VPD(4)

💅 VPD(4) — Vital Product Data kernel interface 💅

okay so this is the VPD(4) page from the i386 Kernel Interfaces Manual, and we are about to get into some very specific IBM lore, bestie. 🫶

💖 NAME 💖

vpd — Vital Product Data kernel interface

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

device vpd

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

IBM ThinkPad notebooks (and most IBM desktop PCs) have a 48-byte Vital Product Data (VPD) structure located in the BIOS Shadow RAM. Literally iconic little blob of machine identity. 🎀

The VPD provides machine type and model information, the build ID (this is roughly the BIOS version) and serial number information. It’s giving “who am I, what am I, and what’s my serial number” energy. 💅

The vpd driver scans the BIOS area and claims the memory used by the VPD structure. It provides the sysctl(3) branch hw.vpd to allow this information to be accessed by the userland. The following variables are provided, one per VPD attachment (there should only be one):

• MACHINE_TYPE (machine.type) — Machine type.
• MACHINE_MODEL (machine.model) — Machine model.
• BUILD_ID (build.id) — BIOS Build ID.
• SERIAL_BOX (serial.box) — Box Serial Number.
• SERIAL_PLANAR (serial.planar) — Motherboard Serial Number.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• TP General - Using the BIOS Build ID to identify IBM ThinkPad systems, Reference #: MIGR-45120, http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-45120, November 22, 2002.

🌸 HISTORY 🌸

The vpd driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.1. Periodt. ✨

👑 AUTHORS 👑

The vpd driver and this manual page were written by Matthew N. Dodd <mdodd@FreeBSD.org>.

🎀 Debian · August 31, 2004 · VPD(4) 🎀 — that’s the source/version and date sign-off, bestie, mwah 💋