Lshw
lshw is a small tool for displaying detailed information about the hardware configuration of a system. It can extract information such as CPU speed, memory size, firmware version, etc.
hardware
system-information
lshw: Detailed Hardware Information
A small tool for displaying detailed hardware configuration of a system, extracting info such as CPU speed, memory size, firmware version, etc.
What is Lshw?
lshw is a small open source tool for displaying detailed information about the hardware configuration of a Linux system. It can extract and display information about CPU, RAM, devices, bus speed, firmware version, serial numbers, and more.
Some key features of lshw include:
- Displays overview of hardware configuration, including CPU, memory, storage, network, peripherals
- Shows detailed information on specific components like processor, motherboard, graphics card etc.
- Can output in different formats like HTML, JSON, XML, plaintext
- No dependencies other than a basic Linux environment, so works across all distributions
- Open source tool, licensed under the GNU GPL
- Used for hardware inventory & audit, troubleshooting configuration issues, system benchmarking etc.
lshw extracts the hardware information directly from the BIOS via the sysfs filesystem in Linux kernel. So it doesn't need to load any drivers in the background. It works seamlessly across laptops, desktops, servers and virtual machines.
Lshw Features
Features
- Displays detailed information about hardware configuration
- Extracts CPU speed, memory size, firmware version, etc
- Can output results in HTML, JSON or plaintext format
- Works on Linux, *BSD, Solaris, GNU Hurd, MINIX 3, Mac OS X and other UNIX variants
- Does not require root permissions to run
- Modular design allows easy extensibility and customization
Pricing
- Open Source
- Free
Pros
Lightweight and fast
Very detailed hardware reporting
Cross-platform support
Does not require root access
Output can be easily parsed programmatically
Actively maintained and updated
Cons
Text output can be hard to read for humans
Does not work on Windows
May fail to detect some hardware correctly
Not all information may be available without root access
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