Where did you hear / read about GIMPS for the first time ? - Page 2

JC · 2003-06-25, 17:40

January or February 1996.

I was just connected to Internet for the first time and I typed 'prime number' into Yahoo search engine.

Found GIMPS and returned my first results (by e-mail to George at that time !) a few days later. The credit page was full of .. 35 names !

clowns789 · 2003-06-26, 00:47

Well what do you know? I heard of this place from the one and only... Guinness Book of World Records!

It was the "Largest Known Prime Number" #39 in 2003 edition.

jeff8765 · 2003-06-26, 19:45

I learned about GIMPS there too. I think it was in 2000.

eepiccolo · 2003-06-26, 19:54

I had almost forgotten about this thread: http://www.mersenneforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=516
There were some more detailed stories there about people's involvement in GIMPS and DCing in general, including mine.

By the way, garo, how did that paper go?

garo · 2003-06-26, 20:29

The presentation went very well. Thanks for asking. We tried to focus on the dual use of competition via stats and cooperation via forums etc. Basically saying that DC projects are a great example of co-opetition in the online world.

PageFault · 2003-06-28, 01:06

I took a programming course in 1994 as part of 1st year engineering. One assignment was to write a program to find primes. Needless to say nobody got one bigger than a few thousand digits - those 486's really choked on our inefficient code. After the grades were released the prof talked about GIMPS and the Mersenne search. I'm sure he has a borged lab at McGill somewhere.

outlnder · 2003-06-28, 04:42

Xyzzy made me do it.

He had a gun and everything!!

eepiccolo · 2003-06-28, 14:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by outlnder

Xyzzy made me do it.

He had a gun and everything!!

That was just a finger in his pocket, not a gun.

E_tron · 2003-06-28, 18:38

Sometime in early 2002, I read an article in Scientific American about distributed computing. GIMPS was on their list of current DC projects (due to the recent find of M39). I picked it; because I found it to be the most inviting and interesting.

garo · 2003-06-29, 05:53

Quote:

That was just a finger in his pocket, not a gun.

No no! He was just happy to see him.

kwstone · 2003-06-29, 08:33

I read about it on CNN.

ops:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/06/05/popsci.supercomputing/index.html

Sorry to be so lowbrow. I haven't been reading Scientific American much in the last 30 years. Still, if we want mass exposure, I think this is the way to go. How did we get that article placed? Or did it just happen?

I'm a great believer in word of mouth too. I have already persuaded one of my sons to run Prime95 on his box and am working on the rest of my family and friends. My dream is to get my boss to allow us to run this on all the (100 plus) PCs at work. Anyone had any success in doing this?

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2003-06-25, 17:40	#12
JC Aug 2002 Belgium 5² Posts	January or February 1996. I was just connected to Internet for the first time and I typed 'prime number' into Yahoo search engine. Found GIMPS and returned my first results (by e-mail to George at that time !) a few days later. The credit page was full of .. 35 names !

2003-06-26, 00:47	#13
clowns789 Jun 2003 The Computer 188₁₆ Posts	Well what do you know? I heard of this place from the one and only... Guinness Book of World Records! It was the "Largest Known Prime Number" #39 in 2003 edition.

2003-06-26, 19:45	#14
jeff8765 Aug 2002 A Dyson Sphere 3²×7 Posts	I learned about GIMPS there too. I think it was in 2000.

2003-06-26, 19:54	#15
eepiccolo Dec 2002 Frederick County, MD 2×5×37 Posts	I had almost forgotten about this thread: http://www.mersenneforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=516 There were some more detailed stories there about people's involvement in GIMPS and DCing in general, including mine. By the way, garo, how did that paper go?

2003-06-26, 20:29	#16
garo Aug 2002 Termonfeckin, IE 2²×691 Posts	The presentation went very well. Thanks for asking. We tried to focus on the dual use of competition via stats and cooperation via forums etc. Basically saying that DC projects are a great example of co-opetition in the online world.

2003-06-28, 01:06	#17
PageFault Aug 2002 Dawn of the Dead 353₈ Posts	I took a programming course in 1994 as part of 1st year engineering. One assignment was to write a program to find primes. Needless to say nobody got one bigger than a few thousand digits - those 486's really choked on our inefficient code. After the grades were released the prof talked about GIMPS and the Mersenne search. I'm sure he has a borged lab at McGill somewhere.

2003-06-28, 04:42	#18
outlnder Aug 2002 2×3×53 Posts	Xyzzy made me do it. He had a gun and everything!!

2003-06-28, 18:38	#20
E_tron Sep 2002 Austin, TX 561₁₀ Posts	Sometime in early 2002, I read an article in Scientific American about distributed computing. GIMPS was on their list of current DC projects (due to the recent find of M39). I picked it; because I found it to be the most inviting and interesting.

2003-06-29, 08:33	#22
kwstone Jun 2003 Shanghai, China 109 Posts	I read about it on CNN. ops: http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/06/05/popsci.supercomputing/index.html Sorry to be so lowbrow. I haven't been reading Scientific American much in the last 30 years. Still, if we want mass exposure, I think this is the way to go. How did we get that article placed? Or did it just happen? I'm a great believer in word of mouth too. I have already persuaded one of my sons to run Prime95 on his box and am working on the rest of my family and friends. My dream is to get my boss to allow us to run this on all the (100 plus) PCs at work. Anyone had any success in doing this?