Welcome to the Earth Day Challenge

The Earth Day Network was founded on the premise that all people have a right to a healthy, sustainable environment. Earth Day 2010 is a day to advance that goal by advocating efficiency and renewable energy. More specificity, it's about becoming aware of the planet Earth, our impact on it, and how best to manage its resources. It's about education, consciousness, and sustainability. It's about making better choices so that the next generation may inherit a better place to live.

What does this Challenge have to offer Earth Day 2010? From a conservation perspective, nothing! However, from an exposure perspective, hopefully a lot. Earth Day has been around for forty years, yet most energy sources still remain from fossil fuels...like the electricity powering the majority of the computers connected to PrimeGrid.

However, it does not have to be that way. Yes, we can choose to turn our computers off. Turning things off is definitely a simple solution that we can do right now. Unfortunately, it does nothing to change the root problem...how energy is generated in the first place.

Or we can simply choose/demand renewable energy. Take the Solar Extreme team for example. They supply all their computing needs with solar power. Should there not be enough power, they scale back their participation. Yes, this is the tougher choice and not everyone has those options. However, it addresses the solution head on...using renewable energy.

Although it is an unconventional Earth Day activity, PrimeGrid is spot-lighting the cause by hosting an 8 day Challenge on the 321 Prime Search project. It begins on Earth Day, 22 April 2010 at 18:00 UTC. For the 8 days of the Challenge, feel free to post in the Earth Day Challenge - discussion thread your thoughts, ideas, and hopes about renewable energy and a sustainable future. Who knows...maybe this time next year, the Solar Extreme team will have more company. :)

To participate in the Challenge, please select only the 321 Prime Search (LLR) project in your PrimeGrid preferences section. The challenge will begin 22 April 2010 18:00 UTC and end 30 April 2010 18:00 UTC. Application builds are available for Linux 32 bit, Windows 32 bit and MacIntel. These applications will be sent to 64 bit clients. As with all LLR application projects, there is no advantage of 64 bit over 32 bit.

NOTE: In your PrimeGrid preferences section, set "Send work from any subproject if selected projects have no work" to no to guarantee that no other work will be sent.

ATTENTION: The primality program LLR is CPU intensive; so, it is vital to have a stable system with good cooling. It does not tolerate "even the slightest of errors." Please see this post for more details on how you can "stress test" your computer. WU's will take ~8-12 hours on fast/newer computers and 20+ hours on slower/older computers. If your computer is highly overclocked, please consider "stress testing" it. Sieving is an excellent alternative for computers that are not able to LLR. :)

Restricted airflow is one of the primary reasons for overheating. Take the time to monitor the fans and review the dust buildup. Please, please, please make sure your machines are up to the task.

Time zone converter:

The World Clock - Time Zone Converter

NOTE: The countdown clock on the front page uses the host computer time. Therefore, if your computer time is off, so will the countdown clock. For precise timing, use the UTC Time in the data section to the left of the countdown clock.

Scoring Information

Scores will be kept for individuals and teams. Only work units issued AFTER 22 April 2010 18:00 UTC and received BEFORE 30 April 2010 18:00 UTC will be considered for credit. We will use the "prime score" method which is based on the n value (k*b^n-1) to score the challenge. The only difference is that the primary and double checker of a WU will receive the same score.

Therefore, each completed WU will earn a unique score based on its n value. The higher the n, the higher the score. This is different than BOINC cobblestones! A quorum of 2 is NOT needed to award Challenge score. Therefore, each returned result will earn a Challenge score. Please note that if the result is eventually declared invalid, the score will be removed.

For details on how the score is calculated, please see this thread.

About 321 Prime Search

321 Prime Search is a continuation of Paul Underwood's 321 Search (see below) which looked for primes of the form 3*2^n-1. PrimeGrid added the +1 form and continues the search up to n=25M.

Primes known for 3*2^n+1 occur at the following n:

1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 12, 18, 30, 36, 41, 66, 189, 201, 209, 276, 353, 408, 438, 534, 2208, 2816, 3168, 3189, 3912, 20909, 34350, 42294, 42665, 44685, 48150, 54792, 55182, 59973, 80190, 157169, 213321, 303093, 362765, 382449, 709968, 801978, 916773, 1832496, 2145353, 2478785, 5082306

Primes known for 3*2^n-1 occur at the following n:

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 18, 34, 38, 43, 55, 64, 76, 94, 103, 143, 206, 216, 306, 324, 391, 458, 470, 827, 1274, 3276, 4204, 5134, 7559, 12676, 14898, 18123, 18819, 25690, 26459, 41628, 51387, 71783, 80330, 85687, 88171, 97063, 123630, 155930, 164987, 234760, 414840, 584995, 702038, 727699, 992700, 1201046, 1232255, 2312734, 3136255, 4235414

What is LLR?

The Lucas-Lehmer-Riesel (LLR) test is a primality test for numbers of the form N = k*2^n - 1, with 2^n > k. Also, LLR is a program developed by Jean Penne that can run the LLR-tests. It includes the Proth test to perform +1 tests and PRP to test non base 2 numbers. See also:

• Lucas-Lehmer-Riesel test (WIKI)
  
• Download LLR by Jean Penne
  

(Edouard Lucas: 1842-1891, Derrick H. Lehmer: 1905-1991, Hans Riesel: 1929-2014).

About 321 Search

321 Search began in February 2003 from a post by Paul Underwood seeking help from interested parties in a prime search attempt of the form 3*2^n-1. The initial goal was to build upon the completed work at Proth Search and extend the list of known primes to an exponent of 1 million (n=1M). That was quickly achieved so they advanced their goal to finding a mega prime for which they sieved up to n=5M.

As seen on PrimeGrid's front page, that goal was achieved on 23 Mar 2008, 7:57:28 UTC, when Dylan Bennett of Canada returned a positive result for n=4235414 (3*2^4235414-1). official announcement | decimal representation
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Looking at my "old" 321 LLR results I see that 3*2^n-1 tests are considerably faster than 3*2^n+1 tests*. Is this taken into consideration when calculating the challenge points?

*The n values were roughly in the same range for the -1 and +1 tests.
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i hope that this won't be the case!
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How to Join the Challenge

To participate in the Challenge, please select only the 321 Prime Search (LLR) project in your PrimeGrid preferences section. Also, set "Send work from any subproject if selected projects have no work" to no to guarantee that no other work will be sent. The challenge will begin 22 April 2010 18:00 UTC and end 30 April 2010 18:00 UTC.

Application builds are available for the following:

• Microsoft Windows (98 or later) running on an Intel x86-compatible CPU
  
• Linux running on an Intel x86-compatible CPU
  
• Mac OS 10.4 or later running on Intel
  

Note: As with all LLR application projects, there is no advantage of 64 bit over 32 bit.

Time zone converter:

The World Clock - Time Zone Converter

NOTE: The countdown clock on the front page uses the host computer time. Therefore, if your computer time is off, so will the countdown clock. For precise timing, use the UTC Time in the data section to the left of the countdown clock.

Scoring Information

Scores will be kept for individuals and teams. Only work units issued AFTER 22 April 2010 18:00 UTC and received BEFORE 30 April 2010 18:00 UTC will be considered for credit. We will use the "prime score" method which is based on the n value (k*b^n-1) to score the challenge. The only difference is that the primary and double checker of a WU will receive the same score.

Therefore, each completed WU will earn a unique score based on its n value. The higher the n, the higher the score. This is different than BOINC cobblestones! A quorum of 2 is NOT needed to award Challenge score. Therefore, each returned result will earn a Challenge score. Please note that if the result is eventually declared invalid, the score will be removed.

For details on how the score is calculated, please see this thread.

Stats will be available on the front page next to the clock within 30 minutes after the start.

What to expect at Challenge start

The server always gets hit hard at the beginning of the Challenge. However, we will use the same procedure that we have been for over a year now for all the Challenges which has proved very successful. A few hours before the start (22 April 2010 18:00 UTC) "max cache" will be dropped to 16 tasks per core. Additionally, "max to send" will be dropped to 8 tasks per core. Attempting to request more will be met with "max cache" messages.

We'll raise the buffer to at least 25K. At the start of the Challenge, these settings will be adjusted as necessary. However, if the past year is any indication, we'll make the first adjustment around 30 minutes post start by raising "max cache" to 32. We'll continue to increase "max cache" when the server can handle it until a full 8 days max cache is possible.

This method allows the greatest opportunity for the most clients to get work. Even if it's just 1 task for the first 5 minutes, at least the client is crunching. Past Challenges have shown that clients have a good chance to reach "max cache" before their first task is complete. We expect the same this time.

Strategies for starting the Challenge

Depending on a variety of factors, different strategies work for different users. Here are just a few to consider:

• large farm, user can be present at start
  -Set Computer is connected to the Internet about every to 0 days
  -Set Maintain enough work for an additional to 0 days
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences to a fast WU project such as PPS (LLR)
  -At Challenge start, update PrimeGrid preferences and only select 321 Prime Search (LLR) project
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 PPS (LLR) WU late on each core starting the Challenge.
  -After all machines have work, increase Maintain enough work for an additional
  
• large farm, user NOT able to be present at start
  -Same settings as above.
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 WU late on each core starting the Challenge.
  
• a few computers, user can be present at start
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences and only select 321 Prime Search (LLR) project
  -Set computers to "No New Tasks" for PrimeGrid
  -At Challenge Start, update computers to "Allow New Tasks"
  
• a few computers, user NOT able to be present at start
  -Set Computer is connected to the Internet about every to 0 days
  -Set Maintain enough work for an additional to 0 days
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences and only select 321 Prime Search (LLR) project
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 WU late on each core starting the Challenge.

NOTE: This presumes you have all other BOINC projects suspended.

Best of Luck to everyone!
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Looking at my "old" 321 LLR results I see that 3*2^n-1 tests are considerably faster than 3*2^n+1 tests*. Is this taken into consideration when calculating the challenge points?

*The n values were roughly in the same range for the -1 and +1 tests.

Will the deadline of the 321 LLR tasks (now 10 days) be reduced to avoid a long cleanup phase?

"Stats will be available on the front page next to the clock within 30 minutes after the start."
such that people who finish the first WUs within 30 minutes can see their ranking? ;)

"Stats will be available on the front page next to the clock within 30 minutes after the start."
such that people who finish the first WUs within 30 minutes can see their ranking? ;)

might be interessting for crunchers like D-Grid or CERN - not for normal ;)

13 hours to go!!!

Turn the turbines into the wind and the solar panels towards the sun because in 13 hours, the "Earth Day" Challenge will begin. :)

Please once again review the "Welcome" post as well as the "How to Join" post so you can be informed and make any last minute adjustments that are necessary.

A few hours before the Challenge, we begin to monitor the Meebo chat room at the bottom of the forum page. If at any time PrimeGrid becomes unresponsive, you can still access the Meebo chat room externally here: http://www.meebo.com/room/primegrid/

Before the start, the Subproject stats on the Server Status page will be disabled as will the 24 hour stats on the bottom of the front page. Also, the Top Primes Finder page will be disabled. This is all done to free up as much resources to allow the server to send and receive work. Although, with WU's as long as these, we don't expect too heavy of a load.

What to expect at Challenge start

The server always gets hit hard at the beginning of the Challenge. However, we will use the same procedure that we have been using for over a year now for all the Challenges which has proved very successful. A few hours before the start (22 April 2010 18:00 UTC) "max cache" will be dropped to 16 tasks per core. Additionally, "max to send" will be dropped to 8 tasks per core. Attempting to request more will be met with "max cache" messages.

We'll raise the buffer to at least 25K. At the start of the Challenge, these settings will be adjusted as necessary. However, if the past year is any indication, we'll make the first adjustment around 30 minutes post start by raising "max cache" to 32. We'll continue to increase "max cache" when the server can handle it until a full 8 days max cache is possible.

This method allows the greatest opportunity for the most clients to get work. Even if it's just 1 task for the first 5 minutes, at least the client is crunching. Past Challenges have shown that clients have a good chance to reach "max cache" before their first task is complete. We expect the same this time.

Stats will be available on the front page next to the clock within 30 minutes after the start. Of course, with these 321 (LLR) WU's, the first results are not expected until 7-9 hours later. :)

BOINCstats provides hourly updates of Project Challenges. There you can view user and team credit and ranking trends.
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A Final Reminder

ATTENTION: The primality program LLR is CPU intensive; so, it is vital to have a stable system with good cooling. It does not tolerate "even the slightest of errors." Please see this post for more details on how you can "stress test" your computer. WU's will take ~8-12 hours on fast/newer computers and 20+ hours on slower/older computers. If your computer is highly overclocked, please consider "stress testing" it. Sieving is an excellent alternative for computers that are not able to LLR. :)

Restricted airflow is one of the primary reasons for overheating. Take the time to monitor the fans and review the dust buildup. If needed, give your computer a good cleaning. It will thank you by running cooler and producing valid results. :) Please, please, please make sure your machines are up to the task.
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Ralf Recker wrote:

Looking at my "old" 321 LLR results I see that 3*2^n-1 tests are considerably faster than 3*2^n+1 tests*. Is this taken into consideration when calculating the challenge points?

*The n values were roughly in the same range for the -1 and +1 tests.

We are currently looking into the dilemma.

Ralf Recker wrote:

Looking at my "old" 321 LLR results I see that 3*2^n-1 tests are considerably faster than 3*2^n+1 tests*. Is this taken into consideration when calculating the challenge points?

*The n values were roughly in the same range for the -1 and +1 tests.

We are currently looking into the dilemma.

Solution: Only the 3*2^n-1 form will be distributed during the Challenge. However, +1 candidates that are already in the system which are aborted or timed out during the Challenge will be sent. This should only be a very small fraction of the total Challenge WU's.

As everytime with the longer LLRs on my Xeon E5405...

Before the start, the Subproject stats on the Server Status page will be disabled as will the 24 hour stats on the bottom of the front page. Also, the Top Primes Finder page will be disabled. This is all done to free up as much resources to allow the server to send and receive work. Although, with WU's as long as these, we don't expect too heavy of a load.

My goodness gracious! :) There appears to be a scoring bug in the team category (individual category is unknown at this time). All concerns about this issue have been moved to the Earth Day Challenge scoring discrepancy thread. Please have patience as we all don't live in the same time zone. This issue will not be resolved until daylight breaks in Lithuania. :) We apologize for the inconvenience.
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Aaaaaand fixed! :)
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Aaaaaand fixed! :)

Fixed as in the extra 620K score has been backed out? Or fixed as in things are reporting correctly now but the 620k is still included in the totals?

Based on no major drops in scores it looks like the bad Mac results are still in the scores. They will automatically be removed as the WUs get validated and they are marked invalid.

Aaaaaand fixed! :)

Fixed as in the extra 620K score has been backed out? Or fixed as in things are reporting correctly now but the 620k is still included in the totals?

Based on no major drops in scores it looks like the bad Mac results are still in the scores. They will automatically be removed as the WUs get validated and they are marked invalid.

Correct.

Aaaaaand fixed! :)

Fixed as in the extra 620K score has been backed out? Or fixed as in things are reporting correctly now but the 620k is still included in the totals?

Based on no major drops in scores it looks like the bad Mac results are still in the scores. They will automatically be removed as the WUs get validated and they are marked invalid.

Correct.

This will certainly make for an exciting cleanup stage, since we won't know until it's over whether the team scores are going to go up or down! You might need to wait until all the WUs are finalized.

Have any primes been found yet since the start of the challenge?

3*2^5851566-1 is not prime.
3*2^5896624-1 is not prime.
3*2^5896639-1 is not prime.
3*2^5896686-1 is not prime.
3*2^5896723-1 is not prime.
3*2^5896756-1 is not prime.
3*2^5896807-1 is not prime.
3*2^6021868-1 is not prime.

Looking at the last entry of my validated challenge tasks I'd say that we're in the 6M-7M range now. Any found 321 prime currently would have a length of about 1.8 million digits. If we continue at the current speed we'll reach the 2 million digit prime candidates in a few days.
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Challenge Update

As of this post, the leading edge is at n=6335770. A prime found here will be over 1.9M digits long and enter the Top 5000 list in 16th position. At around n=6680000 it will move into the 15th position and become PrimeGrid's largest found prime. :)
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For those who might not know...BOINCstats provides hourly updates of all Project Challenges. There you can view user and team credit and ranking trends.
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I am starting to get no work available messages for the 321 llr app. Has the spigot been turned down / off?

A 321 Mega Prime has been discovered!!!

It is over 1.8M digits and will be ranked 17th in the Top 5000 list. More details to come.

[EDIT]

On 24 Apr 2010 11:40:07 UTC, PrimeGrid’s 321 Prime Search found another Mega Prime:

3*2^6090515-1

The prime is 1,833,429 digits long and enters The Largest Known Primes Database ranked 17th overall. This is the second mega prime for the 3*2^n-1 form, and it is the third largest found mega-digit prime using LLR.

The discovery was made by David Mumper (Mumps) of the United States using an AMD Quad-Core Opteron 2378 running Linux. This computer took just over 15 hours and 24 minutes to complete the primality test. David is a member of the SETI.USA team.

The prime was verified on 26 Apr 2010 1:17:07 UTC, by Rintaro Yoshinaka of Japan using an Intel Core2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00GHz with 2 GB RAM running Windows XP. This computer took about 8 hours to complete the primality test. Rintaro is a member of Team 2ch.

Official announcement and decimal representation of the prime.
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Good work Mumps, congratulations!
____________
There are only 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who don't

Thanks all! I'd like to thank the academy... Wait, that happens more frequently than finding a 321 LLR prime. :-)

SG's Puzzle-Peter is crunching offline on boxes that aren't connected to the internet. He downloads the WUs on one box which he uses to upload the results too. To accomplish this task some major editing of the client_state.xml file (and other files) is necessary. This is most probably the cause for the 40,000 and 45,000 second runtimes (he had to insert some values for the duration).
____________

The frontpage shows 0 WUs for 321llr for roughly an hour now...

48 hours remain!

Many people may be wondering how much work is being completed. As of this post, over 100 years of work on a single core (Q6600). The Challenge started at n~5.89M. Currently, we are approaching 6.85M. Almost n=1M range of completed work in 6 days at this level is astounding...and we still have 2 days to go. :) n=7M is definitely within reach. Congratulations to everyone participating...this is truly a monumental accomplishment.

Now is the time to start thinking about final preparations. Over the next 24 hours, we'll start lowering the buffer in anticipation for the "clean up". For those "moving on" after the Challenge AND have a full cache of work now (48 hours worth), it might be a good time to set "no new work".

Please update your clients early and often to get those completed WU's reported and counted. Don't wait till the end with a large cache of results to submit.

-----------------------------------------------------

A quorum of 2 is NOT needed to award Challenge score - i.e. no double checker. Each returned result will earn a Challenge score. Please note that if the result is eventually declared invalid, the score will be removed. Therefore, the Challenge will not be considered final until all quorum's affecting scoring positions are completed. Because of this, we have a "clean up" period where the goal is to complete these quorums.

We hope for a fast "clean-up". If everyone can remember to either complete their cache or ABORT their WU's, then we'll be able to finalize earlier rather than later. With the amount of work being completed, expect up 2-3 weeks or more before results become final. With deadline set at 5 days, we are hoping to have everything wrapped up in less than 15 days (3 cycles of expired WU's).

If you have the resources, please consider helping in the "clean-up" process after the end. However, we fully understand the need/desire to "move on."

Good Luck to everyone...

At the Conclusion of the Challenge

We kindly ask users "moving on" to ABORT their WU's instead of DETACHING, RESETTING, or PAUSING.

ABORTING WU's allows them to be recycled immediately; thus a much faster "clean up" to the end of an LLR Challenge. DETACHING, RESETTING, and PAUSING WU's causes them to remain in limbo until they EXPIRE. Therefore, we must wait until WU's expire to send them out to be completed.

Please consider either COMPLETING what's in the queue or ABORTING them. Thank you. :)

____________

During the cleanup phase, will new WU's be generated for 321 LLR? Or just let the already available WU's reach quorum? Recycling those if necessary until we do hit quorum? I wouldn't be averse to hanging around for the cleanup as long as all the WU's I'd crunch would be to help in the cleanup, rather than catching the "+1" leading edge up to the "-1" we've been pushing. :-)

• Any time the 321 Prime Search (LLR) buffer on the front page is above 25, resends are available.
  
• Most work sent out right after the Challenge completes will be recycled "aborted tasks"...most likely for the first 12-16 hours.
  
• 5 days (5 May 18:00 UTC) after the Challenge completes, another wave of resends typically are available ("timed out" from abandoned tasks at the end of the Challenge).
  

As long as the buffer on the front page is at 25 or below, there's enough resources participating in the "clean up". Additional resources will not speed up the process; however, they would definitely help +1 catch up to -1. :)

We greatly appreciate any help in the "clean-up" process. However, we fully understand the need/desire to "move on".
____________

I've more than doubled my score on this project, so I might's well stick around to get the gold too. I'll pitch in for the clean up, and then some. Is there something wrong with the "+1's" that might change my mind?

18 hours remain!

Time to start crunching those last tasks and emptying the cache. The buffer will continue to decrease with hopes of being around 25 by 18:00 UTC. For those "moving on" after the Challenge AND have a full cache of work now (18 hours worth), it might be a good time to set "no new work".

Please update your clients early and often to get those completed WU's reported and counted. Don't wait till the end with a large cache of results to submit.

-----------------------------------------------------

Final Preparations

A quorum of 2 is NOT needed to award Challenge score - i.e. no double checker. Each returned result will earn a Challenge score. Please note that if the result is eventually declared invalid, the score will be removed. Therefore, the Challenge will not be considered final until all quorum's affecting scoring positions are completed. Because of this, we have a "clean up" period where the goal is to complete these quorums.

We hope for a fast "clean-up". If everyone can remember to either complete their cache or ABORT their WU's, then we'll be able to finalize earlier rather than later. With the amount of work being completed, expect up 2-3 weeks or more before results become final. With deadline set at 5 days, we are hoping to have everything wrapped up in less than 15 days (3 cycles of expired WU's).

If you have the resources, please consider helping in the "clean-up" process after the end. However, we fully understand the need/desire to "move on."

Good Luck to everyone...

At the Conclusion of the Challenge

We kindly ask users "moving on" to ABORT their WU's instead of DETACHING, RESETTING, or PAUSING.

ABORTING WU's allows them to be recycled immediately; thus a much faster "clean up" to the end of an LLR Challenge. DETACHING, RESETTING, and PAUSING WU's causes them to remain in limbo until they EXPIRE. Therefore, we must wait until WU's expire to send them out to be completed.

Please consider either COMPLETING what's in the queue or ABORTING them. Thank you. :)

____________

2 hours remain!

The buffer is at 25. However, as can be seen on the front page, there's a lot of tasks being aborted. Any time the 321 Prime Search (LLR) buffer on the front page is above 25, resends are available.

Please update your clients early and often to get those completed WU's reported and counted. Don't wait till the end with a large cache of results to submit. Also, review the following posts:

• Final Preparations
  
• The "Clean Up" Phase
  

Good Luck to everyone...
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Finished!!!

The Earth Day Challenge has completed. As soon as the dust settles, we'll be back with preliminary results.

Finally!!! A significant find during a Challenge. :) Please see the official announcement for more details. For those hanging around for the "clean up", please see: The "Clean Up" Phase

Well done everyone.
____________

thanks for crunching with and/or against me
it was a fun for me!
now I m locking forward to next challenge
hope I see you there again

Have a nice weekend!
____________
Sysadm@Nbg
my current lucky number: 113856050^65536 + 1
PSA-PRPNet-Stats-URL: http://u-g-f.de/PRPNet/

YES, that was fun and some very close ones:

reported
30 Apr 2010 17:57:02 UTC
30 Apr 2010 17:59:35 UTC

:-DDD this time the server was greatly available in that last minute !
____________

Thanks to all.

And a big congrats. to Mumps who found a BIG prime. :)


The challenge was a big success.


Lennart

Preliminary data

While the Challenge is officially over, the "clean up" process now begins. If you have the resources to help, please see: The "Clean Up" Phase. All that is required is to continue crunching 321 Prime Search (LLR) to complete the aborted and timed-out resends.

Official results are probably a couple weeks away, but here is some preliminary data to ponder. :)

Almost 90K tasks (45K WU's) were completed resulting in almost 775M Challenge points awarded...an astounding amount of work done for an LLR Challenge. For the first time, a siginiciant find during a Challenge: Official announcement and decimal representation of the prime.

218 teams and 1655 individuals participated in the Challenge.

Thank you to everyone. We appreciate your participation and hope you had fun!

I think it is safe to predict the top 5 in each category. Note: scores are not final as tasks later determined to be invalid will be deducted from the total score.

Well. I got my pink 321 badge now... shouldn't sapphire be more bluish than pink?

Clean up Progress

Currently 10,393 tasks are outstanding from the Challenge. Of those, 3191 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 38 team positions and 92 individual positions. :(

Looks like we have our work cut out for us. The buffer on the front page has yet to make it down to 25. The high water mark was around 1950 and currently it's at 1235; so at least it's coming down now.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
____________

Clean up Progress

In 24 hours, we almost halved the outstanding Challenge tasks....currently 6,096 tasks. Of those, 1429 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 27 team positions and 88 individual positions.

While the buffer on the front page has yet to make it down to 25, we have seen it as low as 80. This is much better than the 1000+ we were seeing yesterday. :)

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
____________

Clean up Progress

We finally reached the 25 buffer limit on the front page. Therefore, new work will be issued if there are no resends available from the Challenge. This means we have enough "clean up" resources to handle current level of resends. However, we can expect a large increase of resends around 5 May 18:00 UTC (Challenge end + 5 day deadline). This increase is due to all the timed out tasks at Challenge end.

The server has been put back into "challenge mode" freeing up resources to handle workflow. The DB started to get too large and was causing "too many connection" issues. Therefore, purge (excluding 321 LLR) was enabled to bring the DB down to a more manageable level. As soon as purge has caught up, we'll take the server off "challenge mode".

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.
____________

Clean up Progress

Another 24 hours, another nice decrease....currently 3,772 tasks. Of those, 719 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 17 team positions and 75 individual positions.

The buffer on the front page has been hovering around 25, which means we have enough "clean up" resources to handle current level of resends. However, we can expect a large increase of resends around 5 May 18:00 UTC (Challenge end + 5 day deadline). This increase is due to all the timed out tasks at Challenge end.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
____________

Any thoughts as to what the Summer Solstice challenge will be now that AP26 is finished? Perhaps Riesel Sieve or LLR? Maybe if PPSE llr is still a high priority a 5-day annihilation of that project might be helpful even though it's slated as the following challenge...

Cheers!
Alan

Clean up Progress

The second phase of the clean up is complete. After a small bump today, the buffer is back down to 25. Currently there are 1753 outstanding Challenge tasks, of which, 217 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 8 team positions and 57 individual positions.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
05 May: 1753 WU's outstanding; 217 in scoring positions
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
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Clean up Progress

Currently there are 1339 outstanding Challenge tasks, of which, 139 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 7 team positions and 47 individual positions.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
06 May: 1339 WU's outstanding; 139 in scoring positions
05 May: 1753 WU's outstanding; 217 in scoring positions
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
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Clean up Progress

Currently there are 654 outstanding Challenge tasks, of which, 38 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 2 team positions and 29 individual positions.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
08 May: 654 WU's outstanding; 38 in scoring positions
06 May: 1339 WU's outstanding; 139 in scoring positions
05 May: 1753 WU's outstanding; 217 in scoring positions
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
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Clean up Progress

Currently there are 388 outstanding Challenge tasks, of which, 10 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 1 team position and 3 individual positions.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
09 May: 388 WU's outstanding; 10 in scoring positions
08 May: 654 WU's outstanding; 38 in scoring positions
06 May: 1339 WU's outstanding; 139 in scoring positions
05 May: 1753 WU's outstanding; 217 in scoring positions
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
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Clean up Progress

Currently there are 114 outstanding Challenge tasks, of which, 4 are in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 0 team positions and 2 individual positions.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
12 May: 114 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
11 May: 169 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
10 May: 241 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
09 May: 388 WU's outstanding; 10 in scoring positions
08 May: 654 WU's outstanding; 38 in scoring positions
06 May: 1339 WU's outstanding; 139 in scoring positions
05 May: 1753 WU's outstanding; 217 in scoring positions
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
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Clean up Progress

Currently there are 51 outstanding Challenge tasks, of which, 1 is in scoring positions...affecting the outcome in 0 team positions and 1 individual position.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the clean up.

History
21 May: 51 WU's outstanding; 1 in scoring positions
18 May: 53 WU's outstanding; 1 in scoring positions
17 May: 58 WU's outstanding; 1 in scoring positions
12 May: 114 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
11 May: 169 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
10 May: 241 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
09 May: 388 WU's outstanding; 10 in scoring positions
08 May: 654 WU's outstanding; 38 in scoring positions
06 May: 1339 WU's outstanding; 139 in scoring positions
05 May: 1753 WU's outstanding; 217 in scoring positions
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
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1 in scoring positions

1 in scoring positions

This one?

Clean up Progress - COMPLETE

Official results are soon to follow. Yes, I know...a bit anti-climatic. ;)

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the clean up.

History
24 May: 0 WU's outstanding; 0 in scoring positions
21 May: 51 WU's outstanding; 1 in scoring positions
18 May: 53 WU's outstanding; 1 in scoring positions
17 May: 58 WU's outstanding; 1 in scoring positions
12 May: 114 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
11 May: 169 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
10 May: 241 WU's outstanding; 4 in scoring positions
09 May: 388 WU's outstanding; 10 in scoring positions
08 May: 654 WU's outstanding; 38 in scoring positions
06 May: 1339 WU's outstanding; 139 in scoring positions
05 May: 1753 WU's outstanding; 217 in scoring positions
03 May: 3772 WU's outstanding; 719 in scoring positions
02 May: 6096 WU's outstanding; 1429 in scoring positions
01 May: 10393 WU's outstanding; 3191 in scoring positions
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Official results are soon to follow. Yes, I know...a bit anti-climatic. ;)

Unofficial results are always available on the frontpage.
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