Is there a software way to obtain hardware revision?

[panda84]

Hi Olimex community,

I'd like to know if there's a way to tell from software which revision of a board I'm running.
I'm particularly interested in Olinuxino A20 Lime2. E.g. Some fuse bits, serial number range, or stuff like that.

Thanks.

[LubOlimex]

The hardware revision should be printed on the board. Alternatively, compare what you see on-board with the schematics provided. It is hard to determine the revision using the software, and it would be impossible to distinguish between some hardware revisions.

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX

[JohnS]

+1
software can tell such as CPU kind, but that's not going to reveal much about the board rev.

John

[panda84]

Thanks LubOlimex and JohnS, so the information is not stored in some low level bits.

[LubOlimex]

No. The hardware changes between different revisions are sometimes really tiny - replacing 47Ohm resistor with 33Ohm resistor for example. Or only changing a polygon or PCB route. I don't see how the software can distinguish such changes - such hardware changes don't affect the board's behavior.

The only way would be if we write the hardware revision in some of the memories, but this would probably cause more harm than good.

On the other hand some major differences between revisions can be detected (like different RAM memories, or different GbE controllers).

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX