What is the command to run System Settings from a terminal?
System Settings can be run from the launcher (pinned by default), the Dash, or the power cog. But what command would I enter in a terminal window if I want to run it from there?
9 Answers 9
Note: for versions between 14.04 and 17.04 (when Unity was used instead of GNOME), the command is unity-control-center .
You can still install the unity-control-center on newer versions (17.10+) if you don’t like the newer gnome-control-center
if you run gnome-control-center and get command not found , you can install it with:
sudo apt install gnome-control-center 14.04 and greater may use the command unity-control-center instead, which was forked from it. There’s no need to install gnome-control-center as well.
Thanks a lot. Sometimes I cannot find the settings icon anywhere in GNOME, perhaps for my own mistakes. With this command, I got it back.
For Ubuntu Mate the command is mate-control-center .
I found a different solution.
- I tried removing/installing gnome-control-center ; this did reinstall the application I still couldn’t open it.
- Later I found that it would start up on the side of the screen and I couldn’t access it
- I changed the display mode to single display and it came back. Hope it helps.
In Crouton, you must run anything that would require a password from the terminal, such as update manager, software center, synaptic, etc. So, to get to system settings you would enter in the terminal:
That will bring up the system settings GUI.
To check for updates, or if the update manager appears in the Unity Launcher, run it from the terminal, not by clicking on it:
The same applies to synaptic, the software center, etc. Anything which requires a password, must be run from the terminal in Crouton with a sudo .
AFAIK GNOME Control Center does not need sudo permissions to run. Also, using sudo to run GUI apps is potentially a bad idea.
Yeah well I ran it without sudo and only three of the setting icons showed up. I ran it with sudo and all the setting icons showed up. What does that tell you?!
Well, in KDE NEON 5.16.4 (Ubuntu 18.04), it is written in the «System Settings Handbook»:
- By selecting Settings → System Settings from the Application Menu.
- By pressing Alt + F2 or Alt + Space . This will bring up the KRunner dialog. Type systemsettings5 , and press Enter .
- Type systemsettings5 & at any command prompt. All three of these methods are equivalent, and produce the same result.
In my case, I needed to configure my HP LaserJet settings. Doing this as user, after applying and saving, they were ignored. So I think I had to do this as root and the settings are stored normaly now, so, each time the user opens the print dialog, the system remembers that I want log side binding and 1200 resolution :=)
I thought that sudo systemsettings5 & was enough, but as Zanna suggests: It should also be recommended to use ‘sudo -H’ if opening a GUI app with sudo.
12 Commands to Check Linux System & Hardware Information
Whether you are a Linux beginner user who wants to learn new commands or a frequent user who only needs a quick reminder, this tutorial is for you.
In this article we’ll explain 12 typical commands to check Linux system and hardware information.
Table of Contents
System info
You can know the system name or kernel name, system version or release, host or hardware name using the uname command with the -a flag.
You should get an input similar to mine:
Linux bytexd 5.13.0-41-generic #46~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 20 13:16:21 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
- Linux: system name,
- bytexd: network host name,
- 5.13.0-41-generic: kernel release
- #46~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 20 13:16:21 UTC 2022: kernel version, and
- x86_64: hardware name
The kernel is a program at the operating system’s core to control every system operation. The code lives in the memory to manage hardware and software interactions. For example, the kernel boots the system, device drivers, or charges and stops charging the device.
The SMP, short for Symmetrical Multi-processing, means a multiprocessor architecture with no CPU chosen as the main one. So from the above output, kernel version is 33 on Ubuntu version 20.04, dated seventh February at 2:25 p.m, 2022, in UTC time.
Alternatively, you can get info about specific components by running their respective commands.
File system
Use the fdisk command with the sudo command and the -l flag to check the file system partitions.
A partition is a logical hard disk division. The operating and file systems treat the divisions as a separate entity and manage them as if they are distinct hard drives.
Besides, the fdisk command modifies the file system distributions.
Hardware info
The lshw tool with the sudo command helps know the machine’s detailed hardware configuration. For instance, you can use the tool to inquire about the motherboard, RAM, or cache configurations, firmware version, bus speed, and CPU and speed.
Apart from the long list of settings, you can get a summarized configuration data by appending the -short flag to the lshw command.
The motherboard glues the system together, easing their intercommunication. RAM holds the currently used data, which fades when you switch off the computer. On the other hand, the cache is a small and fast memory component inserted between the RAM and the CPU to hold the frequently used data.
In the absence of power, the firm software, short for firmware , holds the low-level instructions. It lies on the motherboard, hosting hardware, and BIOS settings.
As the name suggests, the bus joins the computer components, enabling data transfer. Lastly, the processor (also known as the CPU ) executes instructions, such as arithmetic and control functions.
Now that you understand the primary hardware components, let’s check them.
Memory, BIOS, and Processor
4. dmidecode
The dmidecode command with the sudo command and the -t flag checks the system, CPU, memory and BIOS information. You can use it to check the target component’s information, as follows.
sudo dmidecode -t processor
Apart from the -t flag, you can specify the ID from DMI table to get information about a specific hardware component. For example, appending code 0 after the -t flag reveals the BIOS information.
Bonus Commands
The free command with the -m flag shows you the total, used and free memory on your device.
The df command with the -H flag reveals the file system’s partitions, mount points and disk spaces.
CPU information
Use the lscpu command to check the CPU information.
Architecture: x86_64 CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit Byte Order: Little Endian Address sizes: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual CPU(s): 2 On-line CPU(s) list: 0,1 Thread(s) per core: 1 Core(s) per socket: 2 Socket(s): 1 NUMA node(s): 1 Vendor ID: GenuineIntel CPU family: 6 Model: 158 Model name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700K CPU @ 4.20GHz Stepping: 9 CPU MHz: 4199.996 BogoMIPS: 8399.99 Hypervisor vendor: KVM Virtualization type: full L1d cache: 64 KiB L1i cache: 64 KiB L2 cache: 512 KiB L3 cache: 16 MiB NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0,1 Vulnerability Itlb multihit: KVM: Mitigation: VMX unsupported Vulnerability L1tf: Mitigation; PTE Inversion Vulnerability Mds: Mitigation; Clear CPU buffers; SMT Host state unknown Vulnerability Meltdown: Mitigation; PTI Vulnerability Spec store bypass: Vulnerable Vulnerability Spectre v1: Mitigation; usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization Vulnerability Spectre v2: Mitigation; Retpolines, STIBP disabled, RSB filling Vulnerability Srbds: Not affected Vulnerability Tsx async abort: Not affected Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nopl xtopology nons top_tsc cpuid tsc_known_freq pni ssse3 cx16 pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 hypervisor lahf_lm invpcid_single pti fsgsbase invpcid md_clear flush_l1d arch_capabilities
- Architecture is the arrangement of the CPU components.
- CPU op-mode(s) is the Linux version the system runs. If you see both 32 and 64-bit modes, your machine runs a 64-bit system. If you only see 32-bit, the computer is 32-bit.
- Byte Order of Little Endian value means my system prioritizes the least significant data units when ordering data in the memory. CPU(s) symbolize the number of cores assigned to the system, 4 in my system.
USB Controllers
USB controllers let a USB device communicate with the computer. You can check their information using the lsusb command.
lsusb -v # for detailed information
SATA
Short for Serial Advanced Technology Attached, SATA is an interface to transfer data between storage devices and the motherboard. It is preferred to PATA (Parallel Commands to Check Linux System & Hardware Information) because it is quicker in data transfer.
You can check SATA disk info like serial number and model by specifying the device path after the sudo and hdparm command.
The dev folder contains files attached to the local system. Most of its files are partitioned in alphabetical order.
For example, /dev/sda is the primary hard drive while /dev/sdb is secondary. The numbers after the drive name denote the partition order. For example, /dev/sda1 represents the first drive’s first partition.
SCSI devices
Short for Small Computer System Interface, SCSI is a set of standards to physically connect to and transfer data between peripheral devices and computers.
You can also use the lsscsi to list SATA and SCSI devices.
lsscsi -s # to show device sizes
In Linux, SCSI devices are named to help identify them. Like the SATA devices, the SCSI devices are labelled in alphabetical order. For example, /dev/scd0 is the first SCSI device.
If your system does not have the lsscsi tool, install it using your system’s installation package.
Block devices
A block device moves data in byte/bit sequences. Examples of block devices are CD-ROM, flash, or hard drives. You can physically attach the devices to the computer and access them remotely.
Use the lsblk command to list the block devices.
PCI devices
A Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) joins various peripheral devices to the Linux platform. Any device connecting to the PCI slot is called a PCI device. You can find more about the devices by running the lspci command.
lspci -v # for detailed information
Conclusion
There are many commands to check the Linux system and hardware information. As shown in this tutorial, you can comfortably remember the typical commands by understanding and grouping related devices.