I have been doing some 'fiddling' with the client on Windows systems to get some experience with moving around 'tests,' both for the purpose of 'sneaker-netting' and to benchmark the client.
I know that some of you have been able to manually sneaker-net for quite a while now but I finally got around to testing it out. I can move a test to a different computer and get it to run, but the computer is not connected to the net, so it is possible that it would puke if it tried to contact the SoB server. Anyways, I have a small, rough write-up with more specific and perhaps user-friendly directions. I am not posting it publically because I don't really want to be responsible if someone borks thier registry.
In regards to benchmarking, I am under the impression that running an identical k,n pair on two machines should allow you to use "cEMs" as a reasonably accurate measurement of performance. The scaling issue with "correction" of the exmods should not apply when dealing with the exact same number, correct?
Here are some initial benchmarks which I ran overnight:
Code:
1/23/03 - received from SoB server.
New test exponent for benchmarking:
y2445648
n=2445648
k=33661
Machines:
-------------------
AthlonXP 1800+
ECS K75SA
SiS735 (I think)
512 megs DDR PC2100
Memory timings default
WindowsXP Pro
cEMs/sec: 159599
Run Time: 8:26::10
Full Test: 33.2
-------------------
Athlon Tbird 1.2Ghz
Iwill KK266
KT133A
512 Meg SDRAM PC-133
CAS 2
WindowsXP Pro
cEMs/sec: 98581
Run time: 8:16:38
Full Test: 20.1%
------
I was not trying to prove anything (like architecture advantages, etc.) other than that reasonably accurate benchmarks are possible.
So, I have two questions for y'all:
1) Is my hypothesis that an identical k, n pair should return consistent cEM/s an accurate hypothesis?
2) is it possible to manually create the "zXXXXXX" file and, if so, how?
The next step, IMO, would be to be able to manually plug in a number which the server had not assigned to one of your computers (soley for benching, not to return the result). Editing the registry key (I haven't tried) looks feasible (it shows the format of the values) but that still leaves the "zXXXX" or "yXXXX" (what is the difference?) file on windows as well as the same files on the Linux/FreeBSD systems, plus the "cache" file on the Linux and FreeBSD.
I just tried opening the "zXXXX" file on Windows and it is in binary, apparently. Not gonna be of much use there (unless we can get nebob in here to tick off Louie again).
So, where can I go from here?