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authorJean Delvare <jdelvare@suse.de>2004-02-22 20:24:07 +0000
committerJean Delvare <jdelvare@suse.de>2004-02-22 20:24:07 +0000
commita192fbef1e8da8dcb50b7118fd025673228a5cba (patch)
tree0a3b72806791231ebf20b0c2efde1da7d261debc /man
parent586942b824b5b42691da6b2f3d9f47251c9a0cc2 (diff)
downloaddmidecode-git-a192fbef1e8da8dcb50b7118fd025673228a5cba.tar.gz
Manual pages, new.
Diffstat (limited to 'man')
-rw-r--r--man/biosdecode.867
-rw-r--r--man/dmidecode.867
-rw-r--r--man/ownership.823
-rw-r--r--man/vpddecode.840
4 files changed, 197 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/man/biosdecode.8 b/man/biosdecode.8
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+++ b/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)
diff --git a/man/dmidecode.8 b/man/dmidecode.8
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+++ b/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)
diff --git a/man/ownership.8 b/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)
diff --git a/man/vpddecode.8 b/man/vpddecode.8
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/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)