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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 "\w'\(bu'u+1n"
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)
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