Re: Better testing of hardware (was: Defective Read Hat)

[Fort David <epopo@onetelnet.fr>]

"Stephen Gutknecht (linux-kernel)" wrote:

> Part of the issue is that there exists no "easy to use" standardized test
> software.  Full 32-bit concurrent use of many devices can reveal problems
> that users do not often see in normal applications.
>
> One major hardware review site found stability problems with the Intel
> Pentium 3 1130Mhz processor that ultimately lead to Intel delaying the
> release -- it passed all tests but not a compile of the Linux Kernel!  This
> was on more than 3 different processors.
> http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q3/0008281/pentiumiii-04.html
>
> A Linux Kernel compile test does a really good job of testing the hard disk,
> RAM, and CPU... as it executes all types of instructions and the final
> output depends on all prior steps completing correctly.  On a really fast
> system (> 900Mhz) might make sense to run it twice, once to "warm up" the
> CPU and other components.  Most "benchmarks" just test speed, not the actual
> stability or data integrity (they write results to a device but don't check
> for data corruption, or they test only one device at a time, not all at
> once).
>
> What a Linux kernel compile DOESN'T test is the network interfaces and video
> cards.
>
>

Compiling over NFS with compilation lines producing some kind of openGL
animation ?

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