Hardware and Operating Systems Flashcards

Which command displays detailed information about the CPU, including its architecture and number of cores?

Answer: lscpu

lscpu reads CPU architecture information from sysfs and /proc/cpuinfo and displays it in a readable format.

What does the acronym BIOS stand for?

Answer: Basic Input/Output System

BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System, the firmware that initializes hardware during the boot process.

Which file in the /proc filesystem contains information about the system's memory usage?

Answer: /proc/meminfo

/proc/meminfo provides real-time information about the system's memory usage including total, free, and cached memory.

What is the primary function of the kernel in an operating system?

Answer: Manage hardware resources and provide services to applications

The kernel manages hardware resources such as CPU, memory, and devices, and provides a layer of abstraction for applications.

Which bus type is commonly used to connect expansion cards such as GPUs to a modern motherboard?

Answer: PCI Express (PCIe)

PCI Express (PCIe) is the modern standard for connecting expansion cards including GPUs, SSDs, and network cards to a motherboard.

What is the purpose of swap space in a Linux system?

Answer: Act as virtual memory when RAM is full

Swap space is used as virtual memory, allowing the system to move inactive memory pages to disk when physical RAM is exhausted.

Which command would you use to list all PCI devices detected by the Linux kernel?

Answer: lspci

lspci lists all PCI buses and devices connected to them, reading data from the /sys/bus/pci directory.