Dmidecode

dmidecode is the program that makes Capone work.

dmidecode gives a complete set of DMI information (hardware specs, make, model, manufacturer etc)

Do visit the dmidecode homepage.

The article dmidecode - what's it good for? gives a good idea of what it does.

Another article on dmidecode scripting.

If you have access to a Linux shell prompt you can type in the following to get an idea of all the detailed DMI/BIOS/Hardware information that dmidecode provides.

user@computer:~$ su Enter password:********

root@computer:~$ dmidecode SMBIOS 2.3 present. 36 structures occupying 1146 bytes. Table at 0x000F0800.
 * 1) dmidecode 2.9

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 20 bytes BIOS Information Vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD ...

Handle 0x0023, DMI type 127, 4 bytes End Of Table

root@computer:~$ _

with Ubuntu you would use user@computer:~$ sudo dmidecode Enter password:********

It may happen that the PATH variable does not include /sbin or /usr/sbin or some such directory which has dmidecode in it. In such a case, typing dmidecode will result in an error saying that the program is unknown.

To avoid this, first get the location of dmidecode user@computer:~$ whereis dmidecode dmidecode: /usr/sbin/dmidecode /usr/share/man/man8/dmidecode.8.gz

Then include that path into the $PATH variable like this: user@computer:~$ PATH=$PATH:/usr/sbin user@computer:~$ echo $PATH The : (colon) is a path separator in Linux just like ; (semi-colon) is on Windows.

Dmidecode has many "output sections" so to speak - user@computer:~$ dmidecode --help Usage: dmidecode [OPTIONS] Options are: -d, --dev-mem FILE    Read memory from device FILE (default: /dev/mem) -h, --help            Display this help text and exit -q, --quiet           Less verbose output -s, --string KEYWORD  Only display the value of the given DMI string -t, --type TYPE       Only display the entries of given type -u, --dump            Do not decode the entries -V, --version         Display the version and exit user@computer:~$ _

To get just one type of DMI info, you must specify the type code or name:

user@computer:~$ dmidecode --help --type dmidecode: option '--type' requires an argument Type number or keyword expected Valid type keywords are: bios system baseboard chassis processor memory cache connector slot user@computer:~$ _

On Ubuntu, using sudo to get BIOS info from dmidecode, you get something like this: user@computer:~$ sudo dmidecode --type bios [sudo] password for user: SMBIOS 2.3 present.
 * 1) dmidecode 2.9

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 20 bytes BIOS Information Vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD Version: V5.1 Release Date: 08/01/2007 Address: 0xE0000 Runtime Size: 128 kB	ROM Size: 512 kB	Characteristics: ISA is supported PCI is supported PNP is supported APM is supported BIOS is upgradeable BIOS shadowing is allowed ESCD support is available Boot from CD is supported Selectable boot is supported BIOS ROM is socketed EDD is supported 5.25"/360 KB floppy services are supported (int 13h)		5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h) 3.5"/720 KB floppy services are supported (int 13h)		3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h) Print screen service is supported (int 5h) 8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h) Serial services are supported (int 14h) Printer services are supported (int 17h) CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h) ACPI is supported USB legacy is supported AGP is supported LS-120 boot is supported ATAPI Zip drive boot is supported BIOS boot specification is supported

Handle 0x001B, DMI type 13, 22 bytes BIOS Language Information Installable Languages: 3 n|US|iso8859-1 n|US|iso8859-1 r|CA|iso8859-1 Currently Installed Language: n|US|iso8859-1

user@computer:~$ _