Linux hardware information commands.
There are many commands available for Linux that allow the user to get information about their hardware. Here is a handful of them.
The lshw command is very useful for getting information about your installed hardware.
ubuntu ~ $ sudo lshw -short H/W path Device Class Description ============================================================================================================================================== system HVM domU () /0 bus Motherboard /0/0 memory 96KiB BIOS /0/1 processor Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2676 v3 @ 2.40GHz /0/2 memory System Memory /0/2/0 memory 1GiB DIMM RAM /0/2/1 memory 1GiB DIMM RAM /0/3 memory 96KiB BIOS /0/4 processor CPU /0/5 memory System Memory /0/74567486745764985674876397573487563653874653875634865378653653485364753748653465348765348653865348756487365 generic /0/6 memory /0/7 memory /0/100 bridge 440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] /0/100/1 bridge 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II] /0/100/1.1 storage 82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II] /0/100/1.3 bridge 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI /0/100/2 display GD 5446 /0/100/3 generic Xen Platform Device /1 eth0 network Ethernet interface |
The lshw utility may also be used to get information about a certain item like the CPU. Just use the -class parameter and the name of a certain class, i.e memory.
ubuntu ~ $ sudo lshw -class processor *-cpu:0 description: CPU product: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2676 v3 @ 2.40GHz vendor: Intel Corp. physical id: 1 bus info: cpu@0 slot: CPU 1 size: 2394MHz capacity: 2394MHz width: 64 bits capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx rdtscp x86-64 constant_tsc rep_good nopl xtopology eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq ssse3 fma cx16 pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand hypervisor lahf_lm abm xsaveopt fsgsbase bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid *-cpu:1 description: CPU vendor: Intel physical id: 4 bus info: cpu@1 slot: CPU 1 size: 2394MHz capacity: 2394MHz |
Another useful command is lscpu. This lists all of your installed CPU(s).
Architecture: x86_64 CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit Byte Order: Little Endian CPU(s): 4 On-line CPU(s) list: 0-3 Thread(s) per core: 2 Core(s) per socket: 2 Socket(s): 1 NUMA node(s): 1 Vendor ID: GenuineIntel CPU family: 6 Model: 37 Stepping: 5 CPU MHz: 933.000 BogoMIPS: 4787.87 Virtualisation: VT-x L1d cache: 32K L1 cache: 32K L2 cache: 256K L3 cache: 3072K NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-3 |
Use the lsusb command to list all installed USB devices. This is a good way to find out what hardware a laptop has easily.
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 054c:05ba Sony Corp. Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 003: ID 064e:a219 Suyin Corp. 1.3M WebCam (notebook emachines E730, Acer sub-brand) Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub |
The lsblk command will show all of the block devices in your machine.
[homer@localhost ~]$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 212.3G 0 part ├─sda2 8:2 0 32.2G 0 part └─sda3 8:3 0 218.6G 0 part / sdb 8:16 0 465.8G 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 430M 0 part ├─sdb2 8:18 0 11.7G 0 part ├─sdb3 8:19 0 451.2G 0 part ├─sdb4 8:20 0 1K 0 part └─sdb5 8:21 0 2.5G 0 part sdc 8:32 0 1.8T 0 disk ├─sdc1 8:33 0 1002.3G 0 part ├─sdc2 8:34 0 683.4G 0 part └─sdc3 8:35 0 177.3G 0 part sdd 8:48 0 1.8T 0 disk └─sdd1 8:49 0 1.8T 0 part sdi 8:128 0 1.8T 0 disk └─sdi1 8:129 0 1.8T 0 part /run/media/homer/Seagate Backup Plus Drive sdj 8:144 1 7.3G 0 disk ├─sdj1 8:145 1 6.8G 0 part /run/media/homer/MEDIA └─sdj2 8:146 1 502M 0 part sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom |
use the hdparm -i command to find out about your installed hard disks. I am pointing it at the /dev/sda disk to see what information I may glean from it.
[root@localhost Documents]# hdparm -i /dev/sda /dev/sda: Model=ST3500418AS, FwRev=CC38, SerialNo=9VM6XCTQ Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=16384kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=off CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=976773168 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7 * signifies the current active mode |
Here is a related command. The drill command allows you to get information about DNS.
[root@localhost Documents]# drill ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, rcode: NOERROR, id: 46069 ;; flags: qr rd ra ; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 13, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 14 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;; . IN NS ;; ANSWER SECTION: . 469971 IN NS c.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS l.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS a.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS d.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS j.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS k.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS h.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS m.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS g.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS f.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS e.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS i.root-servers.net. . 469971 IN NS b.root-servers.net. ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION: a.root-servers.net. 124370 IN A 198.41.0.4 a.root-servers.net. 124412 IN AAAA 2001:503:ba3e::2:30 b.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 192.228.79.201 c.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 192.33.4.12 d.root-servers.net. 125092 IN A 199.7.91.13 d.root-servers.net. 262573 IN AAAA 2001:500:2d::d e.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 192.203.230.10 f.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 192.5.5.241 f.root-servers.net. 357784 IN AAAA 2001:500:2f::f g.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 192.112.36.4 h.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 128.63.2.53 h.root-servers.net. 357784 IN AAAA 2001:500:1::803f:235 i.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 192.36.148.17 j.root-servers.net. 125091 IN A 192.58.128.30 ;; Query time: 70 msec ;; SERVER: 192.168.1.1 ;; WHEN: Mon Jan 27 22:03:21 2014 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 500 |
This command will list all Digital TV devices in your Linux system.
[root@localhost Documents]# lsdvb lsdvb: Simple utility to list PCI/PCIe DVB devices Version: 0.0.4 Copyright (C) Manu Abraham usb (0:0 -761274016:32767) on PCI Domain:0 Bus:0 Device:1 Function:0 DEVICE:0 ADAPTER:0 FRONTEND:0 (Realtek RTL2832 (DVB-T)) FE_OFDM Fmin=174MHz Fmax=862MHz |
And this very good command will list all installed hardware on your system that is on the PCI bus. As shown in this screenshot, you used to use the cat /proc/pci command, but that is deprecated these days. That screenshot is of a KDE desktop on Debian 3.0 in case you are wondering what distribution that is. I was using that on an old Pentium II 350 MMX with 192 Megabytes of RAM. You can comper the hardware specs of that old machine to my current one.
[homer@localhost ~]$ lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 12) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 12) 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06) 00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB Universal Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB Universal Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1a.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB Universal Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06) 00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06) 00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06) 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB Universal Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB Universal Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB Universal Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a6) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06) 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Turks XT [Radeon HD 6670/7670] 01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Turks/Whistler HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6000 Series] 03:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB363 SATA/IDE Controller (rev 02) 03:00.1 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB363 SATA/IDE Controller (rev 02) 04:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 03) 05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 03) 06:01.0 Ethernet controller: D-Link System Inc RTL8139 Ethernet (rev 10) 06:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) 06:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link) 3f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02) 3f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02) 3f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02) 3f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02) 3f:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02) 3f:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02) |