From owner-freebsd-questions Fri May 10 6: 6:59 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from fac13.ds.psu.edu (fac13.ds.psu.edu [146.186.61.98]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9B61037B41A for ; Fri, 10 May 2002 06:06:48 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fac13.ds.psu.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by fac13.ds.psu.edu (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id g4AD6pX1056708 for ; Fri, 10 May 2002 09:06:51 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from hawk@fac13.ds.psu.edu) Message-Id: <200205101306.g4AD6pX1056708@fac13.ds.psu.edu> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.5 07/13/2001 with nmh-1.0.4 To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: burn-in floppy for system builders? From: "Richard E. Hawkins" Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 09:06:51 -0400 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG We're in the middle of a *wretched* experience having a system built by a local company. In short, after their unapproved substitutions and unbelievably bad job of internal arrangement, the system can't run more than a few minutes with the case on, or a couple of hours with it off. Fortunately, the purchase order was pulled before they got paid, and now we have to deal with the aftermath. Anyway, the system was sold without an operating system, which would have prevented a burnin of the system. I'm wondering if anyone has gotten around to making a simple disk with an SMP kernel for this purpose. As I see it, the kernel would boot and run a single program (or short sequence) which would: 1) detect memory and the number of processors. 2) try to detect hard drives 3) let user insure all drives ID'd and add/subtract if necessary, and determine how long to run. 4) warn if any existing partitions exist on any disks, and allow avoiding these 5) partition the disks to use all space 6) dispatch test programs: a) memory tests b) CPU-sucking processes drawing from random memory locations c) simultaneous disk tests on all drives, of both random locations and near-far seeks. d) keep load on each processor above 4 at all times Output could either be to a disk not to be tested or to a simple line printer on the parallell port. This would create a standard disk that could simply be handed to, or downloaded by, any old shop building a system, whether they understand *nix or not. It doesn't sound to hard to write (though low level scripting is harly my area! :) Would it be practical to modify root.flp to do this as a single disk? Or can any of the small-system versions (picobsd?) run an SMP kernel off floppy? Or would customizing tomsrtb (the linux on a floppy) be a better idea? hawk, who really wants a working workstation! intensive calculations pulling values f -- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message