Readme.txt file for WinGUI_ECDL.exe (version 1.13b) ***** NOTE this readme will be VERY sparse. It will not explain terms or other concepts dealing with the ECC2K-108 project. It only explains usage of this program for someone already experienced with the usage of a current ECDL command line port. If you need more information about "what" this app is doing (or any "terms" used in this readme), then see the web site: http://cristal.inria.fr/~harley/ecdl7 ***** WinGUI_ECDL.EXE is a win32 GUI app. It has 4 statistics fields at the top of the application which list current run statistics. There are 2 "combo box" fields where detailed information about found "distinguished points" and state saves can be viewed. At the bottom of the form are the setup fields. The edit boxes follow along the lines of the command line switches of the DOS/Console/Unix command line versions. There is also a button at the bottom which brings up a dialog box for Advanced Configuration setup. NOTE during a program run, most of the setup options (and exiting the application) have been disabled. This is by design. If you need to perform setup maintenance, stop the run, make the changes, and then restart a new run. When the "Auto Start" CheckBox is checked, the application will automatically "click" the "Start Run" button and make sure that the utility is running. When the "Auto Send To Tray" CheckBox is checked, then application will show the window for a brief moment at startup, and then minimize itself to a tray icon. When the "Stealth mode (no icon)" CheckBox is checked, then when the application is minimized, it will NOT show the tray icon. NOTE that you are now NOT able to access the app. To regain control of the app, simply create a file named C:\WINGUI_ECDL.VISIBLE (the contents of this file do not matter). Within 10 seconds or so, a tray icon will "re-appear" and the application will not be in "Stealth" mode any more. Both the minimize button (upper right corner of the app) and the "Send2Tray" button will minimize the application to the taskbar Tray (or into stealth mode). To show the dialog box app again, all that is required is a double click on this tray icon. The tray icon has a right click menu which allows most "run-time" operations to be done while the dialog is minimized to the tray. The tray icon also has a tool tip which shows iteration speed, and points found. The tray icon also changes color depending upon if running normally, not running, paused or points found. Added a "Load 'First-Time' Config File" function. This function is accessed through the "File Menu" / "Setup" menu This function will load the defaults contained in the WinGUI_ECDL.ini file. NOTE you can edit this file to contain the correct settings, and then when setting up multiple machines, this modified ini file allows getting all of the configuration settings correct in a very fast and easy operation. The "ADV Setup" button allows for "Advanced setup". NOTE that it is not usually necessary to setup ANY advanced features. The adv setup allows having multiple clients write to a single dist.points file on a common subdir on the LAN, and it allows setting different runtime priorities on the thread running. NOTE that it is recommended that you click the "Raise Priority when screen saver active" check box, and put a 100 in the edit field UNLESS the machine is a server. If the machine is a server which needs to run at full speed even when a screen saver (or if "locked"), then DO NOT CHECK this option. Checking this option on a server will can have a VERY negative impact on the performace of the server. This option is designed for a stand alone PC, or a pc in a LAB. This option will keeps the program running at near full speed when a screen saver is up. Without setting this, the program runs VERY slowly when a screen saver is active. NOTE that server machines may want to look very closely at NOT using a screen saver, or using one which does not use much CPU. This version does work with http mode (as tested here). All that is required is Winsock 1.1 (the original port wanted Winsock2). Any problems encountered, or ideas for new (better) features can be directed to Jim Fougeron at jfoug@kdsi.net. ChangeLog: See changelog.txt (info was getting too long for this readme) *** NOTE this file does contain information VERY useful for setup! Future enhancements: 1. reduce memory footprint. 2. Have 1 client "spawn" other hidden clients, and those hidden clients would communicate with the foreground client so that single client would handle all of the stats. i.e. multi-cpu using multiple processes all handled in an automatic manner (while keeping the speed improvement over Gladman's original multi-cpu port).