Keeping the Screen Turned off While Getting Inputs

[Dave Howorth]

On Sat, 26 Aug 2023 12:11:03 -0400 (EDT)
Vladimir Dergachev <volodya at mindspring.com> wrote:

> On Sat, 26 Aug 2023, Ahmad Nouralizadeh wrote:
> 
> > I want to count the processor-initiated memory accesses. On my 4K
> > display, a huge number of accesses originate from the iGPU and
> > dedicated GPU. I want to exclude these accesses. The IMC counter
> > can only track the dedicated GPU accesses. Therefore, I have to
> > turn the screen off to exclude those originated from the iGPU.  
> 
> Those accesses might not stop with just the display off - some 
> applications may keep redrawing.
> 
> The simplest solution would be to boot to console mode with X off.
> The display will still work, but GPU usage would be minimal.

I'm not sure a graphical benchmark will run without a graphical system
running?

Maybe do the reverse of what I suggested. Run the benchmark but send
the output to a remote display.

Is it possible to just measure the memory accesses by process somehow?
As Vladimir suggests.

Since IMC counters appear to be a feature of the powerpc architecture,
you might get a better response from some list/forum specific to that
architecture.

> There is more than one console (usually), you can switch between them
> with Alt-F1, Alt-F2, etc..
> 
> There are also ways to restrict profiling to a single process,
> like "perf top -p 12345".
> 
> best
> 
> Vladimir Dergachev
> 
> > 
> > On Saturday, August 26, 2023, 08:10:15 PM GMT+4:30, Dave Howorth
> > <xorg at howorth.org.uk> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On Sat, 26 Aug 2023 15:28:52 +0000 (UTC)
> > Ahmad Nouralizadeh <ahmadnouralizadeh at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > I need to run a set of (graphical) benchmarks with the screen
> > > disabled.  
> > 
> > 
> > Can I ask why? What is you're trying to accomplish? Somehow affect
> > the benchmarks? Stop people seeing the benchmarks being performed?
> > 
> > And what is the benchmark measuring? Elapsed time or CPU time or
> > what?
> > 
> > Turn the display off and run the benchmarks by ssh-ing in from
> > another machine?
> > 
> >