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If I know the device's model or vendor. Is there any direct way by which I can know the operating system of this device (e.g through the device driver or something like that? ). For example, I will quote an answer for a previous question I asked in: What is the difference between the firmware and the operating system?

Someone have said:

Hardware vendors commonly use a derivative of linux (e.g. Cisco IOS)

How can I know this. I know a name for one cisco device but I do not have the device and I need to check what is its operating system (even if it is widely known that it is Linux, I need to check this myself). How can I get this piece of information ? I checked the companies site and google, and I can not find any answer.

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user2192774
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    It is solely the decision of the manufacturer whether to publish this information or not. If it is not available the there are no way to know this. – NeonGlow Apr 04 '13 at 04:24
  • I don't agree that "hardware vendors commonly use a derivative of linux." But one way to tell if Linux (or somekind of GPL code) is embedded has been to look for the GPL statement. E.G. on some Panasonic TVs there's a screen (down in the Setup menus) that displays the GPL, and the GPL is also printed in the owner's manuals. – sawdust Apr 04 '13 at 06:28
  • You can obtain the *binary* from a firmware update or using a *flash programmer* by un-soldering the chip and reading from the device. A simple `strings` command on the binary will give a lot of information. Hex editors and other programs will also facilitate this simple *reverese engineering* task. Often *firmware updates* are compresses so do a frequency analysis on the *update* to determine how to get plain text. – artless noise Apr 05 '13 at 14:22

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If the terms of the GNU Public License are complied with, it should be reasonably clear if a device is using any GPL code, including Linux, moreover the source code should be available too.

If the device uses an OS that is not open source, then even if the information were available to you, it is unlikely to be particularly useful except perhaps in respect to applying manufacturer's firmware updates.

Linux is by no means that common in embedded systems in general. It is commonly used in certain types of device, such as routers, STB's and NAS's. Often these devices have a web-server interface through which version information is usually available, but there is no common method of accessing this information, you'd have to access the particular URL for the device and parse the HTML.

Clifford
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  • Do you think the device driver contain the GPL statement? Any idea where can I see the GPL statement? The point is, I do not have the device so I can see the startup or anything else, but I can download the driver which is available online. – user2192774 Apr 04 '13 at 14:21
  • "Linux is by no means that common in embedded systems in general.". Do you mean Linux is widely used in embedded systems or not widely used? Excuse my English language but I did not get the meaning. – user2192774 Apr 05 '13 at 00:08
  • @user2192774: [see this](http://eetimes.com/ContentEETimes/Images/news/20130227pcEmbeddedSurvey841.jpg). There is no way of telling you anything about your device without knowing what it is. Look at the documentation and labelling for any clues. If it is a network device, look at how it presents itself on teh network. – Clifford Apr 05 '13 at 16:16
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You need a serial cable to hack into the device or read the binary from the flash and examine the hexdump. I have a STB in my home. The provider doesn't reveal the OS. There are competitors out there who need such information to take you down.

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