This chapter is for contributors and maintainers.

Hardware Compatibility Testing

Hardware Compatibility Testing (HCT) is the process of verifying that NeuralDrive runs reliably on various physical machine configurations.

The HCT Process

HCT is performed manually by contributors and community members. It focuses on the areas where virtualization (QEMU) cannot provide accurate results.

1. Boot Compatibility

UEFI vs BIOS: Testing boot success on both modern UEFI and legacy BIOS systems.
Secure Boot: Verifying if the image boots with Secure Boot enabled (requires signed kernels).
USB Controller Compatibility: Ensuring the live system can boot from USB 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 ports.

2. Network Stability

Ethernet Chipsets: Testing common drivers (Intel, Realtek, Mellanox).
Wi-Fi Support: Verifying that firmware for common Wi-Fi cards (Intel Wireless, Broadcom) is included and functional.

3. Storage Performance

Persistence Latency: Measuring the performance impact of the OverlayFS layer on different types of media (USB stick vs. NVMe SSD).
LUKS Performance: Ensuring that encrypted persistence does not significantly degrade model loading times.

Reporting Results

We use a "Hardware Compatibility List" (HCL) to track verified systems. When reporting a test result, include:

Manufacturer and Model (e.g., Dell PowerEdge R740, Razer Blade 15).
CPU and RAM.
GPU Model and VRAM.
NeuralDrive Version.
Status (Verified, Issues Found, Not Working).

NeuralDrive encourages users to participate in the testing program by providing pre-release "Beta" ISOs. Feedback from these tests is used to refine the gpu-detect.sh script and include missing firmware in the base image.

Tip: If a system fails to boot, capturing the output of journalctl -b (if reachable via SSH) or taking a photo of the console screen is essential for debugging.