How does Ubuntu know the make and model of my laptop?

Question

I've just installed 15.04 on my new laptop, and the installer suggested a computer name of carl-lenovo-g710.

The laptop is indeed a Lenovo G710, but how did the installer know that?

I tried sudo lshw | grep -i product, which yielded:

product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU 3550M @ 2.30GHz
product: Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller
product: 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
product: Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI
product: xHCI Host Controller
product: xHCI Host Controller
product: Flash Card Reader/Writer
product: Card  Reader
product: Lenovo EasyCamera
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2
product: EHCI Host Controller
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #2
product: QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #3
product: QCA8172 Fast Ethernet
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1
product: EHCI Host Controller
product: HM86 Express LPC Controller
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode]
product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller
product: DVDRAM GTA0N
product: ST1000LM024 HN-M

Then I tried sudo lshw | grep -i 710, which turned up nothing.

So lshw doesn't know the make and model. So where is this information stored?

Answer 1

The Ubuntu installer is called ubiquity. The changelog of ubiquity 2.3.18 mentions

"Use dmidecode to get a more unique suffix for the hostname (LP: #628087)."

The exact python code is:

def dmimodel():
    model = ''
    kwargs = {}
    if os.geteuid() != 0:
        # Silence annoying warnings during the test suite.
        kwargs['stderr'] = open('/dev/null', 'w')
    try:
        proc = subprocess.Popen(
            ['dmidecode', '--quiet', '--string', 'system-manufacturer'],
            stdout=subprocess.PIPE, universal_newlines=True, **kwargs)
        manufacturer = proc.communicate()[0]
        if not manufacturer:
            return
        manufacturer = manufacturer.lower()
        if 'to be filled' in manufacturer:
            # Don't bother with products in development.
            return
        if 'bochs' in manufacturer or 'vmware' in manufacturer:
            model = 'virtual machine'
            # VirtualBox sets an appropriate system-product-name.
        else:
            if 'lenovo' in manufacturer or 'ibm' in manufacturer:
                key = 'system-version'
            else:
                key = 'system-product-name'
            proc = subprocess.Popen(
                ['dmidecode', '--quiet', '--string', key],
                stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                universal_newlines=True)
            model = proc.communicate()[0]
        if 'apple' in manufacturer:
            # MacBook4,1 - strip the 4,1
            model = re.sub('[^a-zA-Z\s]', '', model)
        # Replace each gap of non-alphanumeric characters with a dash.
        # Ensure the resulting string does not begin or end with a dash.
        model = re.sub('[^a-zA-Z0-9]+', '-', model).rstrip('-').lstrip('-')
        if model.lower() == 'not-available':
            return
        if model.lower() == "To be filled by O.E.M.".lower():
            return
    except Exception:
        syslog.syslog(syslog.LOG_ERR, 'Unable to determine the model from DMI')
    finally:
        if 'stderr' in kwargs:
            kwargs['stderr'].close()
    return model

LP: #628087

Edit: You can browse yourself the code by downloading it with:

cd /tmp
apt-get source ubiquity

Answer 2

dmidecode shows all information about your system. Take a look using the command:

sudo dmidecode | grep -A 9 "System Information"