Benchmark Linux

For some, tweaking computers is like fine-tuning a car. Changing a configuration option here or a piece of hardware there can dramatically improve performance. In a car, you can measure performance by gauging a car's acceleration and top speed. Computer tweakers use benchmarks to measure the performance of their systems.
The open-source nature of Linux definitely appeals to computer tweakers. Even if you don't know how to hack source code, there are a variety of tweaks (such as installing a new kernel) that can boost efficiency. Unfortunately, there aren't many widely known Linux benchmarks. This month, we'll take a look at lmbench, a collection of benchmark tools for Linux. We'll show you how to install lmbench and how to use it to measure your Linux system's performance.

Prerequisites

Your Linux system may not come with lmbench, but it's relatively easy to install. Simply download the file from ftp://ftp.bitmover.com/lmbench. We downloaded the latest stable version as of press time (2.0.4) and saved the tarball to a directory on our system.

For best results, you should run lmbench from the command line and completely shut down any graphical environment you might be running. In most cases, you can simply log out and then select the command line from the login manager. If you can't exit to a command line, try switching run levels. In Mandrake 10.0, for instance, open a terminal and use the su command to become root (enter the root password when prompted). Type init 3 to change to run level 3. This will shutdown XFree86 and le....

PC Operating Instructions
October 2004 • Vol.15 Issue 10