Finding System Information in Linux

Jarret B

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
340
Reaction score
367
Credits
11,754
Many people at some point may need to find specific information about their system. There are many ways to get specific information about your system, but some may take a while to remember or look up the command.

In this article, I want to cover a program called ‘inxi’, which helps get all the system information in one place.

Installation

Installation is a simple process from a command line for Ubuntu:

sudo apt install inxi -y

For any distro of Linux, use the proper command to install a package and use the name ‘inxi’. Red Hat and CentOS require the EPEL repository, but Fedora uses the standard repository.

There is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for ‘inxi’, but we’ll look at that after we cover the Command-Line Interface (CLI).

Using ‘inxi’

You use the ‘inxi’ program from a terminal. To see the initial help information, use the command ‘inxi --help’. There is more information given out here. Let’s go over the highlights to give you a start on using ‘inxi’.

Entering the command ‘inxi’with no parameters will return information for the CPU, CPU Speed, Kernel Version, Memory, Memory Usage, Storage, Storage Usage, Number of Processes, Shell Type and ‘inxi’ Version.

Let’s look at some parameters we can use to get more specific information from the program.

Audio

For audio hardware information, use the parameter ‘-A’.

The information returned includes the hardware, driver, services and whether the services are running.

Battery

For systems that have a battery, this option can give information on the battery state. The parameter is ‘-B’.

You should see the Battery ID, Charge (Percentage) and the Condition of the battery. The Condition shows the maximum that the battery has charged. If you can charge the battery to 100%, then it shows 100%. If you can never get the battery to charge over 71% then the Condition is 71%. Older batteries may not be able to fully charge and this can show that the battery is needing replaced.

CPU

CPU information can be very important for some people. To get the CPU information, use the ‘-C’ parameter.

The information displayed should contain the CPU Type (number of cores), Model, Bits (32 or 64), Type, Cache of L2, Average Speed (MHz), Min/Max Speed and Speed of Each Core.

You should see that the information from this output can be useful to learn about a system.

Disk

With the parameter ‘-D’, you can get information about the Storage media devices.

The output will contain information for Each Storage device, including USB. The output includes information for each device, including Total Space, Used Space, ID (sda, sdb, nvme01, etc), Vendor, Model and Size.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth information is found with the ‘-E’ parameter. Sometimes a Bluetooth issue can be caused by a difference in the version number of the transmitter and devices.

The data you get back includes Device, Type, Driver, Report, ID, State, Address and BlueTooth Version. I should note that the Bluetooth Versions I got back on various systems need you to add 2 to the value. On one system I got back the version number of 3.0, but it should have been 5. Another gave me 2.1, but it should have been 4.1.

Full Report

You can get an output of nearly all the parameters by using ‘-F’.

The output includes all upper-cased letters except ‘-J’ and ‘-W’. This may get a lot of quick information, but then you need to sift through it. Sometimes, it is easier to get the individual information one at a time.

Graphics

If a system is experiencing issues with graphics, such as a game, the parameter ‘-G’ can give you information. Sometimes, when you are trying to get troubleshooting assistance, you could be asked for some of this information. Do note that a webcam could show up here if you have one.

The output that you should see will be the Device, Driver, Type (if webcam), Display (x11), Server (X.org), Version, Driver, Loaded, Unloaded, GPU, Resolution, OpenGL Renderer and OpenGL Version.

Network

To get network information, Ethernet and Wi-Fi, etc. can be found with the ‘-i’ parameter. The program requires you to first install the ‘ifconfig’ or ‘ip’ tool (net-tools).

You should get a section for each device. Each section includes Device Name, Driver, Device Port Name (wlo1, eno1, etc), State, MAC Address, IP Address, Type, Scope (there will be a Device Port Name and the rest for each Virtual Port).

Information

The parameter to get some basic information is ‘-I’.

The information provided is Processes, Uptime, Memory, Memory Used, Shell and ‘inxi’ version.

USB

USB information can be useful at times, and can be obtained with the ‘-J’ parameter.

The output shows the USB Hubs, Hub Info, Hub Ports, Revision, the Devices on each Hub, Device Info, Device Type and Revision.

If your system has specific ports that are USB 3.0 and others that are USB 2.0, you can see if a device may be in the wrong port.

Machine Information

Information about your system can be handy. Especially for laptops, the system model can be helpful in looking up hardware specs for upgrading. To get this information, use the ‘-M’ parameter.

Details given include the System Type (Laptop, Desktop, etc), System (manufacturer), Product (model), version, Serial Number, Motherboard (mobo), Model, Version, Serial, UEFI, Version and Date.

Notice that Serial Number is listed for both the system and motherboard. To see the Serial Numbers, you must use ‘sudo’.

Network (basic)

To see just the basic hardware and driver information for network devices, use the ‘-N’ parameter. More detail is given by the parameter ‘-i’.

The output lists each device and its driver.

Partitions

Disk partition information can be handy on a system at times. Sometimes, to view this information, I tend to open ‘gparted’.

Information for the partitions is listed as an ID for each partition. Each ID contains the following: Location, Size, Amount Used (%), File System and Device (/dev/sda1).

The information only includes local partitions and not USB external storage devices.

Repositories

Linux Repositories can be a mess at times. You may try to load a package that won’t download. If you know which repository it is located, you can see if the repository is active. Use the parameter ‘-r’.

The details show the list of repositories. The active, or working, ones are listed first. Inactive repositories are listed last.

Sensors

This is basically the internal temperature sensors in a system. Some systems may have more or less sensors than others. Use the parameter ‘-s’.

The output can list the temperature of the CPU, PCH (chipset), Motherboard (mobo) and even the Fan Speed. The temperatures are listed in Celsius.

System Information

The System Information can be beneficial when needing information about the Operating System (OS). Use the ‘-S’ parameter.

The detailed information includes the Host Name, Kernel Version, Bits (32 or 64), Desktop Software and Distro.

This information is useful when posting issues on Linux.org.

Various

You can mix the parameters together to get more information in one command. For example, if you want to see the information on the Graphics System (-G) and the USB System (-J), you can use the command ‘inxi -GJ’. You can add more parameters as you need.

There are other parameters available, just check the ‘help’ information (--help parameter).

Graphical ‘inxi’

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is located at https://store.kde.org/p/1303949/. Click on the link to ‘Files’ and then click on the download icon. The GUI is a ‘.deb’ file for Debian systems. Open the ‘.deb’ file with a Package Installer and click on ‘Install’.

The GUI can be seen in Figure 1. Here, you just click on the option you want to get information for and it will pop up.

Figure 1.jpg

FIGURE 1

The GUI can help by not requiring you to remember the various parameters for the information you need.

Just be aware that some options in the GUI may not be present on each system. For example, if the system has no sensors, then the ‘Sensor’ option may not appear.

If you choose ‘Save All’, you will be asked for a location. Once selected, press ‘OK’ and a text file is created named ‘inxi’ in the desired location.

Conclusion

The program ‘inxi’ can be very handy in finding the specific information you need about your system.

Install it and the GUI if you want and try it.
 


if you want the current upstream of inxi, which is pinxi and are on vanilla Arch , you can use a MAKEPKG I wrote .

put the zip in home , unzip pinxi.zip, cd into dir pinxi and run:
Code:
makepkg
and follow instrcutions which will be to download. It will install to the righr place on arch .Don't run makepkg with command sudo, its not needed
sga256 is currently correct
sha256sums=('dc3670c4197b6978b47324ccdfac14ec5dc7fccb603a26de9753f4bef480cbfb')
 

Attachments

  • pinix.zip
    625 bytes · Views: 537

Members online


Latest posts

Top