Extension modules

Two modules may describe structures of the same type, e.g. the module of a vendor and the one of the Intel reference code, which the firmware of any vendor may carry. The modules enabled with --module take precedence over the ones enabled for the platform, and a module enabled for the platform is left disabled if it describes a type another enabled module describes too. The intel module gives way to the other modules instead, and describes only the types they leave free.

Some vendors place the structures of the Intel reference code at types other than the original ones, since those are taken by structures of their own. The modules of these vendors move the structures of the intel module to the types the vendor places them at, or leave them out if the platforms of the vendor never carry them.

Some types are given by a vendor to several structures, which are told from each other by the data they hold, e.g. by a signature at a known offset, and a structure which matches none of them is left as raw data.

Structures of the Acer laptops, whose firmware is often made by other vendors, e.g. Insyde, so the module is enabled by the vendor of either the firmware or the system.

Module of the firmware of AMI. It describes no structures yet, and is reserved for the ones the firmware of AMI adds.

Structures of the firmware of Macs, laid out as the AppleSmBios.h header of OpenCore describes them. The module is enabled by the vendor of the firmware, which OpenCore sets to Apple on the other systems too. Apple gives types 130 and 131 to structures of its own, which the Intel structures of the same types are told apart from by their signatures.

Structures of the Dell platforms, which the module is enabled for by the vendor of either the firmware or the system, and by the firmware of Unisys, which carries the firmware of Dell on the servers Dell makes for Unisys. Dell gives types 221 and 222 to structures of its own, and places the structures of the Intel reference code 16 types lower: the management engine interface at type 203, the firmware version information at type 205 and the milestones of the Silicon View Technology at type 206. Some platforms, e.g. Precision Tower 3620, place them 16 types higher instead: the management engine interface at type 235 and the firmware version information at type 237.

Structures of the HP and HPE servers, which the module is enabled for when the name of the product of the system names a server line: ProLiant, Apollo, Synergy or Edgeline. Workstations and laptops of HP have structures of their own, which the module does not describe.

Some structures have changed their layouts over the generations of the servers, which are told from the name of the product: G1 to G7 up to G7, and Gen8 onwards, with Plus for the refreshed ones, e.g. ProLiant DL360 Gen10 Plus. Structures of these types, e.g. type 226, are decoded by the layout of the generation of the server. Type 245 has two layouts too, which are told by the type of the board the structure describes, a riser of a server or one of an MHS platform. The servers give types 219 and 221 to structures of their own, and never carry the structures of the Intel reference code, which are left out.

Structures of the Intel reference code, which the firmware of the platforms with Intel processors carries whatever its vendor is. The module gives way to the modules of the vendors, which give the same types to structures of their own, and describes only the types they leave free.

The firmware lists some of these structures in group associations (type 14) of well-known names: $MEI for the management engine interface, Firmware Version Info for the firmware version information and Intel® Silicon View Technology for the milestones of the Silicon View Technology. opendmi lint checks that the members of these groups are the structures the names stand for, wherever the vendor places them.

Structures of Intel Rack Scale Design, which describe the devices of a system to the management software of the rack. They are found only on the platforms built to the specification, and take the types the vendors give to structures of their own, so the module is enabled with --module only.

Structures of the IBM and Lenovo platforms. Types 135 and 140 are given to several structures, which are told from each other by the signatures they begin with: the OEM structures of known layouts by the signature along with their number and revision, and the rest of them, the OEM data structures, by the signature alone.

Structures of the Sun servers, which extend the standard structures of the processors, the memory and the ports, and describe the PCI Express root complexes. The module is enabled with --module only.