BIOSDECODE(8)		    System Manager's Manual		 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. Currently known entry point
       types are:

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

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

       •
	SYSID

       •
	PNP (Plug and Play)

       •
	ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)

       •
	BIOS32 (BIOS32 Service Directory)

       •
	PIR (PCI IRQ Routing)

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

       •
	SNY (Sony-specific, not decoded)

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

       •
	FJKEYINF (Application Panel, Fujitsu-specific)


       biosdecode started its life as a part of dmidecode but as more entry
       point types were added, it was moved to a different program.

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

	   --pir full
	      Decode the details of the PCI IRQ routing table.	Only full mode
	      is supported.

       -h, --help
	      Display usage information and exit

       -V, --version
	      Display the version and exit

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			 BIOSDECODE(8)