This post will be dealing with gathering basic information of your system, as to provide the most common information that’s required when posting in forums/AskUbuntu and other such places.
lsb_release -a && uname -a
These two commands provide you with information about the the version of the Linux Kernel, the distribution, version of the distrubution, architecture and so on.
nits@nits-workstation:~$ lsb_release -a && uname -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 11.04
Release: 11.04
Codename: natty
Linux nits-workstation 2.6.38-11-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 12 21:18:14 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
sudo lshw
This command lists your hardware. The full output is not shown purely because of its enormous length. When this command is executed, it may take a few seconds to churn out the output, so don’t freak out.
nits@nits-workstation:~$ sudo lshw
nits-workstation
description: Computer
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.4 dmi-2.4 smp-1.4 smp
configuration: boot=normal cpus=1 uuid=A6BE2EF2-9DEE-11DC-B99B-00E0188501F7
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: D945GCNL
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
version: AAD97184-105
serial: BTNL74700DMK
slot: Base Board Chassis Location
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 0
bus info: cpu@0
version: 6.15.13
serial: 0000-06FD-0000-0000-0000-0000
slot: LGA 775
size: 2200MHz
capacity: 4GHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 200MHz
capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx x86-64 constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm cpufreq
configuration: id=1
lspci
This command lists all the devices connected to the PCI buses and information about the PCI bus also.
nits@nits-workstation:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01)
You can use this following command to get information about the Graphics card, lspci | grep VGA
nits@nits-workstation:~$ lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
lsusb
This command shows the list of USB devices. The following is the output when I connect my thumb-drive, bluetooth dongle and my webcam
nits@nits-workstation:~$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 15d9:0a4c Trust International B.V.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0951:162d Kingston Technology
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 18ec:3288 Arkmicro Technologies Inc.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
sudo blkid
This command shows information of the various block devices on the machine like the UUID, labels of devices, types and such information. (Useful for editing /etc/fstab
)
nits@nits-workstation:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="System Reserved" UUID="22F2DE0DF2DDE4D7" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: UUID="6E5E0E255E0DE6A5" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="TestDrive" UUID="e6e47b0b-4c88-43f9-9165-81b2c1af4d1c" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="Storage_1" UUID="42DC637EDC636B5D" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda6: LABEL="Storage_2" UUID="D890877C9087603C" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda8: UUID="b73e274d-fdb2-45ac-acfe-9fcb48631ff7" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda9: UUID="831304eb-1ee5-486c-a4a4-ef40b6c2d4dc" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda10: UUID="dc6a5b75-1dbd-45d7-aecb-7c20d830bbfa" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda11: UUID="9ba518d1-4a03-4b92-9b31-15db045c8cd4" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/cryptswap1: UUID="aa02511a-1b84-4b45-aa6b-d16d232f1ddb" TYPE="swap"
sudo fdisk -l
This command shows information of the different partitions present on the machine. (Useful for editing /etc/fstab
)
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x27edc0d3
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 13 11749 94268416 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 13979 60802 376101889 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 11749 13979 17911808 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 13979 27033 104857600 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 27034 40088 104857600 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 60553 60802 1999872 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 40088 42578 19998720 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 42578 43823 9999360 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 43823 50047 49998848 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 50047 60552 84381696 83 Linux
Partition table entries are not in disk order
Disk /dev/dm-0: 2047 MB, 2047868928 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 248 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00f39708
cat /etc/fstab
This command outputs the contents of the /etc/fstab
file
nits@nits-workstation:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda8 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sda9 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
#/dev/sda7 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/mapper/cryptswap1 none swap sw 0 0
#
#
#Nitin's Additions
#
#Storage_1
UUID=42DC637EDC636B5D /mnt/Storage_1 ntfs-3g auto,users,uid=1000,gid=100,dmask=027,fmask=137,utf8 0 0
#Storage_2
UUID=D890877C9087603C /mnt/Storage_2 ntfs-3g auto,users,uid=1000,gid=100,dmask=027,fmask=137,utf8 0 0
#Workshop
UUID=dc6a5b75-1dbd-45d7-aecb-7c20d830bbfa /mnt/Workshop ext4 relatime 0 0
#DlCenter
UUID=9ba518d1-4a03-4b92-9b31-15db045c8cd4 /mnt/DlCenter ext4 relatime 0 0
#TestDrive
UUID=e6e47b0b-4c88-43f9-9165-81b2c1af4d1c /mnt/TestDrive ext4 relatime 0 0
sudo mount -l
This command shows information of which partitions are mounted and where they are mounted.
nits@nits-workstation:~$ sudo mount -l
/dev/sda8 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda5 on /mnt/Storage_1 type fuseblk (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions) [Storage_1]
/dev/sda6 on /mnt/Storage_2 type fuseblk (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions) [Storage_2]
/dev/sda10 on /mnt/Workshop type ext4 (rw,relatime,commit=0)
/dev/sda11 on /mnt/DlCenter type ext4 (rw,relatime,commit=0)
/dev/sda4 on /mnt/TestDrive type ext4 (rw,relatime,commit=0) [TestDrive]
/dev/sda9 on /home type ext4 (rw,commit=0)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/home/nits/.Private on /home/nits type ecryptfs (ecryptfs_check_dev_ruid,ecryptfs_cipher=aes,ecryptfs_key_bytes=16,ecryptfs_unlink_sigs,ecryptfs_sig=d66442a87cac6932,ecryptfs_fnek_sig=4d92224358eba517)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/nits/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=nits)
cat /proc/cpuinfo
This command displays the information about the CPU of the machine.
nits@nits-workstation:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz
stepping : 13
cpu MHz : 1200.000
cache size : 2048 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm dts
bogomips : 4389.23
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:
cat /proc/meminfo
This command shows you information of the memory in your machine.
nits@nits-workstation:~$ cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 2049852 kB
MemFree: 82412 kB
Buffers: 185072 kB
Cached: 896260 kB
SwapCached: 80 kB
Active: 1083608 kB
Inactive: 778592 kB
Active(anon): 680916 kB
Inactive(anon): 334188 kB
Active(file): 402692 kB
Inactive(file): 444404 kB
Unevictable: 16 kB
Mlocked: 16 kB
HighTotal: 1177300 kB
HighFree: 3392 kB
LowTotal: 872552 kB
LowFree: 79020 kB
SwapTotal: 1999868 kB
SwapFree: 1999356 kB
Dirty: 896 kB
Writeback: 0 kB
AnonPages: 780844 kB
Mapped: 157744 kB
Shmem: 234236 kB
Slab: 50924 kB
SReclaimable: 30880 kB
SUnreclaim: 20044 kB
KernelStack: 3856 kB
PageTables: 14304 kB
NFS_Unstable: 0 kB
Bounce: 0 kB
WritebackTmp: 0 kB
CommitLimit: 3024792 kB
Committed_AS: 4722356 kB
VmallocTotal: 122880 kB
VmallocUsed: 28444 kB
VmallocChunk: 44368 kB
HardwareCorrupted: 0 kB
HugePages_Total: 0
HugePages_Free: 0
HugePages_Rsvd: 0
HugePages_Surp: 0
Hugepagesize: 4096 kB
DirectMap4k: 20472 kB
DirectMap4M: 888832 kB
Download the official 2buntu app for both Android and Ubuntu Touch.