Inquisitor (hardware testing software)

Last updated
Inquisitor
Inquisitor-logo.png
Developer Mikhail Yakshin, et al.
OS family Linux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source model Open source
Latest release 3.0 / July 20, 2008 (2008-07-20)
Kernel type Monolithic kernel
Default
user interface
Text, curses-based
License GNU General Public License and other licenses
Official website www.inquisitor.ru

Inquisitor is a software suite used for hardware diagnostics, stress testing, certification and benchmarking platform. It is available in three formats:

Contents

Released under the terms of version 3 of the GNU General Public License, Inquisitor is free software.

History

Inquisitor started in early 2004 as a closed project developed by Mikhail Yakshin at ALT Linux for MaxSelect, a Russian hardware vendor. [1] First versions were closed-source, although some effort was made to open some of its components. [2] Versions 1 and 2 were fully developed in-house and were fully adopted by MaxSelect and its multiple branches. These versions concentrated on server-based enterprise testing and were optimized mostly for notebook hardware. [3]

In 2005, a special abridged version of Inquisitor suite was developed for distribution on Live CDs. These Live CDs were supplied with MaxSelect products, so every buyer can stress test their newly bought hardware to ensure it runs stable. [4]

In August, 2007, all legal complications were solved and Inquisitor was announced as an open source platform. This platform can be used to implement various Linux-based solutions that deal with hardware testing, monitoring and benchmarking. As of July, 2008, version 3.0 is released into public.

Version 3.1 made it to beta, but the distribution was discontinued before this beta was finalized. [5]

Tests

Minimal steps that can be undertaken for purposes of testing or benchmarking are called "tests" in Inquisitor and are implemented as simple Unix shell scripts that run other (binary) programs and collects their results. In its simplest form, test outputs only binary result: success or failure, but more advanced API is supplied for benchmarks that output results.

As of 2008, Inquisitor distribution includes following tests: [6]

  • Array configurator
  • Boot from image
  • BYTEmark benchmark suite
  • CPU benchmark: Dhrystone
  • CPU benchmark: Whetstone
  • CPU burn
  • Database to Detects comparison
  • DD
  • FDD read/write
  • Firmware reflashing
  • HDD array stress
  • HDD benchmark: Bonnie
  • HDD benchmark: hdparm
  • HDD benchmark: IOzone
  • HDD passthrough
  • HDD SMART
  • Memory benchmark: STREAM
  • Memory test: Memtester
  • Mencoder in memory
  • Mencoder on hard drive
  • Network interface
  • ODD read
  • ODD write
  • Partimage
  • Reference-based detects comparison
  • Stress compression
  • Torrent upload
  • UnixBench benchmark suite
  • USB flash drive
  • USB GPRS modem
  • USB GPRS Modem Dialup
  • USB GPRS modem signal level
  • USB presence

See also

Notes

  1. Рамендик, Михаил. "Linux наступает: обзор позиций". CNews.
  2. Якшин, Михаил (2005-07-25). Система автоматизированного тестирования и контроля качества оборудования "Inquisitor". Вторая международная конференция разработчиков свободных программ на Протве. Obninsk. Archived from the original on 2010-11-06. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
  3. "MaxSelect: структурные изменения и планы по развитию в 2004 г."
  4. "Интервью Павла Мельникова, директора подразделения ноутбуков и мобильных устройств компании MaxSelect". Hardware Special.
  5. https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=inquisitor
  6. "A list of tests in Inquisitor at website". Archived from the original on 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2008-07-12.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux distribution</span> Operating system based on the Linux kernel

A Linux distribution is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel, and often a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one of the Linux distributions, which are available for a wide variety of systems ranging from embedded devices and personal computers to powerful supercomputers.

In computing, cross-platform software is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software requires a separate build for each platform, but some can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, being written in an interpreted language or compiled to portable bytecode for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all supported platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gentoo Linux</span> Linux distribution

Gentoo Linux is a Linux distribution built using the Portage package management system. Unlike a binary software distribution, the source code is compiled locally according to the user's preferences and is often optimized for the specific type of computer. Precompiled binaries are available for some packages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gambas</span> Integrated development environment

Gambas is the name of an object-oriented dialect of the BASIC programming language, as well as the integrated development environment that accompanies it. Designed to run on Linux and other Unix-like computer operating systems, its name is a recursive acronym for Gambas Almost Means Basic. Gambas is also the word for prawns in the Spanish, French, and Portuguese languages, from which the project's logos are derived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux Standard Base</span> A standard for Linux distributions

The Linux Standard Base (LSB) was a joint project by several Linux distributions under the organizational structure of the Linux Foundation to standardize the software system structure, including the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard used in the Linux kernel. LSB was based on the POSIX specification, the Single UNIX Specification (SUS), and several other open standards, but extended them in certain areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Live CD</span> Complete, bootable computer installation that runs directly from a CD-ROM

A live CD is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading from a hard disk drive. A live CD allows users to run an operating system for any purpose without installing it or making any changes to the computer's configuration. Live CDs can run on a computer without secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive, or with a corrupted hard disk drive or file system, allowing data recovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema 4D</span> 3D software

Cinema 4D is a 3D software suite developed by the German company Maxon.

MkLinux is an open-source software computer operating system begun by the Open Software Foundation Research Institute and Apple Computer in February 1996, to port Linux to the PowerPC platform, and Macintosh computers. The name refers to the Linux kernel being adapted to run as a server hosted on the Mach microkernel, version 3.0.

Stresslinux is a lightweight Linux distribution designed to test a computer's hardware by running the components at high load while monitoring their health. It is designed to be booted from CD-ROM or via PXE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ALT Linux</span>

ALT Linux is a set of Russian operating systems based on RPM Package Manager (RPM) and built on a Linux kernel and Sisyphus package repository. ALT Linux has been developed collectively by ALT Linux Team developers community and ALT Linux Ltd.

Puppy Linux is an operating system and family of light-weight Linux distributions that focus on ease of use and minimal memory footprint. The entire system can be run from random-access memory (RAM) with current versions generally taking up about 600 MB (64-bit), 300 MB (32-bit), allowing the boot medium to be removed after the operating system has started. Applications such as AbiWord, Gnumeric and MPlayer are included, along with a choice of lightweight web browsers and a utility for downloading other packages. The distribution was originally developed by Barry Kauler and other members of the community, until Kauler retired in 2013. The tool Woof can build a Puppy Linux distribution from the binary packages of other Linux distributions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free and open-source graphics device driver</span> Software that controls computer-graphics hardware

A free and open-source graphics device driver is a software stack which controls computer-graphics hardware and supports graphics-rendering application programming interfaces (APIs) and is released under a free and open-source software license. Graphics device drivers are written for specific hardware to work within a specific operating system kernel and to support a range of APIs used by applications to access the graphics hardware. They may also control output to the display if the display driver is part of the graphics hardware. Most free and open-source graphics device drivers are developed by the Mesa project. The driver is made up of a compiler, a rendering API, and software which manages access to the graphics hardware.

BioLinux is a term used in a variety of projects involved in making access to bioinformatics software on a Linux platform easier using one or more of the following methods:

UNIGINE is a proprietary cross-platform game engine developed by UNIGINE Company used in simulators, virtual reality systems, serious games and visualization. It supports OpenGL 4, Vulkan and DirectX 12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ELinOS</span>

ELinOS is a commercial development environment for embedded Linux. It consists of a Linux distribution for the target embedded system and development tools for a development host computer. The development host computer usually is a standard desktop computer running Linux or Windows. The Linux system and the application software for the target device are both created on the development host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoronix Test Suite</span> Free and open-source benchmark software

Phoronix Test Suite (PTS) is a free and open-source benchmark software for Linux and other operating systems which is developed by Michael Larabel and Matthew Tippett. The Phoronix Test Suite has been endorsed by sites such as Linux.com, LinuxPlanet, and Softpedia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BioSLAX</span>

BioSLAX is a Live CD/Live DVD/Live USB comprising a suite of more than 300 bioinformatics tools and application suites. It has been released by the Bioinformatics Resource Unit of the Life Sciences Institute (LSI), National University of Singapore (NUS) and is bootable from any PC that allows a CD/DVD or USB boot option and runs the compressed Slackware flavour of the Linux Operating System (OS), also known as Slax. Slax was created by Tomáš Matějíček in the Czech Republic using the Linux Live Scripts which he also developed. The BioSLAX derivative was created by Mark De Silva, Lim Kuan Siong and Tan Tin Wee.

GIS Live DVD is a type of the thematic Live CD containing GIS/RS applications and related tutorials, and sample data sets. The general sense of a GIS Live DVD is to demonstrate the power of FLOSS GIS and encourage users to start on FLOSS GIS. However, a disc can be used for GIS data processing and training, too. A disc usually includes some selected Linux-based or Wine (software)-enabled Windows applications for GIS and Remote Sensing use. Using this disc the end users can execute GIS functions to get experience in free and open source software solutions or solve some simple business operations. The set-up and the operating behaviour of the applications can also be studied prior to building real FLOSS GIS-based systems. Recently a LiveDVD image is stored and booted from USB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Subsystem for Linux</span> Compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables natively on Windows

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a feature of Windows that allows developers to run a Linux environment without the need for a separate virtual machine or dual booting. There are two versions of WSL: WSL 1 and WSL 2. WSL 1 was first released on August 2, 2016, and acts as a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables by implementing Linux system calls on the Windows kernel. It is available on Windows 10, Windows 10 LTSB/LTSC, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022.

References