Managing inherited Linux systems often means starting from scratch with hardware documentation. While CPU-z excels on Windows, Linux offers several powerful alternatives that provide even deeper system insights through command-line tools and GUI applications.

For quick hardware inventories via SSH or scripts, these CLI tools are indispensable:

# CPU Information (like CPU-z's first tab)
lscpu | grep -E 'Model name|Socket|Core|Thread|Vendor'

# Detailed memory configuration
sudo dmidecode --type memory

# PCI devices listing (GPUs, network cards, etc.)
lspci -v | less

For those preferring a CPU-z-like interface, install hardinfo:

sudo apt install hardinfo  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install hardinfo  # Fedora

Key features mirroring CPU-z:

• Interactive hardware tree navigation
• Benchmarking tools
• HTML export capability
• Real-time sensor monitoring

Generate comprehensive XML/JSON inventories for documentation:

sudo lshw -html > system_inventory.html
sudo lshw -json > hardware.json

Example parsing the JSON output with jq:

sudo lshw -json | jq '.children[].product' # List all hardware products

For multiple inherited systems, automate the process:

---
- name: Gather hardware facts
  hosts: inherited_servers
  tasks:
    - name: Collect CPU info
      ansible.builtin.command: lscpu
      register: cpu_info

    - name: Save hardware report
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        content: "{{ cpu_info.stdout }}"
        dest: "/reports/{{ inventory_hostname }}_hardware.txt"

Unlike CPU-z's real-time monitoring, Linux offers lm-sensors:

sudo sensors-detect
watch -n 1 sensors

---

When managing multiple Linux systems (especially inherited ones), having accurate hardware information is crucial for:

• Driver compatibility checks
• Performance optimization
• Capacity planning
• Troubleshooting hardware issues

Before looking at GUI tools, these terminal commands provide quick hardware snapshots:

# CPU information
lscpu | grep -E 'Model name|Socket|Core|Thread|MHz'

# Memory details
sudo dmidecode --type memory | grep -E 'Size|Type|Speed'

# Disk configuration
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINT,FSTYPE,MODEL

1. HardInfo

The closest Linux equivalent to CPU-z with detailed reporting:

# Installation on Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install hardinfo

# Generate HTML report (like CPU-z)
hardinfo -r -m devices.so -f html > hardware_report.html

Features:

• Benchmarking tools
• PCI/USB device trees
• Sensor monitoring

2. inxi (Terminal-based Powerhouse)

# Install on most distros
sudo apt install inxi  # or use your package manager

# Full system report (pipe to less for readability)
inxi -Fxxxza

Example filtered output for CPU:

inxi -Cxxx
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3
  rev: 2 cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 3 MiB L3: 32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2200 min/max: 2200/4650 boost: enabled cores: 1: 2200
  2: 2200 3: 2200 4: 2200 5: 2200 6: 2200

For scripting and automation:

# Install if not present
sudo apt install lshw

# JSON output for parsing
sudo lshw -json

# Short summary
sudo lshw -short

# Filter specific components
sudo lshw -class cpu -class memory

Combine tools for comprehensive documentation:

#!/bin/bash
REPORT_FILE="system_inventory_$(date +%Y%m%d).txt"

{
    echo "===== SYSTEM INVENTORY REPORT ====="
    echo "Generated: $(date)"
    echo "\n----- CPU -----"
    lscpu
    echo "\n----- Memory -----"
    sudo dmidecode --type memory
    echo "\n----- Storage -----"
    lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT,MODEL,SERIAL
    echo "\n----- GPU -----"
    lspci -vnnn | grep -i VGA -A 12
} > "$REPORT_FILE"

For multiple machines, use this playbook snippet:

- name: Gather hardware facts
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: Collect CPU info
      ansible.builtin.command: lscpu
      register: cpu_info

    - name: Save inventory
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        content: |
          {{ inventory_hostname }}
          {{ cpu_info.stdout }}
          {% for disk in ansible_devices %}
          Disk {{ disk }}: {{ ansible_devices[disk].size }}
          {% endfor %}
        dest: "/tmp/{{ inventory_hostname }}_inventory.txt"