To view the architecture of a Linux system, you can use the uname command. Run the following command in the terminal:
uname -m
This command will return the system's architecture, such as x86_64 for a 64-bit system and i686 for a 32-bit system.
How to use uname
The uname command is used to obtain operating system related information. It can be used to display the name of the operating system, kernel version, host name, hardware architecture and other information. The following are common options for the uname command:
-a: Display all available information.
-s: Display the name of the operating system.
-r: Displays the kernel version of the operating system.
-n: Display host name.
-m: Display hardware architecture.
-p: Display processor type.
-i: Display hardware platform.
-o: Display the operating system vendor.
For example, to display the name and kernel version of your operating system, you can run the following command
uname -s -r
To display the hardware architecture and processor type, you can run the following command
uname -m -p
What is the difference between hardware architecture and processor type?
Hardware Architecture and Processor Type are two different concepts.
Hardware architecture refers to the processor architecture or instruction set architecture used in a computer system. It defines how the processor executes instructions, processes data, and interacts with other hardware components. Common hardware architectures include x86, x86_64 (also known as AMD64 or Intel 64), ARM, PowerPC, etc. Hardware architecture determines whether operating system and application binary code can run on a specific processor.
Processor type refers to the specific processor model or series used in a computer system. It is a concrete implementation of the hardware architecture. Different processor types may be based on the same hardware architecture but have different performance characteristics, instruction set extensions, and other specific features. For example, Intel Core i7 and AMD Ryzen are different processor types, but they both belong to the x86_64 hardware architecture.
In Linux systems, the hardware architecture can be obtained through the uname -m command, and the processor type can be obtained through the uname -p command. Hardware architecture is often used to determine binary compatibility of operating systems and applications, while processor type more specifically describes the processor model or series used