How to know which version of Ubuntu we use

Ubuntu

One of the questions a newbie always asks is What version should I install or use for my computer? o How do I know which version of Ubuntu I have? Two questions that are important for a novice but that for an expert have an easy solution because the same terminal, Through certain commands, you can inform us of this information.

What version should I install on my computer?

To answer this question we must know what kind of hardware does our computer have, specifically what processor you have. If we have a computer that is a few years old, with a single core or low ram, we have to install 32-bit Ubuntu, a version that will always be indicated with the nickname i386, 32-bit or simply x86.

On the contrary, if we have a computer with a current processor, with several cores or simply that has more than 2 Gb of ram memory, then the version of Ubuntu that we will have to use or install will be 64-bit version or also nicknamed as x86_64 or AMD64. This version is currently the standard version as the latest computers all support this version.

What version of Ubuntu do I have installed on my computer?

But sometimes it happens that we buy the computer with Ubuntu included and we do not know what version we have installed, to know it we only have to open a terminal and write:

lsb_release -a

with this we will not only know the version of Ubuntu but also the name of the distribution and in case of being LTS, its version. If we want to know if we have 32-bit Ubuntu or 64-bit Ubuntu, instead of writing the previous command, we have to write the following:

uname -m

It will appear like this if we have 32-bit Ubuntu, in which case it will appear "i386" or "x86_64" for the 64-bit version. If, on the contrary, we only want to know kernel version We have to know if it has a bug or if we have it updated, we have to write the following command:

uname -a

Conclusion

These commands are practical since we do not always have the graphical version in our Ubuntu, sometimes due to an incompatibility problem or because we simply manage a server, we do not always have this information at hand or graphically, hence the importance of knowing this or at least know where to locate it.


7 comments, leave yours

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  1.   franmmj1982 said

    The first command does not work for me

    1.    franmmj1982 said

      Sorry I forgot the _ hehe

      1.    Richard said

        franmmj1982, so that this type of typing error does not happen to you again, you should "paint" the command and copy it (with Ctrl + C), when you go to the terminal you "paste" it there. But beware that in the terminal you cannot simply paste with Ctrl + V, but you have to do Ctrl + Shift + V.

  2.   Pillar said

    I have ubuntu installed but I don't know what version, when I follow your instructions I see i686 what version is it?

    1.    | or | or | or | said

      It is 32 bit.

  3.   Juan Jose Linde said

    Thanks for the article!!

    If the command: lsb_release -a doesn't work for you, just install the package:

    sudo apt-get install lsb

    Seen here: http://www.sysadmit.com/2017/11/linux-saber-version.html

  4.   edher said

    I am trying to update python3, but I get errors I do not know if it is some kind of compatibility.

    WARNING: The directory '/home/y/.cache/pip/http' or its parent directory is not owned by the current user and the cache has been disabled. Please check the permissions and owner of that directory. If executing pip with sudo, you may want sudo's -H flag.
    WARNING: The directory '/home/y/.cache/pip' or its parent directory is not owned by the current user and caching wheels has been disabled. check the permissions and owner of that directory. If executing pip with sudo, you may want sudo's -H flag.
    Looking in links: / tmp / tmpqo37vc51
    Requirement already up-to-date: setuptools in /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages (41.2.0)
    Requirement already up-to-date: pip in /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages (19.2.3)
    y @ y-Latitude-D0: ~ / Python-3.8.2 $ python3 –version
    Python 3.5.2
    y @ y-Latitude-D0: ~ / Python-3.8.2 $