GitHub - dylanaraps/neofetch: 🖼️ A command-line system information tool written in bash 3.2+
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🖼️ A command-line system information tool written in bash 3.2+ - dylanaraps/neofetch
  • unterzicht@lemmy.ml
    382·
    6 months ago

    I don’t understand the fascination with a program that tells you what kind of system you’re using. I’m not trolling. Can someone enlighten me on its usefulness beyond “yep, that’s what my system looks like”?

    • Patch@feddit.uk
      25·
      6 months ago

      It’s a command that pulls a whole bunch of useful system information and sticks it on one page.

      Really, the biggest use of it is for showing other people your system- especially showing off. It’s a staple of “look at my system” brag posts.

      But to be generous, there are (small) legit use cases for it. If you manage a lot of machines, and you plausibly don’t know the basic system information for whatever you happen to be working on in this instant, it’s a program that will give you most of what you could want to know in a single command. Yes, 100% of the information could be retrieved just as easily using other standard commands, but having it in a single short command, outputting to a single overview page, formatted to be easily readable at a glance, is no bad thing.

    • Simon Müller :neofox_flag_trans:@wetdry.world
      25·
      6 months ago

      @unterzicht that IS it’s use. It is primarily used in show-off posts where people present their systems so that people in the replies can get a quick glance on what they’re running.

      The reason this is big news is because neofetch was by far the biggest project of it’s kind

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
      12·
      6 months ago

      Neofetch is actually a benchmarking tool used by Arch Linux users which compete to show their high scores.

    • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      6 months ago

      I install it on servers and put it in my bash profile so it runs when I SSH in or open a new terminal tab. Mostly just as a safety thing. It’s basically a reminder to double check I’m on the correct machine/tab before I run any commands.

      • Anarchistcowboy@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 months ago

        This is my use case as well i run neofetch on ssh connect and disconnect so I always have a visual indicator of what machine I’m in.

        • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          It doesn’t have to be neofetch but even in my containers and docker stuff, I try to put a little message so I don’t fuck up something.

          Running through a checklist is important. I learned that from a helicopter pilot at a bar but I do think it’s true in our field. It’s not life or death on a server but training yourself to go through a simple checklist (even if it’s just “make sure this is the right terminal tab”) is good advice.

    • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml
      12·
      6 months ago

      It is for the situation “what even is this OS” that aren’t answered by uname -r

      But since you need to know what OS this is to install this program with the package manager, it’s only useful if it was previously installed during the initial setup.

      I guess its one of those program every OS should have installed. Like screen.