Seventeen or
Bust:
Here’s a
guide to how to help Seventeen or Bust (SoB) by PRP testing or by sieving:
PRP testing:
SoB’s main
priority is the PRP testing for primes via the SB client. There are two kinds
of work you can do with the SB client: first- and secondpass.
Firstpass: The
part of the project with the most participants, firstpass is trying to find
primes by combining the 9 k with increasingly high value of n.
Secondpass:
Secondpass is doublechecking combinations, which have already been tested once
(in case the first test should have missed a prime).
The SB
client cannot stash multiple tests at once and needs to report every now and
then, it’s therefore only recommendable to people who are permanent connected
to the Internet (ADSL and such). Operating the client is very straightforward:
1. Get the
client from one of the three
download locations.
2. Install
it and it should start automatically
3. It will
ask if you are a new user, click yes. If you are a returning user then click no
and skip to step 5
4. Enter
the required information but leave the team blank since it doesn’t work
properly.
Creating a user for the SoB client
5. Now click
Config
The configuration window
6. If you
are a returning user then enter your username here. You can also choose
priority and whether to start at boot-up.
Secondpass: If
you will participate in secondpass, then write “yourusernameQQQsecondpass” (without
the quotations) in the username box.
7. Save any
changes to the configuration (say yes if it asks to clear the cache) and press
start.
Now SoB
will run happily and report every result the moment it completes it.
Sieving:
If you
don’t have a permanent connection, but still wish to help SoB, then you could
consider sieving, since that also helps by speeding up the SB client.
First
you’ll have to reserve a range (you have to be a registered member of the
Free-DC.org forums):
1. Go here
and post a message like: “xxxxxx-xxxxxx reserved by your_username” (xxxxxx
being your range of course).
2. Use proth_sieve
to sieve your range
3. When
done, submit all the contents of the fact.txt here and then post a message here
saying that you’ve completed that range.
Larger sieving:
Even though
the abovementioned method is helpful, it would be an even greater help if you
would consider using this dat instead
of the one mentioned in the proth_sieve guide. It’s a bit slower but it will
help a lot more than the standard dat.
If you
decide to use this one, then there are two things you need to do different:
- Remember to add “(using
911-50M)” to your reservation post.
- When done, first submit the
factors like above (some of them will probably not be accepted) and then
send the fact.txt, factexcl.txt and factrange.txt to [email protected].
Always
submit results from 911<n<50M dat via mail
Factoring:
Even though
the abovementioned methods are great, some people at the forums are so geeky
that they want to try an even more advanced method of eliminating k/n
combinations, the so-called P-1 factoring.
Sieving and
factoring use different kinds of methods:
Sieving: you
reserve a range of p and then make proth_sieve check if any of your p divide
any of the remaining k*2^n+1 combinations (stored in the sob.dat). One small p
may eliminate a big k/n combination and vice versa. Therefore there is no
saying what k/n pairs you eliminate.
Factoring: you
reserve a range of n just ahead of the current PRP testing and then use Prime95
to see if it can find any factors for only that range. Even though it probably
won’t eliminate as many k/n combinations as sieving does, you can be sure that
the factors found will save some PRP tests in the near future.
Still,
factoring is more difficult than sieving but if you want to try it you should
read this guide
Scores:
Whether
you’re sieving or factoring for SoB, you can always check your scores at
MikeH’s site. That’s a good way of tracking your own (or someone else’s)
progress.