System statistics in Ubuntu

Question

Is there an easy way in Ubuntu to show the specifications of the computer, such as RAM, the kind of processor, graphics card, etc.?

Answer 1

Various virtual files in the /proc filesystem contain a fair bit of info in human readable format, for instance:
cat /proc/cpuinfo for cpu details
cat /proc/meminfo for amount of RAM and what the kernel is doing with it (though free -m does the same thing if you don't need as much detail)

Also other things like:

sudo dmidecode | less for a chunk of fairly detailed hardware info
sudo lshw | less similar but with more formatting options (see man lshw for more hints)

There are several GUI utilities available too. sysinfo for instance, which is not installed by default but is in the standard repositories so install with sudo aptitude install sysinfo (or find it in the GUI package manager) and then run sysinfo to call it into action. There is also a graphical interface for lshw which shows much more detail but in a slightly less accessible way - run sudo aptitude install lshw-gtk (or use the GUI package manager) to install and sudo lshw-gtk to run.

Answer 2

sure just look under /proc/ in the filesystem.

Answer 3

The easiest way I've found (rather than less /proc/cpuinfo etc.) is to open a terminal, type sudo lshw -html > hardwareprofile.html, enter your password at the prompt and wait for the command to finish. Then go to your home folder (places menu -> home) and double-click hardwareprofile.html; it should open in Firefox (or whatever browser you are using) and you'll be able to see the full specifications of your system. Cheers!