Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed

Gathering Information from the BIOS 159To view the video card and monitor information found by Kudzu, use the ddcprobecommand. You must be root to run this command. Provided by the rhpxl package,ddcprobe is a script written to call the Kudzu’s probing function and display the results ina user-friendly output. If the rhpxl package is not installed, install it via Red Hat Networkas described in Chapter 3.NOTEThe ddcprobe utility doesn’t work on some laptops and LCD monitors. It is only availableon x86 and x86_64 hardware.Along with the manufacturer and product name of the video card and monitor, ddcprobedisplays information such as the amount of memory the video card has and the monitorrefresh rates as shown in Listing 6.9.LISTING 6.9Video Card Probe ResultsVideocard DDC probe resultsDescription: Intel Corporation Intel(r)865G Graphics ControllerMemory (MB): 15Monitor DDC probe resultsID: DEL3007Name: Dell 1702FP (Analog)Horizontal Sync (kHZ): 30-80Vertical Sync (HZ) : 56-76Width (mm): 340Height(mm): 2706If the ddcprobe output is not correct for the monitor or video card, run the systemconfig-displayutility by selecting the System menu from the top panel of the desktopand then selecting Administration, Display or by executing the system-config-displaycommand. You must enter the root password to proceed if you are not already root whenyou run the program. Manually select the correct monitor or video card so that thecorrect settings are written to the configuration file.Gathering Information from the BIOSWhen a computer first starts, the first program that runs, and the first one you see, is theBIOS, or the Basic Input/Output System. Most BIOSes also have an SMBIOS (SystemManagement BIOS) or a DMI (Desktop Management Interface) that generates a table of dataabout the BIOS and computer system in a standard format.For a system with a BIOS, it is possible to request information directly from it and theSMBIOS or DMI instead of the physical hardware in the system. The dmidecode RPMpackage contains utilities to perform these queries. The dmidecode, biosdecode, ownership,and vpddecode commands are provided by this package. Install it with RHN (refer toChapter 3) if it is not already installed. This section discusses each of these programs.