[QUOTE=ewmayer;460268]…which would allow me to use a downloaded .iso, once I do all the [URL="http://softlay.net/operating-system/create-windows-7-bootable-usb-install-disk-drive-iso.html"]associated create-a-bootable-USB[/URL] fvckery.[/QUOTE][url]https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool[/url]

First step was a Thinkpad mem-upgrade from the original 512MB to the Win7-minimum 2GB - turns out I had all I needed at home already. The ddr2 dimms are same standard kind as in my vintage macbook, so looked thru the 3 defunct macbooks in my e-cycle box, found one of them still had a pair of 1GB dimms. Got Win7 install DVD + license code from housemate, OS upgrade - or more accurately, clean install - underway.

Win7 install complete - on to the posix/gcc/pthreads support layer - first 2 options that spring to mind are [url=mingw-w64.org]mingw-w64[/url] and [url=cygwin.com]cygwin[/url], but been years since I used the older mingw64, and never used cygwin. Any suggestions to help me make my choice are welcome.

This is an easy way to create bootable USB drives for almost any OS:
[url]https://rufus.akeo.ie/[/url]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460322]Win7 install complete - on to the posix/gcc/pthreads support layer - first 2 options that spring to mind are [url=mingw-w64.org]mingw-w64[/url] and [url=cygwin.com]cygwin[/url], but been years since I used the older mingw64, and never used cygwin. Any suggestions to help me make my choice are welcome.[/QUOTE]

I would recommend avoiding cygwin. When you compile in that environment, you (generally) add a dependency to all of your executabels that require cygwin.dll in order to run. You can use an msys shell to compile with mingw64 and not have any such additional dependency. I wrote up a post a while back describing how I compile GMP and GMP-ECM. It tells where I got msys and mingw64, and how I switched between different versions of the mingw64 compiler, ie by editing the \etc\profile file. I just checked the links and they are all still relevant. Mingw64 has gcc versions from 4.8.1 up to 7.1.0. Hopefully this will be helpful for you, too.

[url]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=431359[/url]

Which is post 416 of this thread:
[url]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=4087&page=38[/url]

[QUOTE=Gordon;460238]How about a [URL="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microsoft-Windows-7-Professional-32-64bit-Genuine-License-Key-Product-Code-/272692262714?hash=item3f7db9b73a:g:6Z0AAOSwZKBZLDBl"]licence key for $4 ?[/URL][/QUOTE]

I may need such a key after all - my Win7 install was fine but I did not attempt to register it because it turns out that while my housemate is running Win10, that is via upgrade-install from his Win7, i.e. based on the same license key. (That is as he described it.)

Q: The eBay item is for Win7Pro - will that also cover Win7 Home Edition (which is what I installed)?

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

WraithX, thanks for the notes and links - I need to first finish upgrading the basic linux auto-config setup to work with the v17 codebase and test in under genuine linux, then I will move on to the mingw64-based setup under Win7, will post updates as they warrant it.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460462]I may need such a key after all - my Win7 install was fine but I did not attempt to register it because it turns out that while my housemate is running Win10, that is via upgrade-install from his Win7, i.e. based on the same license key. (That is as he described it.)

Q: The eBay item is for Win7Pro - will that also cover Win7 Home Edition (which is what I installed)?

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

WraithX, thanks for the notes and links - I need to first finish upgrading the basic linux auto-config setup to work with the v17 codebase and test in under genuine linux, then I will move on to the mingw64-based setup under Win7, will post updates as they warrant it.[/QUOTE]
I don't think the pro key will cover it as such although you may be able to upgrade an inactivated version of windows using the key. The inbuilt way to upgrade windows is "Windows anytime upgrade" for windows 7. Hopefully that will accept your pro key and do what you want.

[QUOTE=henryzz;460556]I don't think the pro key will cover it as such although you may be able to upgrade an inactivated version of windows using the key. The inbuilt way to upgrade windows is "Windows anytime upgrade" for windows 7. Hopefully that will accept your pro key and do what you want.[/QUOTE]

Think for now I'll just do what I need to do in terms of testing the Mlucas v17 release build under Win64, then bug Mike/Xyzzy to share his "you can extend the 30-day trial up to a year" sekrit trick with me.

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

[QUOTE=WraithX;460334]I would recommend avoiding cygwin. When you compile in that environment, you (generally) add a dependency to all of your executabels that require cygwin.dll in order to run. You can use an msys shell to compile with mingw64 and not have any such additional dependency. I wrote up a post a while back describing how I compile GMP and GMP-ECM. It tells where I got msys and mingw64, and how I switched between different versions of the mingw64 compiler, ie by editing the \etc\profile file. I just checked the links and they are all still relevant. Mingw64 has gcc versions from 4.8.1 up to 7.1.0. Hopefully this will be helpful for you, too.

[url]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=431359[/url]

Which is post 416 of this thread:
[url]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=4087&page=38[/url][/QUOTE]

OK, I downloaded this:

MinGW-W64 GCC-7.1.0 / x86_64-posix-seh

also the 7zip package for Win, installed the latter and used it to unpack the former, as well as the xzipped tarball of my code. gcc -v shows what appears to be a properly configured gcc setup, but test-compilation (without even enabling multithreading in the target code) gives this error dialog:
[i]
cc1.exe - System Error
The program can't start because libwinpthread-1.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
[/i]
Is there some mingw64-configuration step I need to do after unpacking the package, or some set of runtime libs I need to download separately?

Note I have no MSFT-build-tools installation, nor do I want to require potential Mlucas-on-Win users to have such. I want to keep the number-of-things-you-need-to-download-and-unzip-and/or-install to an absolute minimum - we're already up to 3 items [Mlucas tarball, mingw64 tarball, 7zip auto-installer.]

[b]Edit:[/b] I downloaded a copy of the above pthread dll from [url=http://dllyes.com/libwinpthread-1-dll/]here[/url], followed the copy-dll-to-both-\Windows\System32-and-\Windows\SysWOW64 instructions, rebooted system, retried simple single-file compile, now get error dialog with
[i]
cc1.exe - Application Error
The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application [/i]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460600]Think for now I'll just do what I need to do in terms of testing the Mlucas v17 release build under Win64, then bug Mike/Xyzzy to share his "you can extend the 30-day trial up to a year" sekrit trick with me.

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



OK, I downloaded this:

MinGW-W64 GCC-7.1.0 / x86_64-posix-seh

[b]Edit:[/b] I downloaded a copy of the above pthread dll from [url=http://dllyes.com/libwinpthread-1-dll/]here[/url], followed the copy-dll-to-both-\Windows\System32-and-\Windows\SysWOW64 instructions, rebooted system, retried simple single-file compile, now get error dialog with
[i]
cc1.exe - Application Error
The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application [/i][/QUOTE]

Hmmm, does your mingw64 download have the following file: c:/path/to/mingw64/bin/libwinpthread-1.dll
That should be included with your mingw64 download. Also, when you edit the profile file for msys, you are including the mingw64/bin folder as part of the path. Then, once you've saved your changes to the profile file, you can open an msys shell and do all of your compiling inside of the msys shell. What does your path inside msys look like? You can check with [c]echo $PATH[/c]

Once compiled, you will only need your executable and (if necessary) the pthread.dll to run your code on another computer.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460600]…then bug Mike/Xyzzy to share his "you can extend the 30-day trial up to a year" sekrit trick with me.[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.techsgig.com/extend-windows-7-trial-period-up-to-one-year/[/URL]

:mike:

You can also try running Msys2 as a no-worries unix development layer on windows. It also comes with the pacman package manager, so keeping it up to date is pretty easy.

After fighting mingw64 for years it was refreshingly easy to switch to this.