Is it appropriate for a non IS trained manager to direct the information systems function?

Yes - Management of an IT department is often handled by a non-technical manager. Almost all of my managers have been non-technical. However they have all been excellent managers of people and planners of projects.

On the other side of the coin I know of some highly technical people that are really poor managers and don't work with people well.

Good management is a different skill set. Yes, there are technical people that can do both but I have not seen it very often. I know, for myself, that I am not a good manager and would never aspire to handle that position.

Device manager shows you devices and drivers installed , there are also hidden items that can be found in devices manager like bad driver installs. - system information (start - run -msinfo32) displays more detailed information about the overall system like the software information and system device conflicts, you can find a larger asortment of information all in a detailed format in msinfo32 but if you know where to look in device manager and a few screens deep you can find about 60% of the same info you would find in sysinfo. dxdiag is for troubleshooting directx software issues and doesnt really contain much other info.