An Easy Guide to Find Ubuntu Version and System Details

This guide intends to show you how to find Ubuntu version and system details. As you must know, Ubuntu is a powerful and user-friendly operating system that enjoys a strong reputation among Linux users. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced user, understanding your Ubuntu version and system specifications is essential. This article provides a step-by-step guide to find Ubuntu version and system details, tailored for the Orcacore website audience.

At this point, you can log in to your Ubuntu OS, such as Ubuntu 22.04 or Ubuntu 24.04, and follow the steps below to check your Ubuntu version and system specs. You can use different methods to accomplish this. Proceed to the following steps to see how you can find Ubuntu version and system details.

1. Checking Ubuntu Version

You can easily use the command line interface or system settings to check your Ubuntu version. To do this, follow the steps below:

Method 1 – Use Terminal Command Line to Find Ubuntu version

In this method, you can open your Ubuntu terminal and use Linux Commands to find your OS version.

Once you open your terminal, you can easily use the following command to find Ubuntu version:

lsb_release -a

In your output, you should see something similar to this:

As you can see from the output, the current installed Ubuntu version is Ubuntu 22.04 and the code name is Jammy.

Note: You can also use this command for any Ubuntu variant line Linux Mint or other Linux distributions.

Also, you can use other commands to find Ubuntu version. To do this, you can run the command below:

cat /etc/lsb-release

In your output, you will see:

Alternatively, you can use the following command to check your Ubuntu version:

cat /etc/issue

In your output, you should see:

**Example Output**
Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS n l

Here you have learned to find Ubuntu version and system details from the command line. Let’s see how you can do this graphically.

Method 2 – Find Ubuntu version via System Settings

If you prefer to find your Ubuntu version graphically, you can use the system settings. However, it is recommended to use the command line options because it doesn’t depend on desktop environments.

First, you need to click on the Settings icon on the top right corner of your desktop.

Then, you need to select Details or System Settings. From there, you can check your Ubuntu version under the About or Detail section.

Now you can proceed to the next step to find the system settings in Ubuntu.

2. Explore System Details on Ubuntu

At this point, you can easily find your system details such as basic information, hardware specs, and advanced system information. To do this this, follow the steps below.

Display Basic System Information on Ubuntu

If you are looking for your basic system information, from your terminal run the following command:

uname -a

This will give you basic information such as your kernel version.

Alternatively, you can use the following command to get more detailed information such as the system’s hostname, kernel, hardware model, etc.

hostnamectl

Check Hardware Specification on Ubuntu

To find hardware specifications such as CPU, memory, and storage, you can use various commands. Some of them including:

# lscpu
# free -h
# df -h

These commands will give you detailed information about your CPU, memory usage, storage, filesystem, etc.

Note: If you plan to use a graphical interface, you need to install monitoring tools like HardInfo.

Advanced System Information on Ubuntu

If you are looking for advanced Ubuntu system details like BIOS/UEFI and PCI devices, you can follow the steps below.

To check Ubuntu BIOS information, you can use the dmidecode tool. To do this, from your terminal, you can run the command below:

dmidecode -t bios

Also, you can list PCI devices connected to your system by using the command below:

lspci

This will display detailed information about your connected PCI devices including network adaptors, graphics cards, etc.

That’s it, you are done.

3. Summing Up

At this point, you have learned to find Ubuntu version and system details. You can easily use different Linux commands to check your Ubuntu OS version and detailed information about your basic and advanced system specs. Also, you have learned to check them from the graphical interface. However, it is recommended to use the command line option for this purpose.

Hope you enjoy it. Also, you may like to read the following articles:

Disable and Remove AppArmor in Ubuntu

Fix Error SMTP Can Not Find Mail Address in Ubuntu

Install a Package on Ubuntu without Internet – APT Offline

Clear Chrome Cache in Linux From CLI and GUI

Alternative Ways to Find Ubuntu Version and System Details

While the article provides excellent methods for finding Ubuntu version and system details, let’s explore two alternative approaches, primarily focusing on command-line tools, which offer more flexibility and scripting capabilities.

Alternative 1: Using neofetch or screenfetch

neofetch and screenfetch are command-line system information tools that display system information in a visually appealing way. They automatically detect and display the operating system, kernel version, uptime, CPU, memory, disk usage, and more. These tools are not installed by default, so you’ll need to install them.

Installation (Example for neofetch):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install neofetch

Usage:

neofetch

This will output a formatted display in your terminal, including your Ubuntu version, hostname, kernel, uptime, packages, shell, resolution, desktop environment, and CPU/GPU/Memory information.

Benefits:

• Concise and Visual: Presents a summary of essential system information in a visually appealing format.
• Comprehensive: Gathers information from various system files and commands, automating the process.
• Customizable: neofetch allows for customization of the displayed information and the ASCII art.

Limitations:

• Requires installation, unlike built-in commands.
• Primarily for visual output; less suitable for scripting if you need specific values.

Alternative 2: Combining awk and Other Commands for Targeted Information

Instead of relying on single commands or GUI tools, you can combine commands with awk (a powerful text processing tool) to extract specific information. This is particularly useful when you need to incorporate system details into scripts or automate tasks.

Example 1: Getting only the Ubuntu version number:

lsb_release -a | awk '{if ($1 == "Release:") print $2}'

This command pipes the output of lsb_release -a to awk. awk then looks for the line starting with "Release:" and prints the second field (which contains the version number).

Example 2: Getting the amount of RAM in GB:

free -h | awk '{if ($1 == "Mem:") print $2}'

This command pipes the output of free -h to awk. awk then looks for the line starting with "Mem:" and prints the second field (which contains the total memory).

Benefits:

• Precise Control: You can extract exactly the information you need.
• Scripting-Friendly: Easily integrated into shell scripts for automation.
• No Additional Installation (usually): awk is typically included in most Linux distributions.

Limitations:

• Requires a good understanding of command-line tools and awk syntax.
• Can be more complex than using dedicated tools for simple tasks.

By using these alternative methods, you can gain a deeper understanding of how to find Ubuntu version and system details, offering more flexibility and control over the information gathering process. These approaches are particularly useful for scripting and automation, enhancing your Linux system administration skills. Knowing how to find Ubuntu version and system details is a fundamental skill. It’s easy to find Ubuntu version and system details using the methods described above. The ability to find Ubuntu version and system details can be very helpful.