Do you use the hourly reports?
 

Does anyone here use the PrimeNet hourly reports (status.txt, cleared.txt, summary.txt) on a regular basis? If so, how regularly do you use them and what for?

Yes.

- cleared.txt, a couple of times a day, to keep track of exponents cleared by the not-quite-a-team of dswanson and shaneamy.

- status.txt, once or twice a week, just to see which exponents shaneamy is currently executing

Check summary.txt a few times a day,
to see the trial factoring progress, ( new releases, exipired, etc ).
Also to see if a new Mersenne prime has been found.

Do you guys just get the current file from PrimeNet or do you use the files from the archive? Do you look at it in it's "native" state or use a script or program to stip off the headers and non-data lines (something like the scripts that GP2 wrote a while back ([url]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=1252[/url]).
These are inquisitive questions because I'm trying to see how useful the current reports archive is for people that actually use the PrimeNet reports regularly. I personally don't use it very much for anything really (except for the occassional curiousity), but I'd like to hear from people that actually do.

I use the current files from Primenet, in their native state. I currently don't use any scripts for manipulating them.

Back a couple of years ago, when I used to collect small expiring exponents at the 6:00 UTC release, I had a script that searched status.txt for such exponents coming up each evening. That way I knew whether or not I needed to stay up late to collect the expirees (6:00 UTC = 11:00 PM here).

I use status.txt about once a week (probably a little less even) working with mersenne-aries. I like to make sure that we aren't doing any exponents that someone is currently working on because when we report the p-1 results (with no factor found) it [I]sometimes[/I] causes it to kick the exponet out of the worktodo file of the person that was currently working on it.

I also like to check for small exponents that are about to expire. Especially when I want to burn in a new PC or I need to check it again because I did a fresh re-install or something major like that.

I have written all my own scripts to do this. I am not really very good at it, I can only use matlab. It takes a lot longer to write and to execute but it gets me there in the end.