Retrieving system and hardware information has never been easier. Information such as current kernel, VGA model and driver and even software repositories in use is now close at hand with inxi the command line system information script. Not only you can easily retrieve hardware information of your hard-drive, inxi also includes additional system information such as disk space used and block device file name. The most surprising and unexpected feature is retrieval of current local weather information, I’m not sure about usability of this feature but perhaps if your are worried about server overheating caused by outside whether temperature, inxi is your tool to avoid disaster.
inxi is very easy tool to use and does not need much usage explanation. In this article we review only some of the features offered by inxi just to simply illustrate the power of this tool. The full guide to inxi is available under --help option.
inxi Installation
inxi is currency available in a standard Ubuntu and Fedora repositories. At the time of writing inxi is not available in Debian linux. For Debian installation see: Installation of inxi system information script on Debian Wheezy
What follows are installation instructions for ubuntu and fedora linux:
UBUNTU: $ sudo apt-get install inxi FEDORA: $ sudo yum install inxi
Quick system and hardware overview
inxi without any options prints a quick system overview.
$ inxi CPU~Dual core Intel Core i7-2640M (-HT-MCP-) clocked at 815 Mhz Kernel~3.14.6-200.fc20.x86_64 x86_64 Up~2:31 Mem~2558.2/7868.2MB HDD~160.0GB(63.9% used) Procs~198 Client~Shell inxi~2.1.28
Full system and hardware overview
Option -F allows for a full information about entire system:
$ inxi -F
System: Host: localhost.localdomain Kernel: 3.14.6-200.fc20.x86_64 x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome 3.10.4
Distro: Fedora release 20 (Heisenbug)
Machine: System: LENOVO product: 4286CTO v: ThinkPad X220
Mobo: LENOVO model: 4286CTO Bios: LENOVO v: 8DET61WW (1.31 ) date: 04/25/2012
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i7-2640M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
Clock Speeds: 1: 3309 MHz 2: 3353 MHz 3: 3309 MHz 4: 3309 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
Display Server: Fedora X.org 1.14.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.5
Audio: Card-1 Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
Card-2 Licensed by Sony Entertainment America driver: USB Audio
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.14.6-200.fc20.x86_64
Network: Card-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e
IF: em1 state: down mac: 3c:97:0e:02:98:c8
Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] driver: iwlwifi
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 8c:70:5a:92:f6:e0
Drives: HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (63.9% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: INTEL_SSDSA2BW16 size: 160.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 50G used: 14G (31%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-2
ID-2: /boot size: 477M used: 141M (32%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-3: /home size: 90G used: 74G (88%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-3
ID-4: swap-1 size: 8.34GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 71.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 3893
Info: Processes: 200 Uptime: 2:33 Memory: 2672.2/7868.2MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.1.28
Retrieving extra information
If additional data are available for any system or hardware component -xxx option will instruct inxi to display maximum possible information. For example here is a standrad information about network card(s):
$ inxi -N
Network: Card-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e
Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] driver: iwlwifi
With -xxx option we are able to see additional information to the above output:
$ inxi -Nxxx
Network: Card-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection
driver: e1000e v: 2.3.2-k port: 4080 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1502
Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]
driver: iwlwifi v: in-tree:d bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:0085
Machine data, Motherboard and Bios Information
$ inxi -M
Machine: System: LENOVO product: 4286CTO v: ThinkPad X220
Mobo: LENOVO model: 4286CTO Bios: LENOVO v: 8DET61WW (1.31 ) date: 04/25/2012
Retrieving Repository information
$ inxi -r
Repos: Active yum sources in file: /etc/yum.repos.d/google-chrome.repo
google-chrome ~ http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64
Active yum sources in file: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-free-updates.repo
rpmfusion-free-updates ~ http://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/mirrorlist?repo=free-fedora-updates-released-$releasever&arch=$basearch
Active yum sources in file: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-free.repo
rpmfusion-free ~ http://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/mirrorlist?repo=free-fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch
Active yum sources in file: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-updates.repo
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates ~ http://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/mirrorlist?repo=nonfree-fedora-updates-released-$releasever&arch=$basearch
Active yum sources in file: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree.repo
rpmfusion-nonfree ~ http://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/mirrorlist?repo=nonfree-fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch
Active yum sources in file: /etc/yum.repos.d/virtualbox.repo
virtualbox ~ http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/$releasever/$basearch
Retrieving Weather Information
As it was already mentioned inxi is also able to provide current local weather information:
$ inxi -w Weather: Conditions: 53 F (12 C) - Clear Time: June 25, 11:05 AM CST
For other locations use -Woption followed by tzname location. For example:
$ inxi -W Bratislava,Slovakia Weather: Conditions: 54 F (12 C) - Clear Time: June 25, 4:11 AM CEST
Conclusion
The above are just few examples of inxi usage and the list would easily stretch to fill entire book. inxi is a powerful tool which should not be overlook. Linux system administration automation can be significant improved with inxi endless system and hardware information output.