dmidecode has even more useful switches:

-s KEYWORD
--string KEYWORD
Only display the value of the DMI string identified by KEYWORD. [...]
-t TYPE
--type TYPE
Only display the entries of type TYPE. TYPE can be either a DMI type number, or a comma-separated list of type numbers, or a keyword from the following list: bios, system, baseboard, chassis, processor, memory, cache, connector, slot. Refer to the DMI TYPES section below for details. [...]
-u
--dump
Do not decode the entries, dump their contents as hexadecimal instead. [...]
--dump-bin FILE
Do not decode the entries, instead dump the DMI data to a file in binary form. [...]

You could use -s and -t to filter inside dmidecode, so that you have less data to process.

The -u switch generates a slightly more predictable format. You could decode the hexdumps inside perl, using knowledge from DMI::Decode (i.e. copy and port the C code from there to perl).

The --dump-bin switch delivers the raw DMI data, which you could decode all by yourself, again by using knowledge from DMI::Decode.

Alexander

--
Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)

In reply to Re^3: grabbing dmidecode memory data - there's got to be a better way by afoken
in thread grabbing dmidecode memory data - there's got to be a better way by Tommy

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