Node:Introduction to Glucas, Next:Installing Glucas, Previous:Introduction to YEAFFT, Up:Top
Glucas is the first code intensively using YEAFFT. Up to version 2.x, it basically does Lucas-Lehmer tests of Mersenne numbers. (See Mersenne number.)(See Lucas-Lehmer test.)
Glucas is designed to test the primality of Mersenne numbers using idle cycles of your system at the lowest priority (nice). So you have a chance to discover the biggest known prime number.
There is a big project in the Internet: GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search). As the name says, it tries to find Mersenne prime numbers.
PrimeNet is a server service hosted by entropia.com. It is a great server for prime95 family clients, which automatically contacts PrimeNet to reserve Mersenne numbers for testing, reporting of results and other account management. These clients are exclusively for x86 family processors because they are assembler coded applications. Indeed, they are faster than everything else running on these systems.
For all other processors out there, an alternative client is Glucas. At the moment, there is no automated server to reserve numbers or report results, but we think there will be one soon.
In a few words, the user has to reserve a number from GIMPS or PrimeNet pool. Then Glucas makes the test, saying us whether the chosen number is a prime and finally we have to send this result to the server. To reserve Mersenne numbers for testing or reporting results use the PrimeNet Manual Testing Forms or alternatively choose an exponent from GIMPS Reserve Exponents page and report the results per e-mail.
But before doing anything, I would recommend reading the basics of Glucas.(See Glucas basics.)