Getting report of total memory installed

MikeyCarter · 05-13-2008, 05:33 PM

I have a little script which registers all my dynamic IP's along with some stats of each install.

The memory is annoying me.

Code:

export TotalMem=`free -b | grep Mem | awk {'print $2'}`
if [ "$TotalMem" == "" ] ; then
  export TotalMem=`cat /proc/meminfo | grep MemTotal | awk {'print $2'}`
fi

These commands report total memory linux sees. Not how much is installed. So I have three computers with 1G of ram. However they report anywhere between 1009.12 MBytes to 1012.60 MBytes

Is there anywhere to get a break down of the missing 12-15MB? Or get total memory installed?

Don't really care where it goes (bios, video, etc) just to get and nice consistent reporting system.

I'm also looking for something that would work on most to all distributions, even other unix based systems if possible (for vmware installed machines).

Larry Webb · 05-14-2008, 10:19 AM

I read somewhere but can not find it now that the memory is different between all brands and will not read at what it is rated. In other words if you replace the memory with the same rated amount it will read different than what you have now.

farslayer · 05-14-2008, 10:54 AM

To see the physical makeup of your system you can use lshw or dmidecode

Code:

it-etch:/etc# lshw -C memory
  *-firmware
       description: BIOS
       vendor: Dell Inc.
       physical id: 0
       version: 1.1.2 (12/04/2006)
       size: 64KB
       capacity: 448KB
       capabilities: pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect edd int13floppytoshiba int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer acpi usb ls120boot biosbootspecification netboot
  *-cache:0
       description: L1 cache
       physical id: 700
       size: 16KB
       capacity: 16KB
       capabilities: internal write-back data
  *-cache:1
       description: L2 cache
       physical id: 701
       size: 2MB
       capacity: 2MB
       capabilities: internal varies unified
  *-memory
       description: System Memory
       physical id: 1000
       slot: System board or motherboard
       size: 1GB
       capacity: 2GB
     *-bank:0
          description: DIMM DDR Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
          product: KHU006-QIA
          vendor: 7F98000000000000
          physical id: 0
          serial: A036F583
          slot: DIMM_1
          size: 1GB
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
     *-bank:1
          description: DIMM DDR Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns) [empty]
          vendor: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
          physical id: 1
          serial: FFFFFFFF
          slot: DIMM_3
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
it-etch:/etc#

Code:

it-etch:/etc# dmidecode -t memory
# dmidecode 2.8
SMBIOS 2.3 present.

Handle 0x1000, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array
        Location: System Board Or Motherboard
        Use: System Memory
        Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
        Maximum Capacity: 2 GB
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Number Of Devices: 2

Handle 0x1100, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x1000
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 1024 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM_1
        Bank Locator: Not Specified
        Type: DDR
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
        Manufacturer: 7F98000000000000
        Serial Number: A036F583
        Asset Tag: 040703
        Part Number: KHU006-QIA

Handle 0x1101, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x1000
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: No Module Installed
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM_3
        Bank Locator: Not Specified
        Type: DDR
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
        Manufacturer: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
        Serial Number: FFFFFFFF
        Asset Tag: FFFFFF
        Part Number:

If the PC is sharing System memory for Video or other tasks I don't know how to show that.. I don't have any systems that even do that to my knowledge.. that is more common with systems that have integrated video.

archtoad6 · 05-19-2008, 11:30 AM

Both of those look like they provide actual installed physical RAM.

My additional Q is: How can I find out how much of my RAM has been appropriated by my on-board video chip?

BTW, I ran:

Code:

for X in memory mem video bios; 
do echo -e "\n$X"; 
man -k $X  | grep [138]\); 
done  | less -S

& other than lspnp, which isn't available from my repos, I don't see anything that will provide this info.

Larry Webb · 05-19-2008, 11:43 AM

archtoad6 do not quote me on this but I am not sure on the intergrated video if there is a way, I believe that on an intel board the other day in bios I saw a setting on the video that said 'Auto (128 meg max)'. To me that sounds like there is no commitment, just a supply on demand.

archtoad6 · 05-27-2008, 07:33 AM

W/o rebooting I can't say for sure, but I think several of my mobo's w/ on-board video do not have a BIOS setting for how much RAM they appropriate from the CPU. Besides, I'd like as way to check this w/o having to reboot.

johnsfine · 05-27-2008, 12:17 PM

Look at my answer to a similar question in
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...11#post3150011
That may give you the info you need.