How do I get a block?
=====================
Currently searches are performed in 'blocks' of 20e+12. 
You get a block assigned to you by emailing the author at
eric@ericr.nl?subject=3x+1_block_request

How long will a single block take?
==================================
On a medium fast (these days) PC of 400 MHz it will take 5-6 weeks.
Whenever a new block is started the script will show you a message
with a fairly accurate estimation of how long a block will take to finish.
This is, of course, assuming no other heavy calculation processes run
at the same time.

How do I start the block search?
================================
Simply edit the third line of .vbs file to specify your block.
If you use an interval of 20 then that's all. If you decide to
divide the block between several machines you change the next line as well.

How to run the program without Script Host
==========================================
The trick is that it can be run from the command line, like this:

start /low w422b /o /c233 /fn2645.log 2645,456,000,000,000

This is what this means:

/low: start on idle time. This ensures the program is not slowing down your system.

/o : optimized run. This is to verify the program is started properly and not accidentally

/c<number> : (optional) the number of loops. Each loop is 2^32, or almost 4,300,000,000.
233 loops is just about 1e+12, you can use bigger numbers as well of course.
If you do not specify a count the program will run "forever".

/f<filename> : (optional) filename in which to log the result. 
If no filename is specified it will use 'wondrous.log'.

<number>: the number to start with. This is automatically rounded down to a multiple of 2^32, so the last 9 digits are not very important usually. The comma's are optional, and help to make it more readable.


The results from the run
========================
The program writes a log file entry every 4 loops, and when it starts or finishes. 
It also logs every interesting number. There are not many interesting numbers 
at these big numbers, just about one in every 5 e+12, and sometimes they come 
in groups as well, so it is not at all strange if you search for a week 
and find (almost) nothing. The program also writes the time and the number 
of overflows found. This last number enables a check on whether results are 
correct and reproducible. Note that no floating point math is involved, 
so the program is not affected by the infamous pentium bug.

Reporting
=========
The idea is that once the block is finished you mail the logfile to
eric@ericr.nl?subject=3x+1_block_result
It's usually not very big (~70kB), and of course you can use winzip to make it even smaller.

