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How to get good system information quickly on Linux.

Get Linux system information

To get good Linux system information, use these simple utilities.

1. Screenfetch.

Install screenfetch.

jason@jason-desktop:~$ sudo apt install screenfetch

Then run it to get information about your PC.

jason@jason-desktop:~$ screenfetch 
                          ./+o+-       jason@jason-desktop
                  yyyyy- -yyyyyy+      OS: Ubuntu 17.04 zesty
               ://+//////-yyyyyyo      Kernel: x86_64 Linux 4.10.0-35-generic
           .++ .:/++++++/-.+sss/`      Uptime: 1h 37m
         .:++o:  /++++++++/:--:/-      Packages: 2527
        o:+o+:++.`..```.-/oo+++++/     Shell: bash 4.4.7
       .:+o:+o/.          `+sssoo+/    Resolution: 1920x1080
  .++/+:+oo+o:`             /sssooo.   DE: MATE 1.18.0
 /+++//+:`oo+o               /::--:.   WM: Metacity (Marco)
 \+/+o+++`o++o               ++////.   GTK Theme: 'TraditionalOk' [GTK2/3]
  .++.o+++oo+:`             /dddhhh.   Icon Theme: mate
       .+.o+oo:.          `oddhhhh+    Font: Ubuntu 11
        \+.++o+o``-````.:ohdhhhhh+     CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K CPU @ 3.8GHz
         `:o+++ `ohhhhhhhhyo++os:      GPU: GeForce GT 740
           .o:`.syhhhhhhh/.oo++o`      RAM: 1986MiB / 11933MiB
               /osyyyyyyo++ooo+++/    
                   ````` +oo+++o\:    
                          `oo++.

2. hwinfo.

Install the hwinfo program to get hardware information.

jason@jason-desktop:~$ sudo apt install hwinfo

Then run it like this example, getting information about installed RAM.

jason@jason-desktop:~$ hwinfo --mem
01: None 00.0: 10102 Main Memory                                
  [Created at memory.74]
  Unique ID: rdCR.CxwsZFjVASF
  Hardware Class: memory
  Model: "Main Memory"
  Memory Range: 0x00000000-0x2e9d12fff (rw)
  Memory Size: 12 GB
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

Or this way to get info about all disks.

jason@jason-desktop:~$ hwinfo --disk

3. lspci.

The lspci command that comes with Linux, is very useful for getting a simple list of hardware installed in your machine. Below is an example.

jason@jason-desktop:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 05)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I217-V (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev d5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation B85 Express LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
02:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 04)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: D-Link System Inc RTL8139 Ethernet (rev 10)
04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 [GeForce GT 740] (rev a1)
04:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)

4. lshw.

The lshw command is run as root and will show a comprehensive listing of installed hardware and chipsets in your machine.

Here is an example. I use the sudo lshw -class network command to only list hardware in the network class.

jason@jason-desktop:~$ sudo lshw -class network
  *-network                 
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: Ethernet Connection I217-V
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 19
       bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
       logical name: enp0s25
       version: 05
       serial: d0:50:99:0d:ab:0f
       size: 1Gbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=3.2.6-k duplex=full firmware=0.13-4 ip=192.168.1.2 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1Gbit/s
       resources: irq:25 memory:f3200000-f321ffff memory:f3239000-f3239fff ioport:f040(size=32)
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8139 Ethernet
       vendor: D-Link System Inc
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: enp3s0
       version: 10
       serial: 00:13:46:3a:02:83
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 100Mbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=8139too driverversion=0.9.28 duplex=half latency=32 link=no maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:19 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:f3100000-f31000ff

These simple utilities are very useful for retrieving required system information. Screenfetch can be run by your .bashrc file and appear in every terminal, if this is wanted of course.

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