Below are instructions for running a benchmark simulation with the screen utility.  By using screen, you can start multiple simulations, logout of the terminal, and your simulations will continue to run.

NOTE:  This works on the student0{0, 1, 2, 3}@cse.nd.edu machines.  I have tested it on one OIT supported machine and it did not run successfully (i.e. the screen session died).  You might want to try an OIT machine -- but be sure to check progress (and don't assume that everything is running OK).

Part 1:

To launch screen, from a command prompt, simply type:

> screen

Note that you can also give a particular instance of screen a unique name by using the -R flag.  For example, to create an instance of screen that you will use to run the ispell benchmarks, you might type:

> screen -R ispell

Part 2:

After you press Enter, you will see another command prompt.  From this command prompt, you can go to a directory that contains the scripts that I provided to execute a given benchmark.

For example, if I wanted to run the ispell benchmark, with the StrongARM configuration, a small input data set, and out of the course directory, I would type:

cd /afs/nd.edu/coursefa.10/cse/cse30321.01/Labs/01/lab_benchmarks/ispell/sa1

After updating the path in ispell_small_sa1 (to reflect the path to the mibench directory in my own AFS space), at the command prompt, you could just type:

> ispell_small_sa1 &

This simulation will now begin running in the background.

Part 3:

Now, let's say that you need to leave lab and walk to another class -- so you need to logout of your terminal (but you'd like your job to keep running).  It's possible to do this with screen.  

Simply type:  Control-A and then d -- i.e Control-A, d

This will detach the screen.  You can then log out of the terminal and the job should continue to run.

Part 4:

To restore your screen session, log back in to the same machine that you started it on -- i.e. student00.cse.nd.edu

From the command prompt, type:

> screen -ls

This will tell you what open screen sessions you have.  You will see a listing like:

There is a screen on:

29292.ispell (Detached)

1 Socket in /var/run/screen/S-mniemier.

To restore a given session, type:

> screen -r 29292.ispell

You will be taken back to the prompt that you were at when you typed Control-A, d to detach the screen

(You might return to the screen session if you wanted to start more jobs)

Part 5:

To terminate a screen session, simply type exit at the command prompt (within the screen session)

> exit

Note that multiple screen instances can be running simultaneously -- i.e. perhaps to manage different benchmarks.