


BIOSDECODE(8)                                       BIOSDECODE(8)


NAME
       biosdecode - BIOS information decoder

SYNOPSIS
       biosdecode [OPTIONS]


DESCRIPTION
       biosdecode  parses  the BIOS memory and prints information
       about all structures (or entry points) it knows  of.  Cur-
       rently known entry point types are:

       o SMBIOS (System Management BIOS)
         Use dmidecode for a more detailed output.

       o DMI  (Desktop  Management Interface, a legacy version of
         SMBIOS)
         Use dmidecode for a more detailed output.

       o SYSID

       o PNP (Plug and Play)

       o ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)

       o BIOS32 (BIOS32 Service Directory)

       o PIR (PCI IRQ Routing)

       o 32OS (BIOS32 Extension, Compaq-specific)
         See ownership for a Compaq ownership tag retrieval tool.

       o SNY (Sony-specific, not decoded)

       o VPD (Vital Product Data, IBM-specific)
         Use vpddecode for a more detailed output.

       o FJKEYINF (Application Panel, Fujitsu-specific)


       biosdecode  started its life as a part of dmidecode but as
       more entry point types were added, if was moved to a  dif-
       ferent program.


OPTIONS
       -d, --dev-mem FILE
              Read memory from device FILE (default: /dev/mem)

       -h, --help
              Display usage information and exit

       -V, --version
              Display the version and exit



dmidecode                 February 2007                         1





BIOSDECODE(8)                                       BIOSDECODE(8)


FILES
       /dev/mem

BUGS
       Most  of  the time, 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).

AUTHORS
       Alan Cox, Jean Delvare

SEE ALSO
       dmidecode(8), mem(4), ownership(8), vpddecode(8)











































dmidecode                 February 2007                         2


