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Quick Start

Install all required dependencies to run all tests and evaluate your edge system.

Info

Refer to Intel® ESQ for Intel® AI Edge Systems for official main qualification page.

Requirements

Before starting, ensure your system meets the following requirements:

1. Hardware

Intel® ESQ supports a wide range of Intel® edge systems optimized for various performance and use case requirements.

Category Processors Specifications Storage Discrete GPU Options
Scalable Performance Graphics Media Xeon-Based:
Intel® Xeon® 6 Processors,
5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors,
Intel® Xeon® W Processors

Core-Based:
Intel® Core Ultra Processor (Series 2),
Intel® Core™ (Series 2)		 Xeon-Based:
SKU: Dual and Single Socket
Minimum System Memory: 128 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel)

Core-Based:
Minimum System Memory: 64GB DDR5 (Dual Channel)
 Recommended: 1TB Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics,
Intel® Arc™ Pro B-Series Graphics
Scalable Performance Intel® Xeon® 6 Processors,
5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors,
Intel® Xeon® W Processors		 SKU: Dual and Single Socket
Minimum System Memory: 128 GB DDR5 (Dual Channnel)
Recommended: 1TB N/A
Efficiency Optimized Intel® Core™ Ultra Processor (Series 2),
Intel® Core™ Ultra Processor (Series 3)		 Graphics: Integrated GPU with 7 Xe-Cores or more
SKU: Single Socket
Minimum System Memory: 32 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel)		 Recommended: 512 GB N/A
Mainstream Intel® Core™ (Series 2) Minimum System Memory: 32 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel) Recommended: 512 GB N/A
Entry Intel® Processor for Desktop,
Intel® Processor X-series,
Intel® Processor N-series		 Minimum System Memory: 32 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel) Recommended: 512 GB N/A

2. Operating System

Install a supported operating system before proceeding.

OS Version Notes
Ubuntu* 24.04 Desktop LTS or newer Recommended Linux* distribution
Windows* Coming soon Coming soon

Installation

1. System Drivers

Configure system drivers:

sudo bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/open-edge-platform/edge-developer-kit-reference-scripts/refs/heads/main/main_installer.sh)"

Additional Reference

For detailed information about system drivers, see the Edge Developer Kit Reference Scripts documentation.

2. System Dependencies

Install essential system packages:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y curl git libgl1 make

3. Docker Engine

Docker* Engine Download Source

Intel® ESQ uses download.docker.com* as the default download source. To use a custom download source*, configure it with:

export DOCKER_SOURCE_URL=<custom_docker_source_url>

Install Docker* Engine:

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL ${DOCKER_SOURCE_URL:-https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu}/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: ${DOCKER_SOURCE_URL:-https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu}
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}")
Components: stable
Architectures: $(dpkg --print-architecture)
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Add your user to the docker group:

Warning

Adding your user to the docker group grants root-level access. This should only be done on development or test systems.

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

To activate your new group membership immediately in your current terminal, run:

newgrp docker

This command starts a new shell session with updated group permissions, allowing you to use Docker* without logging out. You can now verify Docker* installation is successful by running the hello-world image:

docker pull hello-world

Note

If you see a list of containers (even if empty), your user is correctly added to the docker group. If you get a permission error, ensure you have run newgrp docker in your terminal. For persistent access across all sessions, log out and log back in, or reboot your system.

Note

If you cannot pull the image, your network may be unable to reach the default registry. Configure a mirror registry in the Docker* daemon configuration:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/docker
sudo tee /etc/docker/daemon.json > /dev/null <<EOF
{
    "registry-mirrors": [
        "<mirror-registry-source>"
    ]
}
EOF

Additional Reference

For detailed Docker* installation instructions, see the official Docker* Engine installation documentation.

4. Python Package Manager

Install uv to accelerate Python* package management:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh && source $HOME/.local/bin/env

Additional Reference

For detailed uv installation instructions, see the official uv Installation documentation.

5. System Setup

Run the setup script to configure system settings required for full functionality:

sudo bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/open-edge-platform/edge-system-qualification/refs/heads/main/scripts/system-setup.sh)"

Feature Availability

Some features configured by this script are optional. Intel® ESQ will still run if skipped, but certain metrics and capabilities may be unavailable.

Security & Persistence

Each module applies the minimum permissions required and documents its persistence behavior. Re-run this script after system or package updates that may reset configured settings.

6. Intel® ESQ

Development Version

To access the latest features that may not be available in the current release, you can install the development version from the main branch: 

uv tool install --force --refresh git+https://github.com/open-edge-platform/edge-system-qualification.git@main

Install Intel® ESQ from GitHub*:

uv tool install --force --refresh git+https://github.com/open-edge-platform/edge-system-qualification.git@main

Verify that Intel® ESQ is working correctly:

esq --version

Quick Start

Run all tests and review the generated test report:

Upgrading Intel® ESQ

Before running a new version of Intel® ESQ, clean up any previously created esq_data folder to prevent leftover data from interfering with the new installation:

esq clean --all

Download Source

Intel® ESQ uses HuggingFace* as the default download source. For ModelScope*, you can configure it with:

export PREFER_MODELSCOPE=1

1. Run Intel® ESQ

Run qualification and vertical (recommended) test profiles to generate a test report:

esq run

By default, this command will:

  1. Run qualification profiles (always included)
  2. Run vertical profiles (unless you choose to skip them at the prompt)
  3. Collect metrics and generate a test report

Verbose Output and Profile Types

Use --verbose to show detailed execution logs. Add --all to include all profile types (qualification, vertical, and suite).

# Verbose output with default profile selection
esq --verbose run

# Verbose output with all profile types
esq --verbose run --all

Driver Requirements and Hardware Changes

Intel® GPU and NPU tests require specific drivers. Ensure you have the latest Intel® drivers installed for your hardware configuration.

If you run tests on different hardware or swap system components (such as different CPUs), clean up the cache before rerunning tests:

esq --verbose clean --cache-only

Virtualization

Running in virtual machines may impact performance and hardware acceleration capabilities. Bare metal installation is recommended for accurate testing results.

Uninstall

Before uninstalling, clean up all data created by Intel® ESQ, including Docker images built during test execution:

esq clean --all

Then remove Intel® ESQ:

uv tool uninstall esq

Ready to explore all test suites? Continue to the Test Suites →