No Znx!

I am constantly reading some book or other and since I got a Kindle for an Christmas present (thanks Dad!); it’s got even easier to find new books and read them. I am however aware that not everyone reads and that some see a book as a hurdle rather than a joy.

If you find yourself in that state then I can suggest Quick Reads; a superb organisation that has got some amazing authors to write some sharp and quick reads to entice people into reading again.

I just got a bundle and will be reading my way through them!

There is a very useful command on Linux systems called dmidecode. This is a command that speaks to a computer’s DMI; sometimes called SMBIOS (System Management BIOS). Basically this is an area of your computer that stores various pieces of information about your hardware.

You can just type dmidecode and put the output through a pager but if you look at the man page you can see the DMI type and specifically pick it.

So let’s see an example usage by finding out what sort of RAM my system has by looking at type DMI types:

16. Physical Memory Array
17. Memory Device

[root@marine ~]# dmidecode -t 16
# dmidecode 2.10
SMBIOS 2.3 present.

Handle 0x0021, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array
        Location: System Board Or Motherboard
        Use: System Memory
        Error Correction Type: None
        Maximum Capacity: 1 GB
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Number Of Devices: 2

Handle 0x0022, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0021
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 512 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: A0
        Bank Locator: Bank0/1
        Type: Unknown
        Type Detail: None
        Speed: Unknown
        Manufacturer: None
        Serial Number: None
        Asset Tag: None
        Part Number: None

Handle 0x0023, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0021
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 512 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: A1
        Bank Locator: Bank2/3
        Type: Unknown
        Type Detail: None
        Speed: Unknown
        Manufacturer: None
        Serial Number: None
        Asset Tag: None
        Part Number: None

So you can see that I have a system with 2 banks and it is capable of a maximum of 1Gb (YES it is old). Each bank is carrying 512Mb of RAM. Unfortunately the output doesn’t indicate the type of RAM but maybe we can work it out by looking at another DMI type.

# dmidecode -t 2
# dmidecode 2.10
SMBIOS 2.3 present.

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes
Base Board Information
        Manufacturer:
        Product Name: RS/RX482SB400
        Version:
        Serial Number:

A quick google reveals that the motherboard supports “Dual DDR SDRAM”. You can see that the information obtain wasn’t that useful against my personal PC. You will obviously find that the results vary depending on the vendor providing the information (and in some cases valid information).

Nevertheless it is useful, for people who are running Windows this information is accessible to you as well with a great tool called CPU-Z.

October 18, 2010 — The Grand Comics Database today announced that it has posted its 300,000th comic book cover scan.

The 300,000th cover posted to the site was Captain America #248, published by Marvel Comics in 1980, with a cover pencilled by John Byrne and inked by Joe Rubinstein.

The cover scan was uploaded by Ramon Schenk of the Netherlands, a regular contributor to the GCD.

The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is the Earth’s largest repository of indexed comic book information. In addition to its 300,000 covers, the GCD has, to date, recorded more than 600,000 individual comic books and indexed more than 140,000. More than 5,000 publishers from around the world are represented in the GCD.

The GCD is a nonprofit project of international volunteers, with the goal of documenting and indexing all printed comics for the free use of scholars, historians, researchers, and fans worldwide.

The GCD is open to all and anyone can contribute information to the project.

For further information, go to www.comics.org.

(Mike Catron is a volunteer with the GCD and is the author of this press release. To contact a board member of the Grand Comics Database, email to gcd-contact@googlegroups.com)

Sometimes you come across something striking on the internet. An excellent thread on MetaFi is one of those.

Two Russian girls were dead set on going to NYC for a very suspicious job offer. A worried friend of theirs posted a question, the rest you can read for yourself.