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
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.3 present.
36 structures occupying 1146 bytes.
Table at 0x000F0800.

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: 
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.3 present.

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:~$ _