LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Objective 2: Adding New Hardware

Configuring specialized hardware has become easier and easier, even since the development of LPI's Level 2 Exams. Items such as LCD panels and serial UPS devices used to not be as common in our homes and offices, but today they are considered standard equipment.

When you prepared for Level 1, you became familiar with a number of the tools you must utilize when adding new hardware to your systems. For the Level 2 exams, you must be prepared to understand when to use them and the most efficient methods for installing your new devices.

Reporting Your Hardware

Before you tackle adding any new hardware devices to your system, it's useful to be able to obtain information about the hardware you have installed. Some useful tools to report this information include lsmod, lsdev, and lspci.

lsmod

Syntax

lsmod [options]

Description

The lsmod command displays all the information available about currently loaded modules. Reviewing your loaded modules is often the first step in identifying possible problems, such as driver conflicts (quite frequently found with USB device drivers). This information can also be found in /proc/modules. lsmod has only two options, neither of them affecting its operation.

Options

-h, --help

Display help information.

-V, --version

Display the version.

The output of lsmod is a series of columns identifying the module name, its size, its use number, and its status. A sample of lsmod output looks like this:

Module Size Used by Not tainted ...