“How can I generate a summary of my system info?”
Hardinfo is a free, open source profiling and benchmarking program with an attractive GUI that generates reports about your system and performs benchmarks.
Suppose you have upgraded your CPU and you wish to know how it compares to other processors. How can you do that in Linux? Is there a way to compare one Linux system with another? Hardinfo features an easy-to-use GUI that helps answer these questions by providing a wealth of information about your system. You can perform benchmark tests and generate reports in HTML or plain text.
Hardinfo is available in the Ubuntu repository. Once installed, go to Applications > System Tools > System Profiler and Benchmark to run it.
“But I am using Windows.”
Not a problem. Assuming you have an Internet connection or the Hardinfo .deb package available, simply boot your system with an Ubuntu LiveCD and install Hardinfo. This allows you to profile and benchmark your system even if Linux is not installed.
“What kind of information is revealed?”
Hardinfo is divided into four categories: Computer, Devices, Network, and Benchmark. You can easily find out things such as the compiler used for your operating system, supported languages, PCI and USB info, address ranges used by hardware resources, network packet statistics, and the routing table – to name a few of the many choices available.
The benchmark section provides six different benchmarks that measure CPU and FPU performance. Once the benchmark is complete, the result is displayed along with the results of other processors in a bar graph format that shows how your test result compares to others (both Intel and AMD). This is a useful way to find out the speed of a certain processor compared to yours before you buy.
Hardinfo must be updated (Information > Network Updater) with the latest test results in order to show more processors, and not every processor on the market is available for comparison. However, the information that is provided is usually plenty to get a good idea of the performance to expect from various processors.
Overall, this is a good program for quick benchmarking without any overwhelming technical fuss. Results are easy to understand and navigation through the program is simple. Anyone can use it and obtain understandable test results.
If you want to see your system’s information quickly and find out if your CPU is faster than your neighbor’s, then by all means, give Hardinfo a try.