Display System Information in CLI with Neofetch

As a computer user, it's important to know the specifications and operating system information of the machine you're working with. This information can be helpful in troubleshooting issues or optimizing your system for better performance. While there are many graphical user interface (GUI) tools that can display this information, there are also command-line interface (CLI) tools that can do the same job. One such tool is Neofetch, a CLI system information tool that can display a variety of information about your system in an attractive, easy-to-read format.

What is Neofetch?

Neofetch is a command-line system information tool written in Bash. It displays information about your system in a visually appealing and easily understandable way with colorful ASCII art. The information displayed by Neofetch includes

• Operating system information (distribution name and version)

• Kernel version

• CPU information (model name and clock speed)

• GPU information (model name and driver version)

• Memory usage

• Disk usage

• Network information (IP address and network interface name)

• Shell information (shell name and version)

• Desktop environment and window manager

• System uptime and package count

Installing Neofetch

Neofetch is available for many popular Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and Arch Linux. Here are the installation commands for common distributions

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt-get install neofetch

Fedora

sudo dnf install neofetch

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S neofetch

macOS (using Homebrew)

brew install neofetch

Using Neofetch

Using Neofetch is straightforward. Simply open a terminal and type the following command

neofetch

This will display system information in the CLI. The output of Neofetch is color-coded and includes ASCII art that represents your distribution logo or system architecture. Here's an example output of Neofetch on an Ubuntu system

         .-/+oossssoo+/-.               user@ubuntu
     `:+ssssssssssssssssss+:`           --------------
   -+ssssssssssssssssssyyssss+-         OS: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS x86_64 
 `:ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNysssso:`     Host: HP Pavilion Laptop 15-cs3xxx 
/ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNyssssooo.     Kernel: 5.11.0-27-generic 
ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNyssssooooso.   Uptime: 1 day, 3 hours, 30 mins 
ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNyssssoooossssoo/` Packages: 2177 (dpkg), 5 (snap) 
ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNyssssoooosssssooo+ Shell: bash 5.0.17 
ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNyssssoooossssssoooo/ Resolution: 1920x1080 
ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNyssssoooossssssoooo+ DE: GNOME 3.36.8 
`+sssssssssssssssssdMMMNyssssoooossssoo+/ Session: gnome-wayland 
  -+sssssssssssssssssyyyssss+-           CPU: Intel i7-1065G7

As you can see, the output of Neofetch is very detailed and provides comprehensive information about the OS, kernel, hardware, and other system components. Neofetch also displays the username and hostname, which can be useful in a multi-user environment.

Customizing Neofetch

While Neofetch provides a lot of useful information by default, you may want to customize it to display only the information you need or to change the appearance of the output. Neofetch provides numerous customization options

Examples

To display minimal output with only the logo and information bar

neofetch --off

To display system information with color blocks instead of ASCII art

neofetch --color_blocks

To force a specific distribution's ASCII art

neofetch --ascii_distro ubuntu

Configuration File

Neofetch uses a configuration file located at ~/.config/neofetch/config.conf. You can edit this file to permanently customize which information is displayed, change colors, modify the ASCII art, and adjust formatting options. The configuration file is well-commented and allows for extensive customization.

Common Use Cases

• System Administration Quickly check system specifications across multiple servers

• Troubleshooting Gather system information for bug reports or support requests

• Screenshots Display system information in terminal screenshots for forums or documentation

• System Monitoring Include in login scripts to show system status

Conclusion

Neofetch is an excellent command-line tool for displaying comprehensive system information in an attractive, easy-to-read format. It provides detailed information about your operating system, hardware, and system configuration with beautiful ASCII art and color coding. With its extensive customization options and cross-platform support, Neofetch is a valuable tool for system administrators, developers, and anyone who wants quick access to their system specifications from the command line.