Board Information

The board-info Subsystem

The board info subsystems provides information about hardware “boards”, such as embedded devices. Board device nodes can be found at /sys/class/board-info/board<N> where <N> is an automatically assigned number.

The information is read via udev properties (i.e. the uevent sysfs attribute). Possible properties are:

BOARD_INFO_FW_VER

The firmware version.

BOARD_INFO_HW_REV

The hardware revision.

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

The model name (usually the same as /proc/device-tree/model).

BOARD_INFO_ROM_REV

The ROM revision (e.g. for the boot ROM).

BOARD_INFO_SERIAL_NUM

The serial number.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

The type of board. This can be main for a mainboard (where the CPU lives) or aux for other boards attached to a mainboard.

Note

Not all hardware will have all properties.

LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Board Info

The EV3 board info driver provides the following properties:

BOARD_INFO_HW_REV

The hardware revision. This comes from the HWIDn resistors on the circuit board. (This value is not available in the official LEGO firmware.)

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

Should be “LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3”.

BOARD_INFO_ROM_REV

The boot ROM version. This is the same as “Brick HW” in the official LEGO firmware minus the formatting. e.g. “V0.60” in the official firmware becomes “6” here.

BOARD_INFO_SERIAL_NUM

The brick “ID”. This is also used as the Bluetooth MAC address in the official LEGO firmware.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

Always returns main.

Raspberry Pi Board Info

The Raspberry Pi board info driver provides the following properties:

BOARD_INFO_HW_REV

This is the same as “Revision” in /proc/cpuinfo.

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

Should be something similar to “Raspberry Pi …”. This is the same as /proc/device-tree/model.

BOARD_INFO_SERIAL_NUM

This is the same as “Serial” in /proc/cpuinfo.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

Always returns main.

BrickPi Board Info

The BrickPi board info driver provides the following properties:

BOARD_INFO_FW_VER

This will be “1” or “2”. Version 2 has (buggy) support for EV3 sensors.

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

Will be “Dexter Industries BrickPi”. This is the same for both BrickPi and BrickPi+. There is not a way to tell the difference.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

Always returns aux.

BrickPi3 Board Info

The BrickPi3 board info driver provides the following properties:

BOARD_INFO_FW_VER

The BrickPi3 firmware version.

BOARD_INFO_HW_REV

The BrickPi3 hardware revision.

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

Will be “Dexter Industries BrickPi3”.

BOARD_INFO_SERIAL_NUM

The BrickPi3 “ID”. Use this number in config.txt when stacking BrickPi3s.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

Always returns aux.

PiStorms Board Info

The PiSensors board info driver provides the following properties:

BOARD_INFO_FW_VER

The PiStorms firmware version.

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

Will be “PiStorms”.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

Always returns aux.

BeagleBone Board Info

The BeagleBone board info driver provides the following properties:

BOARD_INFO_HW_REV

Hardware version code. Refer to eeprom database.

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

Board Name.

BOARD_INFO_SERIAL_NUM

Serial Number. See BeagleBone SRM for details.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

Always returns main.

BeagleBone Cape Board Info

The BeagleBone cape board info driver provides the following properties for capes without an EEPROM:

BOARD_INFO_MODEL

The name of the cape. Known names are “FatcatLab EVB” and “QuestCape”.

BOARD_INFO_TYPE

Always returns aux.