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Normally uname -a shows me Linux localhost.localdomain [more stuff...] but for some reason it shows me some other other domain (but it is still my own terminal but really slow). I guess I am connected to own pc over the network and the same is true for my applications like my Chromium browser that I started from Gnome 3 and not from my terminal. I think it occurred while I switched my network connections from LAN to WLAN and back, is my assessment of the situation correct and how can I repair this?

$ uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 3.6.8-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Nov 26 22:10:40 CET 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ gnome-shell --version
GNOME Shell 3.6.2

Edit: Thank you all for the help! Since the problem stopped I cannot provide more details or try your suggestions but I will do the next time it occurs. Interestingly, I get a different output from uname -a today ("localhost" instead of "localhost.localdomain") but maybe that is because I did an update with my package manager:

Linux localhost 3.6.8-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Nov 26 22:10:40 CET 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Edit: I finally got the error again. Here the output of my uname -a: Linux somename.something.myuniversity.de 3.6.10-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Dec 11 09:40:17 CET 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux (host name replaced to not provide information about where I live). When I type "exit" in a terminal with "konrad@somename" in the upper right corner, the terminal just closes. whoami just displays my username.

P.S.: Why was this question closed? And what is this about "this is not a real question"? My questions are: what causes this question, how can I prevent and repair this, isn't this obvious?

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What is slow? And can you provide an example of the non-localhost.localdomain uname -a? derobert's answer is correct, but I get the feeling you're having a problem, which is just unrelated to the hostname shown by uname -a. – njsg Dec 10 '12 at 21:01
Check whether the output of hostname in the console matches your machine name - that could give you a hint. – peterph Dec 10 '12 at 22:51
What happens if you turn off the network (pull out the Ethernel plug, flip the wifi kill switch)? – Gilles Dec 10 '12 at 23:19

closed as not a real question by Gilles, jasonwryan, psusi, jw013, Mat Dec 15 '12 at 13:33

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

The 'localhost.localdomain' part is your machine's hostname. You can set it with the hostname command, or probably by editing /etc/hostname.

anthony@Zia:~$ uname -a
Linux Zia 3.6-trunk-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.6.9-1~experimental.1 x86_64 GNU/Linux
⋮
root@Zia:~# hostname foo
root@Zia:~# uname -a
Linux foo 3.6-trunk-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.6.9-1~experimental.1 x86_64 GNU/Linux

(Its odd that you have localhost.localdomain instead of just localhost. But maybe your distro does that.)

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up vote 1 down vote

It's possible that you logged back into your machine after traversing the network. Run whoami. If you are logged in from the net, the value in the (parens) at the end of the line should be the name of the host you logged in from (this could be localhost). If you see a number instead, like (:0.0), that just means you are running the program in a local X window.

To undo the login and revert to your original shell, run exit

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Whoami still gives me my normal user name and exit closes the terminal. – kirdie Jan 23 at 10:53

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