How To Display Notebook Model Number in Ubuntu Command Line

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of how to display the notebook model number using the Ubuntu command line. This can be particularly useful when you need to find specific hardware or software compatible with your machine.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have access to a terminal window. You can open a terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T.

Introduction to dmidecode

The primary tool we will be using is dmidecode. It is a command on Unix-like operating systems that can retrieve and decode hardware information from the system’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). This includes details such as the system’s manufacturer, version, serial numbers, and more.

Installing dmidecode

If you don’t already have dmidecode installed, you can do so by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install dmidecode

Displaying the Notebook Model Number

Once dmidecode is installed, you can use it to display the model number of your notebook. There are a few different ways to do this:

Method 1: Displaying the Version Number

Open your terminal and type the following command:

sudo dmidecode | grep Version | sed -n '2p'

This command will display the version number of your notebook. Here’s what each part of the command does:

• sudo dmidecode: This runs the dmidecode command as a superuser, which is necessary because accessing the BIOS requires administrative privileges.
• | grep Version: This pipes (|) the output of the previous command into grep, which searches for the word “Version”.
• sed -n '2p': This uses the sed command to print (p) the second (2) line of the output. This is because the first line of the dmidecode output that contains “Version” is typically not the one we’re interested in.

Method 2: Displaying the SKU Number

Alternatively, you can display the SKU number of your notebook. To do this, type the following command into your terminal:

sudo dmidecode | grep 'SKU Number' | head -1

This command works similarly to the previous one, but it searches for “SKU Number” instead of “Version” and prints the first line of the output.

Method 3: Displaying Detailed System Information

For a more detailed view of your system information, you can use the following command:

sudo dmidecode | grep -A 9 "System Information"

This command will display the “System Information” section of the dmidecode output, which includes the notebook model number along with other information.

You can also use sudo dmidecode | less to view the entire dmidecode output and navigate to the “System Information” section using the ↓ key.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we’ve shown you how to display your notebook model number using the Ubuntu command line. We hope you find this information useful for your software or hardware compatibility needs. If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to leave a comment below.