Kernel Indicator For Linux

How do I check the Linux Kernel version? - a question that most of us had at least once while using Linux. If you're also curious of this, then rest assured that there are a couple of ways to do so, some more easy than others.

One of the most straightforward ways of find out what Kernel version your Linux OS has is with the help of the "uname" command, namely "uname -r". This is a command that prints/displays various system information including the kernel name and version.

There's also a way of finding out the Linux Kernel using the /proc/version file trick (which revolves around the "cat" command - "cat /proc/version") and some other a bit more complicated ways (using hostnamect, for instance).

If you're running GNOME, then you're in luck as you don't really need all of the aforementioned procedures, since there's an even easier way of doing that, and it comes in the form of (to no one's surprise) a GNOME Shell extension.

The extension in question is appropriately called Kernel Indicator, and it's whole job is, yep, you've guessed it, to display the kernel version in the top/status bar of your GNOME system, and it works like a charm.

As expected, it's easy to install, and it offers very little else in terms of functionality. Forget customization options, you can't even interact with the extension as there are no menus or hidden features. It just lives in the top bar of your system and displays the Kernel version at all times, unless you either disable or uninstall it.

The Kernel is the core of any Linux system since it interfaces directly with your computer's hardware. There are very few reasons for the average user to actually require knowing the Linux kernel version, but if that's the case, and you do want know it, then all you have to do is install Kernel Indicator.