Benchmarking procedures used for Unix Today! 4/1/91 X terminal review. Necessary software: 1. x11perf version 1.2 -- available from UUNET in /X/contrib/x11perf.tar.Z x11perf requires the fonts 6x13, adobe-times-medium-r-normal--10-100-75, and adobe-times-medium-r-normal--24-240-75. 2. x11perfcompDR version 1.01 -- available on UUNET in /unix-today/benchmarks/x11perfcompDR 3. If you want to use our data files, they are on UUNET in /unix-today/benchmarks/4191.bench.tar.Z Our lab setup: The host: SparcStation 1 with 16Mbytes of RAM and 2x105mb Quantum internal hard drives. 32Mbyte swap partition. Color monitor. The official Sun designation for this machine is "Sun 4/60-GX-16-P3". It's running SunOS 4.1.1 with XTech's X11R4 server Release 2 available for compiling X client software. OpenWindows is not loaded. Thinwire connection directly to tested X terminal. Terminated at both ends [except for DEC and IBM which had an additional host connected for server downloading]. All X terminals have 8Mbytes of RAM except the GraphOn which only comes with 1Mbyte. The amount of I/O RAM varied somewhat. The Tektronix has 4Mbytes of I/O RAM. The IBM has 1/2 Mbyte. Others had small amounts. The I/O RAM is in addition to the 8Mbytes. The following X terminals were tested with these versions of X server software: color: DEC VT1300 -- VAXELN version 1.0 "field test" software. IBM XStation 130 -- Xstation Manager version 1.2. Micronics MaxTerm 4X -- ROM version 1.0.9A. Tektronix XP29 -- ROM version 3.0 NCR XL17C -- ROM version 01.01.00.37R-CC monochrome: Samsung SGS19 -- AGE code ROM 1.0X2 NCD19 -- ROM version 2.2.1 GRAPHON 21 -- Host version 3.0.4. Terminal revision 1.0.3 Visual X-19 Turbo* -- ROM version 3.0 HDS V19 Plus* -- ROM version Beta 2.3 *[actually 2-bit greyscale systems] Preparing the X terminal for benchmarking: 1. The 2-bit greyscale systems, Visual and HDS, are set to 1-bit monochrome mode through the ROM setup. 2. All color systems are set to 8-bit color, if that's not the default. The Micronics is capable of 24-bit color. 3. Backing store is turned off on all terminals through the ROM setup. 4. Save unders are disabled on all terminals through the ROM setup. 5. On the IBM and Micronics, all virtual memory effects are turned off. 6. On the NCD, arc caching is turned off. 7. No window managers are running. No clients other than x11perf are running. 8. All screen savers are turned off with xset or the ROM setup. NOTE: x11perf tries to turn off save unders, backing store, and screensavers when it starts up, however, some X-terminals can override those actions via ROM setup options. X11perf version 1.2 was used for testing. For monochrome terminals the following command line was used: x11perf -all -display 192.9.200.8:0.0 > terminal_type.out For color terminals the following command line was used: x11perf -all -display 192.9.200.8:0.0 -fg blue -bg red > terminal_type.out Results were summarized using x11perfcompDR on the SparcStation: x11perfcompDR terminal_type.out reference.out > terminal_type.out.comp The reference system for our tests was the NCD19. ------------------------------------------------ "Unix Today!" is published twice a month by CMP Publications 600 Community Drive Manhasset, New York 11030 (516) 562-5000