vpddecode(8)


NAME

   vpddecode - VPD structure decoder

SYNOPSIS

   vpddecode [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

   vpddecode prints the "vital product data" information that can be found
   in almost all IBM and Lenovo computers. Available items are:

   * BIOS Build ID

   * Box Serial Number

   * Motherboard Serial Number

   * Machine Type/Model

   Some systems have these additional items:

   * BIOS Release Date

   * Default Flash Image File Name

   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.

OPTIONS

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

   -s, --string KEYWORD
          Only display the value of the VPD string identified by  KEYWORD.
          KEYWORD  must  be a keyword from the following list: bios-build-
          id, box-serial-number, motherboard-serial-number,  machine-type-
          model, bios-release-date.  Each keyword corresponds to an offset
          and a length within the VPD record.   Not  all  strings  may  be
          defined  on all VPD-enabled systems.  If KEYWORD is not provided
          or not valid, a list  of  all  valid  keywords  is  printed  and
          vpddecode  exits with an error.  This option cannot be used more
          than once.  Mutually exclusive with --dump.

   -u, --dump
          Do  not  decode  the  VPD  records,  dump  their   contents   as
          hexadecimal  instead.  Note that this is still a text output, no
          binary data  will  be  thrown  upon  you.  ASCII  equivalent  is
          displayed  when  possible.  This  option  is  mainly  useful for
          debugging.  Mutually exclusive with --string.

   -h, --help
          Display usage information and exit

   -V, --version
          Display the version and exit

FILES

   /dev/mem

AUTHOR

   Jean Delvare

SEE ALSO

   biosdecode(8), dmidecode(8), mem(4), ownership(8)





Opportunity


Personal Opportunity - Free software gives you access to billions of dollars of software at no cost. Use this software for your business, personal use or to develop a profitable skill. Access to source code provides access to a level of capabilities/information that companies protect though copyrights. Open source is a core component of the Internet and it is available to you. Leverage the billions of dollars in resources and capabilities to build a career, establish a business or change the world. The potential is endless for those who understand the opportunity.

Business Opportunity - Goldman Sachs, IBM and countless large corporations are leveraging open source to reduce costs, develop products and increase their bottom lines. Learn what these companies know about open source and how open source can give you the advantage.





Free Software


Free Software provides computer programs and capabilities at no cost but more importantly, it provides the freedom to run, edit, contribute to, and share the software. The importance of free software is a matter of access, not price. Software at no cost is a benefit but ownership rights to the software and source code is far more significant.


Free Office Software - The Libre Office suite provides top desktop productivity tools for free. This includes, a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation engine, drawing and flowcharting, database and math applications. Libre Office is available for Linux or Windows.





Free Books


The Free Books Library is a collection of thousands of the most popular public domain books in an online readable format. The collection includes great classical literature and more recent works where the U.S. copyright has expired. These books are yours to read and use without restrictions.


Source Code - Want to change a program or know how it works? Open Source provides the source code for its programs so that anyone can use, modify or learn how to write those programs themselves. Visit the GNU source code repositories to download the source.





Education


Study at Harvard, Stanford or MIT - Open edX provides free online courses from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley and other top Universities. Hundreds of courses for almost all major subjects and course levels. Open edx also offers some paid courses and selected certifications.


Linux Manual Pages - A man or manual page is a form of software documentation found on Linux/Unix operating systems. Topics covered include computer programs (including library and system calls), formal standards and conventions, and even abstract concepts.