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Group releases new Linux testing tools

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland

The Open Source Development Lab, a collaboration by IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others to improve Linux on high-end computers, has released a new version of software for testing whether changes to Linux improve the operating system's performance. Version 2 of the Scalable Test Platform has a new installation process, is more easily controlled from a remote computer, and can report more details about a test, the organization said Tuesday.

The software is used to test the speed of computer functions such as writing information to memory, running database software and juggling multiple tasks. OSDL says that use of its software can help offer proof that its improvements work better and therefore should be incorporated into the "mainline," or standard, Linux software.