Checking Computer Specs With No Operating System

After my previous post about checking computer specs in Linux somebody asked an interesting question: how do you check your computer’s specifications if you don’t actually have any operating system to check them with?

In my opinion the easiest way to do this would be to download a disk image of a live CD for a lightweight Linux distribution, such as my favourite: ArchLinux. Once you’ve burned it to a disc you can put it in your computer and boot directly from the disc. ArchLinux is light and fast and will allow you to log in as root with command line access, where you will be able to run the commands I talked about in my other post to find your computer specs even for a computer with no OS or in other cases, for example where you don’t have permission to check with the current OS. If you’re not familiar with Linux don’t worry, follow the on-screen instructions and just type the commands I described. When you’re done checking you can turn off the computer and take out the CD and things will be just as they were before.

The End of a Great Blog

To my great dismay, K. Mandla has decided to discontinue K.Mandla’s blog of Linux experiences.

K.Mandla's blog of Linux experiencesI first came across it when it was mentioned in a post on another blog I was looking at, which challenged readers to try to use their computers without the Graphical User Interface for just a day! I accepted the challenge and after using Arch Linux for the first time and reading around on K. Mandla’s blog for a while I learned a lot about powerful and efficient ways of using the computer and giving use to low-end hardware. K. Mandla talked about things like  lessism vs minimalism and maximalism, a word that might better describe his idea of minimalism, and I agree.

His blog was a great resource for people who keep things light and get the most out of the technology they have. It has a huge list of software and a wiki too. He used to post very regularly, about once a day, but although the site is still online, he won’t be making any more additions. This was without a doubt my favourite blog, probably the only blog I actually read. I’m not sure I’ll ever write that much on here, I haven’t even written anything for the last 4 months or so, but I somehow hope I can carry on what K. Mandla started and share my useful ideas and information with you.

“Be kind to one another. We’re all we’ve got.” —K.Mandla