or want to change your account password without changing your account ID, contact primenet@mersenne.org.
    
    
  • Optional Computer ID
    
    In addition to your account information, you can name each computer contributing to your account. Naming a computer in the Optional Computer ID field allows you to track exponents being tested by that particular computer in your Individual Account Report.
    

Web support, contact primenet@mersenne.org.
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