Find total RAM amount in Open Firmware

#1 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 - 10:20

With New World Macs I get, I'd like to be able to find the RAM amount quickly and easily, so is there an Open Firmware command to get the total amount of RAM?

#2 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 - 11:21

I'm not sure, but wouldn't it be easier to boot the machine up and go to About This Mac?

#3 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 - 16:36

It is possibly, I can't remember off-hand, but it probably involves finding the path to the RAM and getting .properties. Try doing

> dev / ls

to see a list of devices, and then finding the path of the RAM. Then type in

> dev /path/to/ram .properties

I think that's it, anyways.

#4 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 - 20:44

I did the following command:

dev /memory@0 .properties

and it came up with the following:

Code:

name         memory
device_type  memory
reg          00000000 00000000
            00000000 02000000
slot-names   00000003
            DIMM0/J13
            DIMM1/J14
available:   00003000 01bfd000
dimm-info:   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
            00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
            00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
            00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
            8008040b 09024000 01a07500 80080001 8f020701 01000ef0 90386c1e 141e3c04
            00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 000012ef
            00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00006200
            00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 000066f6
dimm-types
            SDRAM
dimm-speeds
            PC100-333S

ok

It doesn't seem to mention size. Is it a different device I need to be looking at or is that large amount of binary supposed to tell me something.

#5 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 - 00:52

http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/arch_boot.html

It's in the reg section. My iBook has two 512MB modules and so has

00000000 20000000

20000000 20000000

Yours would appear to have one 512MB module installed.

#6 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 - 21:17

http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/arch_boot.html
It's in the reg section. My iBook has two 512MB modules and so has

00000000 20000000

20000000 20000000

Yours would appear to have one 512MB module installed.

That's interesting because my server seems to read the RAM stick as 32MB.

#7 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 - 21:42

That is odd - do you have more information? What system is this?

#8 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 - 21:43

OH.

Wait. I misread the number you posted. 02000000 isn't the same as 20000000... It's 1/16 of it. So one 32MB stick, yes.

#9 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 - 06:29

So what is the algorithm for deciphering these numbers?

#10 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 - 12:56

It's just hexadecimal bytes.

#11 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 - 20:10

It's just hexadecimal bytes.

Ah, thanks.