The first step was reading section 4 "Writing and submitting a HOWTO" of the HOWTO Index by Tim Bynum.
I knew absolutely nothing about SGML or LaTeX, but was tempted to use an automated documentation generation package after reading the various comments about SGML-Tools. However, inserting tags manually in a document reminds me of the days I hand-assembled a 512 byte monitor program for a now defunct 8-bit microprocessor, so I got hold of the LyX sources, compiled it, and used its LinuxDoc mode. Highly recommended combination: LyX and SGML-Tools.
The Linux Benchmarking HOWTO is copyright (C) 1997 by André D. Balsa. Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as this copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any such distributions.
All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice. That is, you may not produce a derivative work from a HOWTO and impose additional restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules may be granted under certain conditions; please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator at the address given below.
In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs.
If you have questions, please contact Tim Bynum, the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu via email.
New versions of the Linux Benchmarking-HOWTO will be placed on sunsite.unc.edu and mirror sites. There are other formats, such as a Postscript and dvi version in the other-formats directory. The Linux Benchmarking-HOWTO is also available for WWW clients such as Grail, a Web browser written in Python. It will also be posted regularly to comp.os.linux.answers.
Suggestions, corrections, additions wanted. Contributors wanted and acknowledged. Flames not wanted.
I can always be reached at andrewbalsa@usa.net.
David Niemi, the author of the Unixbench suite, has proved to be an endless source of information and (valid) criticism.
I also want to thank Greg Hankins one of the main contributors to the SGML-tools package, Linus Torvalds and the entire Linux community. This HOWTO is my way of giving back.
Your mileage may, and will, vary. Be aware that benchmarking is a touchy subject and a great time-and-energy consuming activity.
Pentium and Windows NT are trademarks of Intel and Microsoft Corporations respectively.
BYTE and BYTEmark are trademarks of McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Cyrix and 6x86 are trademarks of Cyrix Corporation.
Linux is not a trademark, hopefully never will be.