- dmidecode(8) "DMI table decoder". The output is a little arcane but useful. The man page says that it can be unreliable.
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/11/how-to-get-hardware-information-on-linux...
- (new to me) lshw(1) "list hardware". The output seems easier to read that dmidecode's. It uses a variety of sources. It can output in a bunch of formats (but I've ignored that).
lshw -html > hwinfo.html then double click the hwinfo.html file, you will be pleasantly surprised :)
- /proc/cpuinfo will tell you about the CPU. Apparently lscpu(1) shows pretty much the same thing (I've never noticed it before).
lscpu gathers CPU architecture information from sysfs and /proc/cpuinfo
- /var/log/Xorg.0.log: shows what devices and capabilities X has found. Hard to read but sometimes it's what you need.
xdpyinfo I found was easier on the eyes..
- lsusb(8): list USB devices (including hubs).
lsusb -tv ( the flags enable a tree lsiting which can help )
- lspci(8): list PCI devices and buses
lspci -tv ( again displays a tree which can be useful ) and this am yet to use for any real work but is highly interesting: sudo dd if=/dev/mem bs=1k skip=768 count=256 2>/dev/null | strings -n 8 # Read BIOS ( Seriously try it :) Aruna