Any plans on making some software for Chromebooks

[JuanTutors]

Just wondering whether there are any plans for a Chromebook version of software because I would not mind having my Chromebook at least Continuously TF a Mersenne, even if it's working on a Mersenne that I'm PRPing on a faster computer.

[paulunderwood]

Originally Posted by JuanTutors

Just wondering whether there are any plans for a Chromebook version of software because I would not mind having my Chromebook at least Continuously TF a Mersenne, even if it's working on a Mersenne that I'm PRPing on a faster computer.

Presumably, mlucas will work on it.

[JuanTutors]

Originally Posted by paulunderwood

Presumably, mlucas will work on it.

What about just factoring? I have an old laptop with a 100M Mersenne that I'm going to have to let expire or move to another computer because I don't use it often enough, something like 3 hours per week. This Chromebook is going to be used in essentially the same way. I am interested in kinda just doing TF on a Mersenne I am already doing PRP on, in case I get super lucky and coincidentally save myself some of a PRP test.

[ewmayer]

Just received e-mail from the OP inquiring about using Mlucas for TF on his Chromebook, now see there is a also a new thread about this. My reply:

Note that trial factoring is best done by GPUs these days, since those are ideally suited for that work, i.e. get far better work-per-watt-hour than CPUs. There is no reason you can't do primality testing on a part-time basis, it will just take proportionally longer depending on how may hours per day your machine is doing such work.

First off, I need to know what kind of processor your machine has - if it's Intel core-based you'll want to use George Woltmans's Prime95/mprime code, which is the most efficient for Intel CPUs. If it's ARM-based, you should be able to use one of my precompiled Mlucas binaries for that architecture.

Easiest way to find out: In a command shell, do 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' and send me the resulting output.

[ewmayer]

OP replies:

I did not know how to open a command shell in a chromebook but this one is by Lenovo, and I went into chrome://system and found that the chips are from AMD. This is what it says, exactly: uname
Linux localhost 4.14.149-13635-gfe4171a450a3 #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Dec 12 23:02:34 PST 2019 x86_64 AMD A6-9220C RADEON R5, 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

So this looks like a job for Prime95/mprime ... has anyone run that on a Chromebook?

[Prime95]

1) Get mprime for Linux 64-bit at https://mersenne.org/download
2) tar xvf to get mprime
3) ./mprime -m will bring up menus to let you choose the work you want to do

My concern is this: can a Chromebook dissipate the heat adequately?

[chris2be8]

If the chromebook won't be running very often look for shortish tasks. P-1 factoring would be a good choice now.

Chris

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Prime95

1) Get mprime for Linux 64-bit at https://mersenne.org/download
2) tar xvf to get mprime
3) ./mprime -m will bring up menus to let you choose the work you want to do

My concern is this: can a Chromebook dissipate the heat adequately?

Presumably the tar-extract can be done via the usual of gui-accessed etxrator utility, but the lack of linux-shell access is still annoying ... did a websearch for "how to open a command shell in a chromebook", found a bunch of identical tips along these lines:

Google's Chrome operating system is billed as the OS that moves the computing experience into the "cloud", but there is still an easy way to access a Command Line and Shell Prompt: Simply press the CTRL+ALT+T keyboard combination to get to the command line, then type Shell to get a shell prompt.

Of course "moving things into the cloud" is tech-speak for "mass 24/7 harvesting of user data", but that's less a worry for DC-project crunching than using the device for privacy-sensitive things and letting one's kids use it.

Re. thermal load, do these have any kind of fan? Even if they do it's probably a crappy fan-for-ultraslim-notebook deal, which will likely last under a year under serious load, but it's always interesting to play with new-for-GIMPS hardware platforms and see their strengths and weaknesses.

[pinhodecarlos]

ewmayer, Just wondering if you had consent from the OP to share here part of your private discussion. TIA.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by pinhodecarlos

ewmayer, Just wondering if you had consent from the OP to share here part of your private discussion. TIA.

Since the OP started a thread specifically to address the same issue he e-mailed me about, "how to do GIMPS work on Chromebook", I don't see a problem re-posting snips specifically about that topic to said thread. "My Chromebook runs AMD" is not exactly a privacy-sensitive issue. If OP has any objections, he is welcome to make them to me.

[JuanTutors]

Originally Posted by pinhodecarlos

ewmayer, Just wondering if you had consent from the OP to share here part of your private discussion. TIA.

No biggie. Not a sensitive topic.

Originally Posted by Prime95

My concern is this: can a Chromebook dissipate the heat adequately?

I DEFINITELY need access to a working Chromebook this weekend so I won't try this until Monday.

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Re. thermal load, do these have any kind of fan? Even if they do it's probably a crappy fan-for-ultraslim-notebook deal, which will likely last under a year under serious load, but it's always interesting to play with new-for-GIMPS hardware platforms and see their strengths and weaknesses.

Now I'm motivated to try it but I might want to look up fan specs first. I still have a few days with Best Buy. Also wondering if there is a temperature sensor on that computer.