OK, Time to dig my brother up and kill him again.
How can I tell what generation and OS an IPad has? I have absolutely no passwords, and have no idea how to reset or discover the passwords for his IPad [and actually I think there is also a laptop, I need to rummage through the big box o’electronic crap I have estivating in the corner of the bedroom]
Help?
First of all, if he has a passcode on his iPad, and you don’t know it - DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GUESS IT!
Doing this wrong too many times will lock the iPad, and then you will really be SOL.
If you can get into the iPad, then you can get information on the model and the OS in Settings.
The serial number should be etched in tiny print in the aluminum somewhere on the back of the iPad. You can plug this into Apple’s warranty-checker and it will show you the model/generation of the iPad (as well as whether it’s under various types of warranty coverage). https://checkcoverage.apple.com It won’t tell you anything about which version of the OS it has on it now, but you’ll at least know what generation the hardware is.
Anything other than that…getting past the lock screen, for example, I don’t know. It probably depends on whether you want to save what’s on there, or just wipe it and set it up fresh.
Without the passcode, you can restore it to its original settings following the steps in Section 2 here. Note that this will wipe out everything on the iPad - settings, accounts, apps, etc. It’s a last resort.