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67 changes: 67 additions & 0 deletions man/biosdecode.8
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.TH BIOSDECODE 8 "December 2003" "dmidecode"
.SH NAME
biosdecode \- \s-1BIOS\s0 information decoder
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B biosdecode
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B biosdecode
parses the \s-1BIOS\s0 memory and prints information about all structures (or
entry points) it knows of. Currently known entry point types are:
.IP \[bu]
\s-1SMBIOS\s0 (System Management \s-1BIOS\s0)
.br
Use
.B dmidecode
for a more detailed output.
.IP \[bu]
\s-1DMI\s0 (Desktop Management Interface, a legacy version of \s-1SMBIOS\s0)
.br
Use
.B dmidecode
for a more detailed output.
.IP \[bu]
\s-1SYSID\s0
.IP \[bu]
\s-1PNP\s0 (Plug and Play)
.IP \[bu]
\s-1ACPI\s0 (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)
.IP \[bu]
\s-1BIOS32\s0 (\s-1BIOS32\s0 Service Directory)
.IP \[bu]
\s-1PIR\s0 (\s-1PCI\s0 \s-1IRQ\s0 Routing)
.IP \[bu]
\s-132OS\s0 (\s-1BIOS32\s0 Extension, Compaq-specific)
.br
See
.B ownership
for a Compaq ownership tag retrieval tool.
.IP \[bu]
\s-1SNY\s0 (Sony-specific, not decoded)
.IP \[bu]
\s-1VPD\s0 (Vital Product Data, IBM-specific)
.br
Use
.B vpddecode
for a more detailed output.

.PP
.B biosdecode
started its life as a part of
.B dmidecode
but as more entry point types were added, if was moved to a different
program.
.SH FILES
.I /dev/mem
.SH BUGS
Most of the time,
.B biosdecode
prints too much information (you don't really care about addresses)
or not enough (because it doesn't follow pointers and has no lookup
tables).
.SH AUTHORS
Alan Cox, Jean Delvare
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR dmidecode (8),
.BR mem (4),
.BR ownership (8),
.BR vpddecode (8)
67 changes: 67 additions & 0 deletions man/dmidecode.8
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.TH DMIDECODE 8 "December 2003" "dmidecode"
.SH NAME
dmidecode \- \s-1DMI\s0 table decoder
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dmidecode
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B dmidecode
is a tool for dumping a computer's \s-1DMI\s0 (some say \s-1SMBIOS\s0) table
contents in a human-readable format. This table contains a description of the
system's hardware components, as well as other useful pieces of information
such as serial numbers and \s-1BIOS\s0 revision. Thanks to this table, you can
retrieve this information without having to probe for the actual hardware.
While this is a good point in terms of report speed and safeness, this also
makes the presented information possibly unreliable.

The \s-1DMI\s0 table doesn't only describe what the system is currently made
of, it also can report the possible evolutions (such as the fastest supported
\s-1CPU\s0 or the maximal amount of memory supported).

\s-1SMBIOS\s0 stands for System Management \s-1BIOS\s0, while \s-1DMI\s0
stands for Desktop Management Interface. Both standards are tightly related
and developed by the \s-1DMTF\s0 (Desktop Management Task Force).

As you run it,
.B dmidecode
will try to locate the \s-1DMI\s0 table. If it succeeds, it will then parse
this table and display a list of records like this one:

Handle 0x0002
DMI type 2, 8 bytes.
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: Intel
Product Name: C440GX+
Version: 727281-001
Serial Number: INCY92700942

Each record has:
.IP \[bu]
A handle. This is a unique identifier, which allows records to
reference each other. For example, processor records usually reference
cache memory records using their handles.
.IP \[bu]
A type. The \s-1SMBIOS\s0 specification defines different types of elements
a computer can be made of. In this example, the type is 2, which
means that the record contains "Base Board Information".
.IP \[bu]
A size. Each record has a 4-byte header (2 for the handle, 1 for the type,
1 for the size), the rest is used by the record data. This value doesn't
take text strings into account (these are placed at the end of the record),
so the actual length of the record may be (and is often) greater than the
displayed value.
.IP \[bu]
Decoded values. The information presented of course depends on the type
of record. Here, we learn about the board's manufacturer, model, version
and serial number.
.SH FILES
.I /dev/mem
.SH BUGS
More often than not, information contained in the DMI tables is inaccurate,
incomplete or simply wrong.
.SH AUTHORS
Alan Cox, Jean Delvare
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR biosdecode (8),
.BR mem (4),
.BR ownership (8),
.BR vpddecode (8)
23 changes: 23 additions & 0 deletions man/ownership.8
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.TH OWNERSHIP 8 "February 2004" "dmidecode"
.SH NAME
ownership \- Compaq ownership tag retriever
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ownership
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B ownership
retrieves and prints the "ownership tag" that can be set on Compaq
computers. Contrary to all other programs of the
.B dmidecode
package,
.B ownership
doesn't print any version information, nor labels, but the only the raw
ownership tag. This should help its integration in scripts.
.SH FILES
.I /dev/mem
.SH AUTHOR
Jean Delvare
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR biosdecode (8),
.BR dmidecode (8),
.BR mem (4),
.BR vpddecode (8)
40 changes: 40 additions & 0 deletions man/vpddecode.8
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.TH VPDDECODE 8 "February 2004" "dmidecode"
.SH NAME
vpddecode \- \s-1VPD\s0 structure decoder
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B vpddecode
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B vpddecode
prints the "vital product data" information that can be found in almost
all IBM computers, and only IBM computers. Available items are:
.IP \[bu]
\s-1BIOS\s0 Build \s-1ID\s0
.IP \[bu]
Product Name
.IP \[bu]
Box Serial Number
.IP \[bu]
Motherboard Serial Number
.IP \[bu]
Machine Type/Model

.PP
Some systems have these additional items:
.IP \[bu]
BIOS Release Date
.IP \[bu]
Default Flash Image File Name

.PP
Note that these additional items are not documented by IBM, so this is
guess work, and as such should not be blindly trusted. Feedback about
the accuracy of these labels is welcome.
.SH FILES
.I /dev/mem
.SH AUTHOR
Jean Delvare
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR biosdecode (8),
.BR dmidecode (8),
.BR mem (4),
.BR ownership (8)

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