[HN Gopher] Linux commands for advanced hardware and system info
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       Linux commands for advanced hardware and system info
        
       Author : nxss
       Score  : 121 points
       Date   : 2022-06-27 14:23 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (nixsanctuary.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (nixsanctuary.com)
        
       | shmerl wrote:
       | For lsusb and lspci you might need sudo for more detailed output.
        
       | ssd8991 wrote:
        
       | rkwasny wrote:
       | Hi, small fix:
       | 
       | $ hdparm -tT /dev/sdN - partition reading & writing benchmark
       | 
       | It will just benchmark reading, not writing, perfectly safe to
       | run it on a disk with data.
        
       | rahen wrote:
       | They should have mentioned udevadm too. How do they debug their
       | udev rules without it?
       | 
       | Overall a low quality article IMHO, it's just basic knowledge in
       | a fancy dress.
        
       | mmh0000 wrote:
       | hdparm is an "okay" tool for a quick read speed benchmark, but if
       | you really want to benchmark Linux storage, its hard to beat
       | fio[0]
       | 
       | [0] https://github.com/axboe/fio
        
       | jchristian- wrote:
       | > For Advanced Hardware and System Info
       | 
       | This first command is literally `uname`, one of the most basic
       | and known commands...
        
       | grandchild wrote:
       | `lstopo` is cool too for bigger servers
        
       | nikisweeting wrote:
       | There's a similar much longer list compiled here too:
       | https://docs.monadical.com/s/system-monitoring-tools
        
         | theden wrote:
         | This one is much better!
        
       | marcodiego wrote:
       | Something I miss about IRIX: hwgfs. Nowadays, /sys mostly makes
       | up for that, I like the fact that I mess with my leds from a
       | simple filesystem, but it is nowhere near as tidy was IRIX' hwgfs
       | was.
        
       | emersion wrote:
       | For display chips in GPUs, there is drm_info. For GL/Vulkan,
       | eglinfo/glinfo/vulkaninfo.
        
         | jandrese wrote:
         | glxinfo is also handy, especially if you aren't sure which
         | driver the system is using.
        
       | snarfy wrote:
       | The article picture almost had a Droste effect, almost.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droste_effect
        
         | deathanatos wrote:
         | ... and is really _weird_ ; who has have a picture of
         | themselves, taken from behind, as a desktop background?
         | 
         | I realize it's pointless splash art. Also do which articles
         | wouldn't bother with pointless splash that has nothing to do
         | with the article. Half the screens feature ... macOS.
        
       | traceroute66 wrote:
       | I have to say the title is a bit clickbaity.
       | 
       | Since when were
       | uname,dmesg,fdisk,gdisk,parted,blkid,lsblk,mount,df and /proc
       | "advanced" commands ?
       | 
       | A newbie will likely need to use all of them within the first
       | week of them ever using Linux.
        
         | mhh__ wrote:
         | If you install Ubuntu or any other user friendly distro you
         | might not _ever_ use any of them.
         | 
         | I know what they are, obviously, but I don't think I've needed
         | any of them other than uname because I don't know where Ubuntu
         | prints the kernel version.
        
           | antisthenes wrote:
           | > If you install Ubuntu or any other user friendly distro you
           | might not ever use any of them.
           | 
           | Maybe if you install Ubuntu and then never use any program
           | other than your browser to check email and whatever the
           | built-in office suite is, and also never change any settings.
           | 
           | But then again that type of user will never Google for
           | "advanced Linux commands" in the first place. They're just
           | going to ask the person who installed Ubuntu for them.
        
         | worik wrote:
         | I've been using Linux since 1995.
         | 
         | I had never heard of `inxi`. 21k lines of Perl, not Bash....
        
         | hutzlibu wrote:
         | "A newbie will likely need to use all of them within the first
         | week of them ever using Linux."
         | 
         | And then some people wonder, why the year of the linux desktop
         | still has not arrived. But luckily no, unless things went very
         | wrong, a newbie will not have to invoke those commands - and if
         | he indeed has to, he or she will likely just give up anyway.
         | 
         | (Btw. I use linux since years and so far only had to use half
         | of the listed commands.)
        
           | krylon wrote:
           | I concur. I've been using GNU/Linux on the desktop (and
           | server) for 20 years, I don't think I ever used blkid or
           | lsblk.
           | 
           | fdisk, on the other hand, was a thing in the DOS/Windows
           | world, too, back in the day, and dealing with partitioning is
           | something you are going to do regardless of the OS you are
           | using.
        
             | hnlmorg wrote:
             | The DOS fdisk was a very different beast to its Linux/UNIX
             | counterpart.
        
             | mbiondi wrote:
             | lsblk is super helpful and I've used it many, many times
             | since I found it about 5 years ago.
             | 
             | inxi is a new one for me.
             | 
             | Command usage / knowledge depends on what you need and why.
        
               | krylon wrote:
               | > inxi is a new one for me.
               | 
               | For me, too. I was surprised to find it already installed
               | on my system. :)
        
             | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
             | > I concur. I've been using GNU/Linux on the desktop (and
             | server) for 20 years, I don't think I ever used blkid or
             | lsblk.
             | 
             | How do you write disk images (like, if you're installing a
             | new machine and you need to write the installer to a USB
             | drive)? I always use lsblk to find the right device name,
             | then dd to write it.
        
               | krylon wrote:
               | I use dd, too. But I usually know what device corresponds
               | to the USB drive. If my laptop only has one HDD/SSD, it's
               | /dev/sda, so a USB drive will show up as /dev/sdb. My
               | desktop has two internal SSDs, sda and sdb, so the USB
               | drive is going to be sdc.
        
         | rootlocus wrote:
         | I have interviewed "senior devops" candidates that didn't know
         | what procfs was.
         | 
         | edit: We didn't consider them for the role.
        
           | geekbird wrote:
           | Actually, a lot of the people new to DevOps who come from the
           | Dev side don't know the Linux internals. All they know is
           | TF/CF, k8s, Docker and either AWS or GCP. If you asked them
           | to set up a raid array they'd look at you like you just grew
           | a second head. If you asked them how to tell what modules the
           | kernel was running, they wouldn't be able to find out without
           | a lot of googling.
           | 
           | The fact that DevOps does encompass a lot of fundamental
           | Linux system knowledge is glossed over by a lot of people.
           | Then again, some of them don't know any other way to package
           | and deploy software except in containers.
        
           | metadat wrote:
           | Hopefully they didn't get the green light..
        
           | pengaru wrote:
           | > I have interviewed "senior devops" candidates that didn't
           | know what procfs was.
           | 
           | We've all had our fair share of encountering dishonest
           | interviewees/resumes.
        
           | dijit wrote:
           | Either we have abstracted away the operating system so this
           | is a non-issue or those candidates are simply not qualified.
           | 
           | If you're senior then I would definitely expect you to know
           | those commands, if you're senior you've been around long
           | enough that they were relevant. Even if they're not now.
        
           | jotm wrote:
           | I know what it is, do I qualify for at least a junior
           | position? :D
        
         | cal85 wrote:
         | You're already advanced then.
         | 
         | Your claim about "within the first week" is a bit silly. I've
         | used Linux on and off for the last 15-20 years. Just
         | occasionally, to get certain things done in my development
         | work. And I couldn't tell you what any of those commands do
         | (although I've probably used them a few times by copying and
         | pasting). Advanced is subjective.
        
           | jethro_tell wrote:
           | It may be true that people don't need to use these commands
           | in the first week. Still doesn't make them advanced. Perhaps
           | intermediate but I think even that is a stretch.
           | 
           | You can drive a car and never open the hood if you want.
           | Opening the hood to change the oil still doesn't make you
           | advanced in any way shape or form. Doing your own breaks is a
           | step further but it's still pretty basic.
           | 
           | Swapping your engine, is advanced, redoing your suspension is
           | advanced. You can't just call using an oil pan and a wrench
           | advanced because most people don't it.
        
             | cal85 wrote:
             | I'd settle for intermediate.
        
           | A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote:
           | I think I disagree. I stumbled on lspci specifically, because
           | I built my new PC with dual gpu ( to use real gpu in VMs ). I
           | do not consider myself an advanced user ( maybe intermediate
           | ).
           | 
           | I basically agree with OP. Advanced does mean advanced. It
           | does not mean using couple of simple commands picked from one
           | google search. To me it means being able to think a little
           | beyond the basics and putting things together.
           | 
           | Advanced is subjective, but we should not water it down to
           | basically a list of basic commands...
        
           | bayindirh wrote:
           | I'm also using Linux for ~20 years, and used these commands
           | periodically on my personal systems and at work daily.
           | 
           | None of these commands are advanced. Yes, they might not be
           | "very beginner level", but listing your partitions,
           | PCI/USB/SCSI/FireWire devices, and learning other stuff about
           | your system is not advanced level stuff.
           | 
           | Most of these commands equals to right clicking something and
           | opening "Properties" panel, nothing more. Parted is a
           | partition editor though. You might wipe your system
           | accidentally if you don't know what you're doing.
           | 
           | The advanced stuff starts with interrupt tables, CPU
           | frequency hysteresis settings, writing custom governors for
           | cqufreqd or starting to isolate your services under cgroups
           | for resource management.
           | 
           | Edit: Just used lsblk & mount to see where a disk is and what
           | filesystem it has, literally 3 minutes after writing this
           | comment.
        
           | blown_gasket wrote:
           | It depends on what the person was trying to accomplish in
           | their first week of using Linux. Did they see a certification
           | book for LPIC or Linux+ and get interested to go through it?
           | They will for sure hit these commands in the first week of
           | using Linux than.
           | 
           | Using Linux for objectives that are not Linux administration
           | you will probably not hit these commands. You probably won't
           | be dealing with the partitioning of your hard disk if you use
           | a graphical installer and let it partition things
           | automatically. That knocks - fdisk, gparted, parted, lsblk,
           | and blkid off the list.
           | 
           | I wouldn't even expect someone that uses Linux as an
           | alternative to Windows to use ps, netstat, or top. I would
           | expect them to encounter the package management commands
           | though: apt, pacman, yum, dnf.
        
       | xpuente wrote:
       | numactl is missing there. Information about memory topology is
       | quite important.
        
         | zekrioca wrote:
         | It is not available in some distributions and one needs to
         | install it (e.g., on Ubuntu/Debian: # apt install numact).
        
       | gorgoiler wrote:
       | Roll up! Roll up! Decode your Intel model/"stepping"
       | (model/version) into a precise SKU name here:
       | https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/arch/x86/inclu...
       | 
       | No, I do not know why every single ICELAKE processor is commented
       | as _Sunny Cove_.
        
         | zokier wrote:
         | > No, I do not know why every single ICELAKE processor is
         | commented as Sunny Cove.
         | 
         | Wikipedia can clarify that for you:
         | 
         | > Ice Lake is Intel's codename for the 10th generation Intel
         | Core mobile and 3rd generation Xeon Scalable server processors
         | based on the Sunny Cove microarchitecture
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Lake_(microprocessor)
        
           | gorgoiler wrote:
           | Thanks. I figured Sunny Cove was a post-Ice-Lake iteration,
           | but for some reason wasn't being listed by itself in the .h.
        
       | h2odragon wrote:
       | > lsscsi - print attacked SCSI devices into
       | 
       | appropriate typo
        
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       (page generated 2022-06-27 23:02 UTC)