To get your version of Ubuntu, run either of these commands from a terminal session.
To start a terminal session in Ubuntu’s graphical desktop go to the Applications menu and choose the Terminal item).
There are at least two ways to get the Ubuntu version.
Find the Ubuntu Version from the /etc/issue File
List the contents of the /etc/issue file to see the Ubuntu version.
taz@tasman-desktop:~$ cat /etc/issue Ubuntu 8.10 \n \l
Note that the contents of the /etc/issue file is displayed for local terminal logins to Ubuntu. If you don’t see Ubuntu version information like that above, then the system administrator may have edited this file. You can try the next method.
Check the Ubuntu Version from the /etc/lsb-release File
Displaying the contents of the /etc/lsb-release file will tell you the version of Ubuntu you’re running.
taz@tasman-desktop:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.10 DISTRIB_CODENAME=intrepid DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 8.10"
These methods were tested on Ubuntu 8.10.