Entry

Does anyone know how to read the PCI configuration space with Python under Win 98 or Linux?

Jul 29th, 2000 21:25
unknown unknown, Shae Erisson, Erno Kuusela, Moshe Zadka, Tim Roberts

Under linux you have 3 options:
* use the lspci program. try lspci -x or lspci -vvv
* read the files under /proc/bus/pci/ (this is actually what the lspci 
program does, but using lspci might save you from future format changes 
in these files...)
* read /proc/pci
  do this if you are using an older version of linux (2.0.x)
  cat /proc/pci
  Or, in Python,
  open("/proc/pci").read()
Doing this under Windows requires a C extension, and even then it isn't
easy.  Under Windows 98, you can scan the BIOS for the PCI entry point 
and call it directly.  Under Windows NT, even this doesn't work; you 
need the help of a kernel driver.
Much of the interesting PCI information is buried in the registry, which 
IS accessible from Python.