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diff --git a/man/dmidecode.8 b/man/dmidecode.8 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ca2d82 --- /dev/null +++ b/man/dmidecode.8 @@ -0,0 +1,246 @@ +.TH DMIDECODE 8 "March 2012" "dmidecode" +.SH NAME +dmidecode \- \s-1DMI\s0 table decoder +.SH SYNOPSIS +.B dmidecode +.RB [ OPTIONS ] + +.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 OPTIONS +.TP +.BR "-d" ", " "--dev-mem FILE" +Read memory from device \fBFILE\fR (default: \fB/dev/mem\fR) +.TP +.BR "-q" ", " "--quiet" +Be less verbose. Unknown, inactive and \s-1OEM\s0-specific entries are not +displayed. Meta-data and handle references are hidden. +.TP +.BR "-s" ", " "--string KEYWORD" +Only display the value of the \s-1DMI\s0 string identified by \fBKEYWORD\fR. +\fBKEYWORD\fR must be a keyword from the following list: \fBbios-vendor\fR, +\fBbios-version\fR, \fBbios-release-date\fR, +\fBsystem-manufacturer\fR, \fBsystem-product-name\fR, +\fBsystem-version\fR, \fBsystem-serial-number\fR, +\fBsystem-uuid\fR, +\fBbaseboard-manufacturer\fR, \fBbaseboard-product-name\fR, +\fBbaseboard-version\fR, \fBbaseboard-serial-number\fR, +\fBbaseboard-asset-tag\fR, \fBchassis-manufacturer\fR, +\fBchassis-type\fR, +\fBchassis-version\fR, \fBchassis-serial-number\fR, +\fBchassis-asset-tag\fR, \fBprocessor-family\fR, +\fBprocessor-manufacturer\fR, +\fBprocessor-version\fR, \fBprocessor-frequency\fR. +Each keyword corresponds to a given \s-1DMI\s0 type and a given offset +within this entry type. +Not all strings may be meaningful or even defined on all systems. Some +keywords may return more than one result on some systems (e.g. +\fBprocessor-version\fR on a multi-processor system). +If \fBKEYWORD\fR is not provided or not valid, a list of all valid +keywords is printed and +.B dmidecode +exits with an error. +This option cannot be used more than once. +.TP +.BR "-t" ", " "--type TYPE" +Only display the entries of type \fBTYPE\fR. \fBTYPE\fR can be either a +\s-1DMI\s0 type number, or a comma-separated list of type numbers, or a +keyword from the following list: \fBbios\fR, \fBsystem\fR, +\fBbaseboard\fR, \fBchassis\fR, \fBprocessor\fR, \fBmemory\fR, +\fBcache\fR, \fBconnector\fR, \fBslot\fR. Refer to the DMI TYPES section +below for details. +If this option is used more than once, the set of displayed entries will be +the union of all the given types. +If \fBTYPE\fR is not provided or not valid, a list of all valid keywords +is printed and +.B dmidecode +exits with an error. +.TP +.BR "-u" ", " "--dump" +Do not decode the entries, dump their contents as hexadecimal instead. +Note that this is still a text output, no binary data will be thrown upon +you. The strings attached to each entry are displayed as both +hexadecimal and \s-1ASCII\s0. This option is mainly useful for debugging. +.TP +.BR " " " " "--dump-bin FILE" +Do not decode the entries, instead dump the DMI data to a file in binary +form. The generated file is suitable to pass to \fB--from-dump\fR +later. +.TP +.BR " " " " "--from-dump FILE" +Read the DMI data from a binary file previously generated using +\fB--dump-bin\fR. +.TP +.BR "-h" ", " "--help" +Display usage information and exit +.TP +.BR "-V" ", " "--version" +Display the version and exit +.P +Options --string, --type and --dump-bin +determine the output format and are mutually exclusive. +.P +Please note in case of +.B dmidecode +is run on a system with BIOS that boasts new SMBIOS specification, which +is not supported by the tool yet, it will print out relevant message in +addition to requested data on the very top of the output. Thus informs the +output data is not reliable. + +.SH "DMI TYPES" +The \s-1SMBIOS\s0 specification defines the following \s-1DMI\s0 types: + +.TS +r l +__ +r l. +Type Information +0 BIOS +1 System +2 Baseboard +3 Chassis +4 Processor +5 Memory Controller +6 Memory Module +7 Cache +8 Port Connector +9 System Slots +10 On Board Devices +11 OEM Strings +12 System Configuration Options +13 BIOS Language +14 Group Associations +15 System Event Log +16 Physical Memory Array +17 Memory Device +18 32-bit Memory Error +19 Memory Array Mapped Address +20 Memory Device Mapped Address +21 Built-in Pointing Device +22 Portable Battery +23 System Reset +24 Hardware Security +25 System Power Controls +26 Voltage Probe +27 Cooling Device +28 Temperature Probe +29 Electrical Current Probe +30 Out-of-band Remote Access +31 Boot Integrity Services +32 System Boot +33 64-bit Memory Error +34 Management Device +35 Management Device Component +36 Management Device Threshold Data +37 Memory Channel +38 IPMI Device +39 Power Supply +40 Additional Information +41 Onboard Devices Extended Information +42 Management Controller Host Interface +.TE + +Additionally, type 126 is used for disabled entries and type 127 is an +end-of-table marker. Types 128 to 255 are for \s-1OEM\s0-specific data. +.B dmidecode +will display these entries by default, but it can only decode them +when the vendors have contributed documentation or code for them. + +Keywords can be used instead of type numbers with \fB--type\fR. +Each keyword is equivalent to a list of type numbers: + +.TS +l l +__ +l l. +Keyword Types +bios 0, 13 +system 1, 12, 15, 23, 32 +baseboard 2, 10, 41 +chassis 3 +processor 4 +memory 5, 6, 16, 17 +cache 7 +connector 8 +slot 9 +.TE + +Keywords are matched case-insensitively. The following command lines are equivalent: +.IP \(bu "\w'\(bu'u+1n" +dmidecode --type 0 --type 13 +.IP \(bu +dmidecode --type 0,13 +.IP \(bu +dmidecode --type bios +.IP \(bu +dmidecode --type BIOS + +.SH BINARY DUMP FILE FORMAT +The binary dump files generated by --dump-bin and read using --from-dump +are formatted as follows: +.IP \(bu "\w'\(bu'u+1n" +The SMBIOS or DMI entry point is located at offset 0x00. +It is crafted to hard-code the table address at offset 0x20. +.IP \(bu "\w'\(bu'u+1n" +The DMI table is located at offset 0x20. + +.SH FILES +.I /dev/mem +.SH BUGS +More often than not, information contained in the \s-1DMI\s0 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) |