AppLabs
July 27 1999
This document presents the results of the Linux Compatibility test, which included the installation of
Caldera OpenLinux 2.3, TurboLinux Server 4.0 and SuSE 6.2 on the IBM Netfinity 5500-M20.
AppLabs' Linux compatibility testing of this system showed the IBM Netfinity 5500-M20 to be compatible with Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 SuSE 6.2. The IBM Netfinity 5500-M20 is awarded the AppLabs Linux Compatibility mark.
System Configuration
The following table defines the system configuration tested by AppLabs.
| System Configuration |
| IBM Netfinity
5500-M20 | M20 |
| The BIOS revision | revision 0 |
Testing Results
The following table defines the hardware as tested in this system by AppLabs, and provides the pass/fail results.
| Test | Comment | Result |
| Installation Testing |
| CD-ROM Installation | User must download and install IBM's patch immediately after the linux install or the system will not boot. SEE NOTES | PASSED |
| NFS Installation | | PASSED |
| Device Auto Probing | | PASSED |
| System Setup |
| Kernel Compatibility | N/A | PASSED |
| LILO Compatibility | N/A | PASSED |
| XWindows Compatibility | N/A | PASSED |
| I/O Sanity |
| Heavy disk I/O Testing | Run for over eight hours | PASSED |
| Network Server Load Testing | Run for over eight hours | PASSED |
| Display Adapter |
| Console Compatibility | N/A | PASSED |
| USB Interfaces | N/A | N/A |
| Serial Ports |
| Kernel Detection | N/A | PASSED |
| Setserial Compatibility | N/A | PASSED |
| Throughput Testing | N/A | N/A |
| Parallel Ports |
| Kernel Detection | N/A | PASSED |
| Compatibility Testing | N/A | PASSED |
| Mouse Ports |
| Kernel Detection | N/A | PASSED |
| Compatibility Testing | N/A | PASSED |
| Other |
| Pointing Device | N/A | PASSED |
| Keyboard | N/A | PASSED |
Hardware Details
The following table defines the hardware configuration details for the tested system.
| Hardware Configuration Information |
| Motherboard and
Processor | The system motherboard is a IBM . This
system contains four Intel Pentium II 450 Xeon processors.
|
| Display Adapters | There is an S3 Trio 64 Plus display adapter.
There is one megabyte of video memory present.
|
| I/O Busses |
The system includes a standard floppy drive interface.
There are PS/2 style keyboard and mouse ports present. |
| Network Interface | This system contained a network interface built in on the min board and a 3COM Boomerang 100Base TX |
| Included Peripherals | The included CD-ROM drive is IDE. This system had a Micorsoft Natural keyboard and a 3-button PS/2 mouse.
|
| Miscellaneous Hardware |
There are three serial ports present. Two regular and one management
There is one bi-directional parallel port present.
There is one 1.44 megabyte floppy drive present.
|
Related Notes
Caldera 2.3 Notes:
1. User must reconfigure and re-compile kernel before rebooting system.
2. Distribution will not correctly identify the video driver. Use the VGA_16 X driver when
setting up X.
3. Lisa floppies made from CDROM will not properly boot system, locking up at LILO boot
prompt. Cannot do a remote install due to this problem.
TurboLinux Server 4.0 Notes:
1. Distribution will not correctly identify the video driver. Use the VGA_16 X driver when
setting up X.
SuSE 6.2 Notes:
SuSE has bootdisk image which can be found at:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.2/disks/servraid
1. Download this image and put it onto floppy using dd. Boot with this diskette then install from CD. After system is running, user
can boot from the CD, but will need to apply the patch mentioned above. User is advised to download the 2.2.12 kernel and apply the patch
to that kernel instead of the one included with the distribution. After the kernel is patched and compiled, the user needs to install the
lilo.rpm update found on the first CD in /unsorted/lilo. This will update the lilo program. User must then run lilo and system will boot
from the hard disk.
2. Tester could not get the onboard NIC device working. Testing was done with a 3Com NIC installed
into a PCI port.
3. Distribution will not correctyl identify the video driver. Use the VGA_16 X driver when
setting up X.
4. Printer setup under SuSE did not work. This is a configuration problem with the distribution and
not with the IBM hardware.
Legal
AppLabs makes no warranty, either expressed or implied, regarding the information or lack thereof present in this document or in the documents it references.