Hwinfo
The hwinfo command is a very handy command line tool that can be used to check details about hardware components. It reports information about most hardware units including cpu, hdd controllers, usb controllers, network card, graphics cards, multimedia, printers etc.
Hwinfo depends on the libhd library to gather hardware information which depends on libhal.
Hwinfo is available in the repositories of Ubuntu and Debian.
# ubuntu, debian $ sudo apt-get install hwinfo
To install Hwinfo on Fedora or CentOS follow this post
How to install hwinfo on Fedora 19/20 and CentOS 5/6Using hwinfo
The help information explains how to use it
$ hwinfo --help Usage: hwinfo [options] Probe for hardware. --short just a short listing --log logfile write info to logfile --debug level set debuglevel --version show libhd version --dump-db n dump hardware data base, 0: external, 1: internal --hw_item probe for hw_item hw_item is one of: all, bios, block, bluetooth, braille, bridge, camera, cdrom, chipcard, cpu, disk, dsl, dvb, fingerprint, floppy, framebuffer, gfxcard, hub, ide, isapnp, isdn, joystick, keyboard, memory, modem, monitor, mouse, netcard, network, partition, pci, pcmcia, pcmcia-ctrl, pppoe, printer, scanner, scsi, smp, sound, storage-ctrl, sys, tape, tv, usb, usb-ctrl, vbe, wlan, zip Note: debug info is shown only in the log file. (If you specify a log file the debug level is implicitly set to a reasonable value.)
The options are few, just mention the hardware item for which you would like to see the information and it would display that only.
1. Display all information
Running hwinfo without any options would display detailed information about all hardware units
$ hwinfo
2. Display brief information
The "--short" option will display brief information about the hardware and not the details
$ hwinfo --short
Here is the output from my system
cpu:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2000 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2000 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2666 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2666 MHz
keyboard:
/dev/input/event2 AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
mouse:
/dev/input/mice Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
graphics card:
Intel 965G-1
Intel 82G35 Express Integrated Graphics Controller
sound:
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
storage:
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller
JMicron JMB368 IDE controller
network:
eth0 Intel 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection
network interface:
eth0 Ethernet network interface
lo Loopback network interface
disk:
/dev/sda ST3500418AS
partition:
/dev/sda1 Partition
/dev/sda2 Partition
/dev/sda5 Partition
/dev/sda6 Partition
/dev/sda7 Partition
/dev/sda8 Partition
cdrom:
/dev/sr0 SONY DVD RW DRU-190A
usb controller:
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
bios:
BIOS
bridge:
Intel 82G35 Express DRAM Controller
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3
Intel 82801 PCI Bridge
Intel 82801HB/HR (ICH8/R) LPC Interface Controller
hub:
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller
memory:
Main Memory
firewire controller:
Agere FW323
unknown:
FPU
DMA controller
PIC
Timer
Keyboard controller
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller
Serial controller
Save it to a file
$ hwinfo --short > hardware_brief.txt
3. View CPU details
With the "--cpu" option, hwinfo would display only cpu information.
$ hwinfo --short --cpu
cpu:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2000 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2000 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2666 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2000 MHz
Remove the short option to display detailed information, about the cpu.
4. Display network card information
$ sudo hwinfo --short --netcard network: eth0 Intel 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection <h4>5. Storage devices and partitions</h4> [term] $ sudo hwinfo --short --block disk: /dev/sda ST3500418AS partition: /dev/sda1 Partition /dev/sda2 Partition /dev/sda5 Partition /dev/sda6 Partition /dev/sda7 Partition /dev/sda8 Partition cdrom: /dev/sr0 SONY DVD RW DRU-190A
6. Hard drive controllers
$ sudo hwinfo --short --storage
storage:
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller
JMicron JMB368 IDE controller
7. USB devices and controllers
$ sudo hwinfo --short --usb
mouse:
/dev/input/mice Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
hub:
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller
8. Display multiple devices together
To display multiple hardware units together, just add all the options
$ sudo hwinfo --short --usb --cpu --block
cpu:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2000 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2666 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2666 MHz
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, 2000 MHz
mouse:
/dev/input/mice Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
disk:
/dev/sda ST3500418AS
partition:
/dev/sda1 Partition
/dev/sda2 Partition
/dev/sda5 Partition
/dev/sda6 Partition
/dev/sda7 Partition
/dev/sda8 Partition
cdrom:
/dev/sr0 SONY DVD RW DRU-190A
hub:
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic uhci_hcd UHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller
9. Log information to a file
The hwinfo has an option to log all data to a file. The following command will log detailed information about all hardware units to a text file.
$ hwinfo --all --log hardware_info.txt
To log short information in addition to the detailed information, add the "short" option too. Not sure if it is supposed to work like that.
$ hwinfo --all --short --log hardware_info.txt
Conclusion
Hwinfo is one of the many commands to check hardware information on linux. Some other commands include lspci, hardinfo, inxi etc.
Check out this article: 16 commands to check hardware information on Linux to learn more.
hwinfo is obsolete and is no longer maintained (see below)… use lshw instead.
from source: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/saucy/amd64/hwinfo
Deleted on 2013-09-06 by Martin Pitt
uses deprecated and broken hal, unmaintained in Debian, obsolete, LP#1221254
Thanks for the information.
Besides hwinfo there are other options like lshw, hardinfo and inxi for checking hardware details on linux.
sudo apt-get install hwinfo
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
Package hwinfo is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package ‘hwinfo’ has no installation candidate