Probing for hardware information
lsscsi
Many people imagine that SCSI drives are obsolete, but, in fact, both hard drives and solid state drives, as well as DVD drives, continue to use SCSI, although in a highly modified standard. For help, lsscsi
has an info file, but not a man file. Adding --list
(-L
), --long
(-l
), and --verbose
(-v
) to the command all give more information, while --classic
(-c
) is the equivalent of:
cat /proc/scsi/scsi
If you want the names of devices, add --generic
(g
) (Figure 7).
dmesg
dmesg
reads the kernel ring buffer where messages about a system's startup messages are stored, including information about the initialization of device drivers or kernel modules. Although the results can often be hit or miss, dmesg
is sometimes an ideal place to start troubleshooting. With the bare command, you can scroll through startup messages, but in most cases, it is more efficient to search instead. For instance, to find messages about USB devices, enter:
dmesg | grep -i usb | less
in which the -i
option ignores letter cases. Note that dmesg
must be run as root. As an alternative to dmesg
, you can read the file /var/log/dmesg
in a text editor (Figure 8).
/proc
The pseudo filesystem /proc
contains information from the kernel. It contains one subdirectory for each process. The names of the subdirectories are usually self-explanatory, such as cpu
, cwd
(current working directory), environ
, and so on. You can view detailed information using a text viewer such as cat
or less
, or sysctl
to read the contents, but be careful not to edit in case you crash the system (Figure 9).
« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora Asahi 40 Remix Available for Macs with Apple Silicon
If you've been anticipating KDE's Plasma 6 for your Apple Silicon-powered Mac, then you're in luck.
-
Red Hat Adds New Deployment Option for Enterprise Linux Platforms
Red Hat has re-imagined enterprise Linux for an AI future with Image Mode.
-
OSJH and LPI Release 2024 Open Source Pros Job Survey Results
See what open source professionals look for in a new role.
-
Proton 9.0-1 Released to Improve Gaming with Steam
The latest release of Proton 9 adds several improvements and fixes an issue that has been problematic for Linux users.
-
So Long Neofetch and Thanks for the Info
Today is a day that every Linux user who enjoys bragging about their system(s) will mourn, as Neofetch has come to an end.
-
Ubuntu 24.04 Comes with a “Flaw"
If you're thinking you might want to upgrade from your current Ubuntu release to the latest, there's something you might want to consider before doing so.
-
Canonical Releases Ubuntu 24.04
After a brief pause because of the XZ vulnerability, Ubuntu 24.04 is now available for install.
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.