When working on headless Linux servers or troubleshooting systems without GUI, these command-line tools become indispensable for hardware diagnostics:

lshw -short
# Shows brief hardware overview
# Requires root privileges for full details:
sudo lshw -html > hardware_report.html

For targeted hardware checks, use these specialized commands:

# CPU information:
cat /proc/cpuinfo
lscpu

# Memory details:
free -h
dmidecode --type memory

# Storage devices:
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINT
hdparm -i /dev/sda

# PCI devices:
lspci -vv
lspci -tv

For system documentation or support tickets, create detailed reports:

# Generate full hardware report:
sudo lshw -json > system_hardware.json
sudo dmidecode > bios_details.txt

# Network interfaces:
ip -br -c a
ethtool eth0

For deeper hardware analysis:

# Check disk health:
smartctl -a /dev/sda

# USB device tree:
lsusb -tv

# Kernel hardware messages:
dmesg | grep -i 'usb\|sata\|pci'
journalctl --dmesg | grep -i hardware

Create scripts for regular hardware checks:

#!/bin/bash
# Simple hardware monitoring script
DATE=$(date +%F)
{
  echo "=== CPU ==="
  lscpu
  echo "=== Memory ==="
  free -h
  echo "=== Disk Usage ==="
  df -h
} > /var/log/hardware_check_${DATE}.log

When working on headless servers or troubleshooting Linux systems without a graphical interface, these command-line tools become indispensable:

# Basic system overview
sudo lshw -short

# Detailed hardware tree
sudo lshw -html > hardware_report.html

For targeted hardware component information:

# CPU information
lscpu
cat /proc/cpuinfo

# Memory details
free -h
sudo dmidecode --type memory

# Disk configuration
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT
sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep -i model

For low-level device enumeration:

# PCI devices
lspci -vvv
lspci -tv

# USB device hierarchy
lsusb -tv
lsusb -v

Combine multiple commands into a single diagnostic report:

#!/bin/bash
{
  echo "===== SYSTEM HARDWARE REPORT ====="
  date
  echo -e "\nCPU:"
  lscpu
  echo -e "\nMEMORY:"
  free -h
  echo -e "\nDISKS:"
  lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT
  echo -e "\nPCI DEVICES:"
  lspci -tv
} > hardware_report.txt

If additional packages can be installed:

# For Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install inxi

# Usage example:
inxi -Fxz