Determining Attached Hardware and Computer Peripherals

Here’s a concise and structured guide for Determining Attached Hardware and Computer Peripherals on Linux, including system components like sysfs, udev, and hardware management tools:

---

🔍 Determining Attached Hardware and Computer Peripherals

---

1. 🧠 How Linux Detects Hardware

Linux uses several key components to detect and manage hardware:

Component	Description
sysfs	A virtual filesystem (usually at /sys) exposing kernel device details.
udev	The device manager for the Linux kernel; dynamically handles device nodes in /dev.
dbus	Message bus system allowing applications and services to communicate, including hardware events.

Example: To view a USB device’s path:

ls /sys/bus/usb/devices/

---

2. 🛠️ Tools to List Hardware Info

Command	Purpose
lspci	Lists PCI devices (e.g., graphics, network cards).
lsusb	Lists USB devices.
lsblk	Lists block devices (disks, partitions).
lscpu	Shows CPU architecture details.
lshw	Lists all hardware (requires sudo).
inxi -Fx	A comprehensive system/hardware report (install with sudo pacman -S inxi or apt install inxi).
hwinfo	Detailed hardware information (may need installation).
`dmesg | grep`	Useful for boot-time hardware detection logs.
cat /proc/cpuinfo	Detailed CPU info.
cat /proc/meminfo	RAM info.

---

3. 🔌 Tools to Manipulate USB Devices

• modprobe: Load or remove kernel modules.

Examples:

sudo modprobe usb_storage     # Load USB storage module
sudo modprobe -r usb_storage  # Remove it

Check modules:

lsmod | grep usb

---

4. 💽 Manually Mount and Unmount Filesystems

1. List devices:

lsblk

1. Mount a device:

sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt

1. Unmount:

sudo umount /mnt

Make sure the mount point /mnt exists, or create it using mkdir.

---

5. 🔁 Automatically Mount Filesystems on Boot

Edit /etc/fstab — Format:

<device>   <mount_point>   <filesystem_type>   <options>   <dump>   <pass>

Example:

UUID=abcd-1234  /mnt/usbdrive  ext4  defaults  0  2

• Get UUID:

blkid

Be careful: Mistakes in /etc/fstab can prevent your system from booting. Test with:

sudo mount -a

---